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'''Zimbabwe''' formerly '''Rhodesia''' is a country in southern Africa bordered by the [[Zambezi]] and [[Limpopo]] rivers. Currently, Zimbabwe is ruled with an iron fist by dictator [[Robert Mugabe]]. It is one of the worst countries in the world to live in. In addition to being a totalitarian dictatorship, Zimbabwe is ravaged by [[AIDS]] and famine and has one of the lowest life expectancies in the world.

'''Zimbabwe''' is a nation of southern [[Africa]]. It has borders with [[South Africa]], [[Botswana]], [[Zambia]] and [[Mozambique]]. A dispute exists whether Zimbabwean territory touches that of [[Namibia]] at the extreme westernmost point of Zimbabwe. The country has an area of 150,873 square miles (390,759 sq km) and a population of 12.3 million (2007 est). The capital city is [[Harare]].

 

The land now called Zimbabwe was colonised by the British South Africa Company (a chartered company given special privileges by the British Government, similar to the East India Company) of [[Cecil Rhodes]] in 1890; it came under direct rule of the [[United Kingdom]] government in 1923. In 1965 the government of the colony, then named Southern Rhodesia, made a 'Unilateral Declaration of Independence' to forestall British attempts to widen the franchise to include black Rhodesians. Escalating guerilla warfare during the 1970s carried out by forces loyal to [[Joshua Nkomo]] (ZAPU: Zimbabwe African People's Union) and [[Robert Mugabe]] (ZANU: Zimbabwe African National Union)led the government of [[Rhodesia]] (as it had been called from 1965) firstly to reach a settlement with the moderate Black nationalist leader Bishop Abel Muzorewa to form a multi-racial government, with the state renamed Zimbabwe Rhodesia; and then, in 1979, to hold free elections involving the guerilla groups. The surprise winner of the elections was Mugabe's ZANU-PF (ZANU Popular Front); and Mugabe has remained in power ever since, increasingly paranoid and tyrranical, rigging elections, using violence and other unconstitutional means to stifle all dissent against his rule and all protest against the country's increasingly desparate economic plight, which has been largely created by the policies he has imposed on it. It is one of the worst countries in the world to live in. In addition to being a totalitarian dictatorship, Zimbabwe is ravaged by [[AIDS]] and famine and has one of the lowest life expectancies in the world.

==Further reading==

==Further reading==

[[Category:African Countries]]

[[Category:African Countries]]

[[Category:Dictatorships]]

[[Category:Dictatorships]]