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A chronology of key events:
1200-1600s - Rise and decline of the Monomotapa domain, thought to have been associated with Great Zimbabwe and to have been involved in gold mining and international trade. 1830s - Ndebele people fleeing Zulu violence and Boer migration in present-day South Africa move north and settle in what becomes known as Matabeleland. 1830-1890s - European hunters, traders and missionaries explore the region from the south. They include Cecil John Rhodes. 1888--King Lobengula agrees Rudd Concession for Cecil Rhodes to prospect Mashonaland. 1889 - Rhodes' British South Africa Company (BSA) gains a British mandate to colonise what becomes Southern Rhodesia. Whites settle 1890 - Pioneer column of white settlers arrives from south at site of future capital Harare.1893 - Ndebele uprising against BSA rule is crushed. 1896-7--First Chimurenga or Shona rebellion against the white settlers. 1922 - BSA administration ends, the white minority opts for self-government. 1930 - Land Apportionment Act restricts black access to land, forcing many into wage labour.

1930-1960s - Black opposition to colonial rule grows. Emergence in the 1960s of nationalist groups - the Zimbabwe African People's Union(Zapu) and the Zimbabwe African National Union (Zanu). 1953 - Britain creates the Central African Federation, made up of Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and Nyasaland (Malawi). 1963 - Federation breaks up when Zambia and Malawi gain independence.