GERMANIC or Caucasian whites, the British included, were once known as Barbarians and were the originators of the word barbaric.
They have Barbarian roots which have conditioned them to think it is okay to claim another man’s land if one overpowers him violently and sets his own flag.
This is how whites lived for thousands of years in the cold caves of Europe, squabbling over land and food, before they appeared in the known world.
Now their character proves to be as hostile as the environment they came from.
Cecil Rhodes was one such whiteman and when he saw that the Ndebele were the only force in Zimbabwe that was into warring, he decided to negotiate with the Ndebele king only.
He did this assuming the Shona would not be a problem since they were peaceful.
After tricking King Lobengula into signing the Rudd Concession, Rhodes began sending British South Africans into lands that were inhabited only by the Shona and not the Ndebele.
What gave Rhodes the power to invade Zimbabwe was direct British Government backing which he received through a Charter on October 29 1889.
This Charter entailed the following; the forming of the British South Africa Company (BSAC), which would have unlimited powers to exploit all of Mashonaland and Matabeleland under the guise of development.
The Charter gave the BSAC a mandate to promote civilisation and set up white governments in the region beyond Bechuanaland (Botswana) i.e. Zimbabwe.
To promote civilisation was a subtle way of saying ‘to strip locals of their culture and tradition and to convert them into partakers of European religions and ways’.
The BSAC was basically given the powers of an independent state because they were given authority to set up a police force, make laws, sign treaties and maintain social order.
To maintain social order is to enforce white governance in the land and squash any rebellion from the black locals.
By June 1890, the first group of white settlers entered Zimbabwe on ox-carts and they had been carefully screened before being selected.
Anticipating attacks from the Ndebele, British white males, all below the age of 30, in sound health and with military training, were chosen to pioneer the invasion of Zimbabwe.
From 2 000, Rhodes chose 200 whites who were accompanied by another 400 armed white soldiers.
These soldiers would eventually become the first BSAC police officers.
The pioneer settlers camped in Masvingo which they called Fort Victoria.
They hoisted the British flag and began building their first settlement there.
Fort Charter (Chivhu) and Fort Salisbury (Harare) would follow.
The Shona knew nothing about the arrangements between the white settlers and King Lobengula and assumed the whites were simply passing through the land.
Rhodes used the tactic that was used by the Dutch in Botswana; that of offering the locals protection against hostile groups in exchange for land and property rights.
In the case of Zimbabwe, King Lobengula was fearful of attacking the armed Europeans.
So the Shona in Masvingo initially welcomed the settlements of the white settlers, marking them as safe zones from the Ndebele raiders, not knowing the whites would eventually prove to be just as despotic and even more so.
There had been Portuguese settlers in Manicaland which was known as Manhika meaning ‘hills and valleys’.
The British settlers drove them into Mozambique and claimed their settlement. More and more whites were called in after reports of the gentleness of the Shona peoples reached South Africa and Britain.
The Shona were much like the Congolese when they were invaded by the Portuguese.
They treasured humanness (ubuntu/hunhu) which made them careful not to insult or assault human life.
Because of this, the Shona had fallen victim to abuse by war-like groups like the Ndebele and would eventually succumb to the barbarity of the whites.
In the meantime, when King Lobengula realised he had been tricked and that the whites were no longer paying tribute to him or asking his permission to do anything, he sent some of his men to England.
The Ndebele representatives of King Lobengula were met by the Queen of England and were mocked for being so stupid as to sign away their whole land to strangers.
However, nothing was reversed and Queen Victoria went further to send Lobengula a message saying: “A man should give a stranger an ox, but not his whole herd of cattle.”
Although European settlements were growing rapidly, King Lobengula had an army that could outnumber the whites about 30 to one.
However, as discussed in the last article, King Lobengula was not the central king of Zimbabwe and was confined in the southwest of the country.
He maintained bad relations with the rest of the Zimbabweans and his unpopularity led some Shona people to align themselves with the whites for protection.
Before long, the Shona people of Masvingo were working on lands that were claimed by the whites.
The whites claimed about 3 000 acres of land each and were over 600 in number at Fort Victoria.
In 1893, some Shona people allegedly stole some telegraph wire from the white settlers.
In retaliation the whites seized a sizeable amount of cattle from the Shona.
King Lobengula claimed some of his cattle were among those seized from the Shona and before waiting to be reimbursed, he sent 3 000 soldiers to raid many Shona people who worked on the European farms in Masvingo.
The Shona people were now running to the white settlements for succour and the Magistrate of Fort Victoria refused to surrender the Shona survivors to the Ndebele.
Jameson was sent to Fort Victoria after more than a week of violence and by October, the white settlers were waging war against King Lobengula.
The BSAC had not yet secured any mineral deposits in Mashonaland, but were certain of some deposits in Matabeleland which they now desired to take over.
After the first altercation which led to many Ndebele deaths, King Lobengula returned the weapons he had been given after the signing of the Rudd concession as a way of showing he desired peace.
However, the Europeans had already set their plan in motion and attacked King Lobengula twice over.
This forced King Lobengula to flee to the north.
He ordered for Bulawayo to be razed and the Europeans settled there under Jameson and began to build.
King Lobengula died during his escape from the whites.