People looking at a map of the world today will have a great deal of trouble in locating Rhodesia, as it is a country that does not exist. People who recognise the name may simply equate it with modern day Zimbabwe in Africa; although saying that Zimbabwe and Rhodesia are the same place is not strictly true.
During the nineteenth century Africa was effectively carved up by the European powers, and Britain especially would take control of huge swathes of the continent. Indeed at one point the British flag was seen continuously from Egypt in the north right down to South Africa in the south. It had been a dream of Cecil Rhodes to see a train line run from Cairo to Cape Town, and although the train line didn’t come into fruition, a line could be drawn from north to south taking in Sudan, Uganda Kenya, Tanganyika, Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, and Southern Rhodesia
An area of Africa known as Rhodesia, named in honour of Cecil Rhodes, had been used by the British South Africa Company in 1895, but the region was quickly split into two, as the area was split by the Zambezi River; creating Northern and Southern Rhodesia.
After the Second World War the British Empire started to come apart, especially in Africa where nations sought their independence from London Rule. The British government’s general policy was to accommodate the independence movement as long as each nation had majority rule in place. To this end the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was created, although it quickly split apart; Nyasaland would become Malawi whilst Northern Rhodesia became Zambia.
The governing white majority of Southern Rhodesia though were not enamoured with the idea of immediately handing over power to the black majority, and so Ian Smith announced a Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Britain in November 1965, also renaming the nation as Rhodesia. It was though a country not recognised internationally, and was a nation still almost universally named as Southern Rhodesia. For almost fifteen years there was open conflict between the white minority and black majority, before a 1980 election would see Robert Mugabe and the ZANU party come to power. With an election win for the black majority the nation of Southern Rhodesia would become Zimbabwe.
On a modern map it will be impossible to locate Rhodesia by name, and even historically the task is a difficult one. Some maps from the end of the nineteenth century may show a region of southern Africa as Rhodesia, but it is more likely that most maps from this period with show Southern and Northern Rhodesia. The fact that the nation of Rhodesia was not internationally recognised between 1965 and 1980 will also mean that most maps will still show the nation as Southern Rhodesia.
