First Chimurenga

Common card · No. 355578

The First Chimurenga, also known as the Second Matabele War, was fought between 1896 and 1897 in the region that later became Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). The conflict was initially between the British South Africa Company (BSAC) and the Matabele people, later expanding to include the Shona people in the rest of Southern Rhodesia. In March 1896, the Matabele revolted against the authority of the BSAC. The Mlimo (or M'limo, or Umlimo) the Matabele spiritual leader, was credited with fomenting much of the anger that led to this confrontation. He convinced the Matabele and the Shona that the settlers (almost 4,000 strong by then) were responsible for the drought, locust plagues and the cattle disease rinderpest ravaging the country at the time. The Mlimo's call to battle was well-timed. Only a few months earlier, the British South Africa Company's Administrator General for Matabeleland, Leander Starr Jameson, had sent most of his troops and armaments to fight the Transvaal Republic in...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Drawn by Frank Dadd. R.I. (died 1929), Public domain