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Lancaster House

Profile – The National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe

Profile – The institution now known as the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe began in 1901 as the Rhodesia Museum in Bulawayo, founded jointly by the Rhodesia Scientific Association and the Rhodesia Chamber of Mines, with geologist F. P. Mennell as its first curator. Its focus was initially economic geology, reflecting the priorities of the mining interests behind its founding, though its collecting scope broadened considerably over the following decades.

Profile – UDI and the Liberation War

Profile – On 11 November 1965, Prime Minister Ian Smith’s government issued the Unilateral Declaration of Independence, breaking Southern Rhodesia away from Britain rather than accept British insistence on a path to majority rule. No other country recognised the declaration, and the United Nations imposed economic sanctions that would remain in place for the next fifteen years.