The present day Zimbabwe which was formally Rhodesia was created by the work of Cecil Rhodes from whom the territory traces its title with the IBSACO. In Zimbabwe there were several tribes prominent of which were the Shona and Ndebele, whereby the Ndebele were living in the present day Western Zimbabwe known as Matebele land and the Shona lived in Mashona land Northern East in Zimbabwe. Their areas of settlement attracted the whites because they had large areas of grazing their animals and they also had good minerals which attracted the likes of Cecil Rhodes and strategically, their region was near the Boer state of Transvaal which could be annexed by the Boers and gain more strength which would make them a threat to the colonial government at the Cape Province. In this regard therefore, the British at the Cape colony were determined to extend their influence throughout South Africa and to encircle the Boer states and this was only possible after taking over Matebele and Mashona lands in what is present day Zimbabwe.

As a result therefore, Cecil Rhodes sent missions to the Ndebele kingdom mainly to king Lobengula through whom, he secured treaties of friendship that was signed between the company’s representative Moffat in the year of 1886. According to this treaty mutual friendship between the British and the Ndebele had been established for accordingly, the treaty prevented Lobengula from signing any new treaty with any other European power without the consent of the British colonial government at the cape. It is vital to note that Lobengula had put Matebele land under the control of the B.S.A.C.O in total ignorance.

Similarly, in 1888 Cecil Rhodes sent a company official in the names of Rudd to persuade Lobengula to sign yet another treaty that came to be known as the Rudd concession of 1888. Under this treaty, Lobengula allowed whites to exploit minerals in his land and as a reward he would be given a monthly payment of £10,00 rifles, 100,000 rounds of ammunition and a steam boat for use on the river Zambezi.

This treaty didn’t state whether Matebele and Mashonaland were under British protection but Cecil Rhodes used it to claim that the whole of Matebele and Shona areas were under the control of Imperial British South Africa Company (IBSACO).

Cecil Rhodes therefore began to send a number of whites to Ndebele and Shona land who took over and settled on African lands something Lobengula didn’t approve. However Rhodes was determined to use both forceful and peaceful means to make the Ndebele accept his overlordship and it later gave birth to the British Ndebele war of 1893.

Worse still, when whites came, they attempted to support the Shona people whose state was a tributary state of Ndebele, the Shona who wanted to be free from the domination of Ndebele collaborated with the whites something that annoyed Lobengula very much for he realised he was getting a rebellion in his state and it was under these circumstances that the Ndebele resisted against white dominance in order to punish the Shona in what came to be known as the Ndebele British war of 1893.

In addition, the Matebele were not pleased with the expansaionism of whites into the Ndebele kingdom for in 1885 the British threatened Lobengula that they would establish a protectorate in Bechuana land on the South Western border of his kingdom (Botswana) which was partly because of the discovery of gold in Transvaal in 1886 which made the whites believe that land north of Transvaal was rich in minerals.

It’s from this basis that many Europeans moved northwards a situation that threatened Lobengula who realised he was to lose his kingdom. The worst was that the whites annexed Ndebele peoples’ land for their settlement and mineral exploitation something that greatly annoyed the Ndebele young soldiers who found no alternative but to resist in what came to be the British Ndebele war of 1893.

The whites didn’t only acquire land but interfered with the Ndebele raiding rights in Shona land for the whites prevented the Indunas from raiding, something that annoyed them for to them it was a tradition to raid and loot animals and property of the Shona.

The attempts by whites to protect the Shona from paying tributes to Ndebele greatly annoyed Lobengula and with the collaboration of the Shona with the British which the Ndebele could never accept nor tolerate such behavior. It’s as a result of the above circumstances that in August 1893 Lobengula sent the Indunas to punish the Shona for refusing to pay taxes to the Ndebele which resulted into the death of a number of Shona servants of the whites an attacks that the whites regarded as a provocation.

The British therefore launched an attack on Lobengula’s kingdom, killed and destroyed it forcing Lobengula to flee northwards where he died near R. Zambezi at the end of 1894. The death of Lobengula led to the eventual end of the Ndebele kingdom, abolition of Ndebele Monarchy and the subsequent occupation of Matebele land by the British.

The military towns of the age regiments were broken up and the Ndebele/Induna authority was ended besides the aristocrats land and cattle were confiscated and the superior Ndebele castes were prevented from continuing to exert their authority over the Holi castle which was mainly of captured Shona people who were treated as slaves.

The whole Ndebele nation was taken over by the British and this included the Shona land which they occupied to form the then Rhodesia.

Lastly, the whites believed that they had now settled the problem of the Ndebele forever though they did not know the Ndebele were very attached to their kingdom and customs as later evident in 1896-97 war when the Shona and Ndebele made an alliance to resist the British in what came to be known as the Chimurenga war of 1896-1897.