[zim-bahb-wey, -wee] 
| 1. | Formerly, Southern Rhodesia, Rhodesia. a republic in S Africa: a former British colony and part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland; gained independence 1980. 11,423,175; 150,330 sq. mi. (389,362 sq. km). Capital: Harare. |
| 2. | the site of stone ruins (Great Zimbabwe) discovered c1870 in Rhodesia, probably built by a Bantu people, consisting of three main groups of ruins, and dating between the 9th and 15th centuries a.d. |
| Zim·bab·we 1 (zĭm-bäb'wē, -wā) A ruined city of southeast Zimbabwe south of Harare. First occupied by Iron Age peoples in the third century A.D., it was rediscovered c. 1870 and is believed by some to be the site of King Solomon's mines. |
| Zim·bab·we 2 (zĭm-bäb'wē, -wā) A country of southern Africa. Various Bantu peoples migrated into the area during the first millennium, displacing the earlier San inhabitants. European colonization began in 1889 under the British South Africa Company founded by Cecil Rhodes, and in 1923 it became the self-governing British colony of Southern Rhodesia (often just Rhodesia), which formed part of the colonial federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland from 1953 to 1963. Rhodesia declared itself independent in 1965, although independence was not formally granted by Great Britain until 1980. Harare is the capital and the largest city. Population: 12,300,000. Zim·bab'we·an adj. & n. |
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