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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:'That Place was Wonderful!' African Tenants on Rhodesdale Estate, Colonial Zimbabwe, c. 1900-1952
Author:Nyambara, Pius S.ISNI
Year:2005
Periodical:International Journal of African Historical Studies
Volume:38
Issue:2
Pages:267-299
Language:English
Geographic term:Zimbabwe
Subjects:squatters
colonial history
tenancy
plantations
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
History and Exploration
colonialism
Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
Labor and Employment
Development and Technology
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/40034921
Abstract:This paper traces the experiences of African tenants on Rhodesdale Estate in colonial Zimbabwe, and their subsequent transformation into squatters by World War II, covering the period from c. 1900 and 1952. The paper first demonstrates the resilience of tenant economy on Rhodesdale before World War II in the face of colonial onslaught, as shown by the economic success of some black entrepreneurs. But the postwar increase in white settlers in Rhodesia led to a shortage of land. In 1947, Rhodesdale was bought by the colonial government from the British multinational Lonrho, surveyed and divided into farms to ex-servicemen. From this time on, the status of Africans residing on Rhodesdale changed from that of tenants to that of 'squatters', to farm owners 'a danger and a nuisance, and damaging to the economy'. The paper pays attention to subsequent tenant resistance against forced destocking and colonial labour demands, and concludes by analysing their struggle against forced removal to Gokwe, where they were settled after eviction from Rhodesdale in 1952. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]
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