Zimbabwe
Republic of Zimbabwe | |
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Motto: "Unity, Freedom, Work"[1]
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Location of Zimbabwe (dark blue)
in the African Union (light blue)
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Capital and largest city |
Harare 17°50′S 31°3′E |
Official languages | |
Ethnic groups (2012) |
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Demonym | Zimbabwean Zimbo[4] (colloquial) |
Government |
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Emmerson Mnangagwa | |
Constantino Chiwenga | |
Kembo Mohadi | |
Legislature | Parliament |
Senate | |
House of Assembly | |
Independence from the United Kingdom | |
• Declared
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11 November 1965 |
• Republic
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2 March 1970 |
1 June 1979 | |
• Republic of Zimbabwe
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18 April 1980 |
15 May 2013 | |
Area | |
• Total
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390,757 km2 (150,872 sq mi) (60th) |
• Water (%)
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1 |
Population | |
• 2016 estimate
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16,150,362[5] (73rd) |
• 2012 census
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12,973,808[6] |
• Density
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26/km2 (67.3/sq mi) (170th) |
GDP (PPP) | 2017 estimate |
• Total
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$33.872 billion[7] |
• Per capita
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$2,276[7] |
GDP (nominal) | 2017 estimate |
• Total
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$17.105 billion[7] |
• Per capita
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$1,149[7] |
Gini (1995) | 50.1[8] high |
HDI (2015) | ![]() low · 154th |
Currency | United States dollar (official for government), South African rand, and many other currenciesa, e.g. Botswana pula, euro, Chinese renminbi, Indian rupees, pound sterling, Australian dollars. Zimbabwean bond coins are used as a proxy for US dollar and cent coins. Zimbabwean bond notes for 2 and 5 dollars were introduced in 2016 at par value of the US dollar |
Time zone | CAT[10] (UTC+2) |
Drives on the | left |
Calling code | +263 |
ISO 3166 code | ZW |
Internet TLD | .zw |
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Since the 11th century, present-day Zimbabwe has been the site of several organised states and kingdoms as well as a major route for migration and trade. The British South Africa Company of Cecil Rhodes first demarcated the present territory during the 1890s; it became the self-governing British colony of Southern Rhodesia in 1923. In 1965, the conservative white minority government unilaterally declared independence as Rhodesia. The state endured international isolation and a 15-year guerrilla war with black nationalist forces; this culminated in a peace agreement that established universal enfranchisement and de jure sovereignty as Zimbabwe in April 1980. Zimbabwe then joined the Commonwealth of Nations, which it withdrew from in December 2003. It is a member of the United Nations, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU), and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). It was once known as the "Jewel of Africa" for its prosperity.[14][15][16]
Robert Mugabe became Prime Minister of Zimbabwe in 1980, when his ZANU-PF party won the elections following the end of white minority rule; he was the President of Zimbabwe from 1987 until his resignation in 2017. Under Mugabe's authoritarian regime, the state security apparatus dominated the country and was responsible for widespread human rights violations.[17] Mugabe maintained the revolutionary socialist rhetoric of the Cold War era, blaming Zimbabwe's economic woes on conspiring Western capitalist countries.[18] Contemporary African political leaders were reluctant to criticise Mugabe, who was burnished by his anti-imperialist credentials, though Archbishop Desmond Tutu called him "a cartoon figure of an archetypal African dictator".[19] The country has been in economic decline since the 1990s, experiencing several crashes and hyperinflation along the way.[20]
On 15 November 2017, in the wake of over a year of protests against his government as well as Zimbabwe's rapidly declining economy, Mugabe was placed under house arrest by the country's national army in a coup d'état.[21][22] On 19 November 2017, ZANU-PF sacked Robert Mugabe as party leader and appointed former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa in his place.[23] On 21 November 2017, Mugabe tendered his resignation prior to impeachment proceedings being completed