Place names in Zimbabwe

Following independence in 1980, Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) began renaming cities, towns and streets, in an attempt to eradicate symbols of British colonialism and white minority rule, starting in 1982, on the second anniversary of independence. The capital Salisbury, which had been named after the British Prime Minister, the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, was renamed Harare, after the Shona chief Neharawa. Other place names were simply new transliterations, to reflect the correct pronunciation in Shona, hence Gwelo became Gweru. Many places had been given the Ndebele pronunciation during the colonial period and this generally included the letter "l" which does not exist in Shona.

The country's second largest city, Bulawayo was unaffected, as were the towns of Beitbridge, Colleen Bawn and West Nicholson, despite their European origins. The names of suburbs in Harare, such as Borrowdale, Highlands, Rietfontein, Tynwald, and Mount Pleasant also remained unchanged. An exception was Harari, which was renamed Mbare.

Street names were also changed, with names of British colonists such as Cecil Rhodes being replaced with those of Zimbabwean nationalist leaders, such as Josia Tongogara, Simon Muzenda, and Leopold Takawira. Robert Mugabe's name eventually became attached to the main street or town centre of every sizeable town as a result of a spate of changes in 1990. Other streets have been named after leaders of neighbouring countries, such as Samora Machel of Mozambique, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia and Nelson Mandela of South Africa. Others have a general pan-African nationalist theme, such as Africa Unity Square in Harare, formerly Cecil Square.

While these changes have had general acceptance, except among some whites, a more controversial practice has been the recent renaming of schools after Robert Mugabe, prompting accusations of a personality cult.

Name of the country

The "de facto" name of the country has also changed several times. It was first known as Southern Rhodesia, but when Northern Rhodesia achieved independence as Zambia the government introduced a Bill to allow the country to be known as just Rhodesia, which passed its third reading on December 9, 1964. Although no assent was given to the Bill, the revised name was widely adopted and following U.D.I. in 1965 it was the name of the unrecognized government.

From 1889 to 1892, the territory was referred to as Zambesia. This is now the name of a province in Mozambique. From 1895 the territory that comprised Matabeleland and Mashonaland became known as Rhodesia together with the territories beyond the Zambezi river northwards to the Congo Free state. From 1911, due to the unwieldy nature of the territory, Southern Rhodesia was distinguished from the north, although it was only separated in 1923, when it alone achieved self-government.

Following the internal settlement of 1978, when the new institutions of government came into power on June 1, 1979 the country adopted the name Zimbabwe Rhodesia. The Lancaster House Agreement required that the United Kingdom regain temporary administration before free elections and independence, and this happened on December 11, 1979 with reversion to the former name of Rhodesia. Independence was recognised under the name of Zimbabwe on April 18, 1980.