History UsefulNotes / Zimbabwe

* Liverpool FC goalkeeper [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Grobbelaar Bruce Grobbelaar]], who had fought in the Rhodesian army defending white rule in the civil war, was committed to Zimbabwe after independence. He opted to play internationally for the Zimbabwe national side, symbolising his commtment to a new Zimbabwe where black and white people were equal partners.

A republic in southern UsefulNotes/{{Africa}}. Famous recently for tension between its former President Robert Mugabe and the UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom over land issues. Was formerly the British colony of Southern Rhodesia; in 1965, under the leadership of UsefulNotes/IanSmith it declared unilateral independence and spent 14 years under a conservative white government likened to UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra. This led to an armed struggle with several partisan groups, most notably the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and its offshoot, the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU).

[[quoteright:1000:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/flag_of_zimbabwe_4.png]]
%%[[caption-width-right:1000:some caption text]]

->The twin green, yellow and red stripes symbolize the peasants and agriculture, mineral wealth, and the blood of the fallen during Zimbabwe's struggles for independence, respectively; the black central stripe stands for the people; the white triangle symbolizes peace, containing the red star of the revolution, upon which is superimposed the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimbabwe_Bird Zimbabwe Bird]], a soapstone sculpture of an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Fish_Eagle African Fish Eagle]] found in the ruins of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Zimbabwe Great Zimbabwe.]]\\\

Note that [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Zimbabwe#Specifications_and_the_correct_rendering_of_the_Great_Zimbabwe_Bird the rendering of the Zimbabwean Bird]] outside of the country has had issues since just before the country's independence in 1980. The flag depicted here is the correct rendering, with a longer, more upright neck (the incorrect version is somewhat short with the head somewhat slouched), a rounded beak (instead of the incorrect version's pointed beak), and a more evenly balanced soapstone perch (the incorrect version slightly curves towards the right of the bird's render). Furthermore, the incorrect version's star behind the bird is irregular and somewhat flattened, whereas the correct version uses a regular star.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zimbabwe_flag_8061.png
->The twin green, yellow and red stripes symbolize the peasants and agriculture, mineral wealth, and the blood of the fallen during Zimbabwe's struggles for independence, respectively; the black central stripe stands for the people; the white triangle symbolizes peace, containing the red star of the revolution, upon which is superimposed the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimbabwe_Bird Zimbabwe Bird]], a soapstone sculpture of an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Fish_Eagle African Fish Eagle]] found in the ruins of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Zimbabwe Great Zimbabwe.]]

A republic in East UsefulNotes/{{Africa}}. Famous recently for tension between its former President Robert Mugabe and the UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom over land issues. Was formerly the British colony of Southern Rhodesia; in 1965, under the leadership of UsefulNotes/IanSmith it declared unilateral independence and spent 14 years under a conservative white government likened to UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra. This led to an armed struggle with several partisan groups, most notably the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and its offshoot, the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU).

A republic in East Africa. Famous recently for tension between its former President Robert Mugabe and the UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom over land issues. Was formerly the British colony of Southern Rhodesia; in 1965, under the leadership of UsefulNotes/IanSmith it declared unilateral independence and spent 14 years under a conservative white government likened to UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra. This led to an armed struggle with several partisan groups, most notably the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and its offshoot, the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU).

At first, there was some progress during the early years of Mugabe's rule, with programs that provided better healthcare and education to the population, greatly reducing illiteracy and disease. But good times were not to last: in 1982 Mugabe launched the Gukurahundi [[note]] which in Shona translates to "[[UnusualEuphemism the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains]]"[[/note]], a persecution campaign against the Ndebele people, who were staunch supporters of [=ZAPU=], the guerilla organization headed by Mugabe's political opponent Joshua Nkomo. Up to 20,000 people were killed, and some have classified this crime as genocide.

A republic in southern Africa. Famous recently for tension between its former President Robert Mugabe and the UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom over land issues. Was formerly the British colony of Southern Rhodesia; in 1965, under the leadership of UsefulNotes/IanSmith it declared unilateral independence and spent 14 years under a conservative white government likened to UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra. This led to an armed struggle with several partisan groups, most notably the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and its offshoot, the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU).