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Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozambique to the east. The capital and largest city is Harare. The second largest city is Bulawayo. A country of roughly 15 million people, Zimbabwe has 16 official languages, with English, Shona language, Shona, and Northern Ndebele language, Ndebele the most common. Beginning in the 9th century, during its late Iron Age, the Bantu peoples, Bantu people (who would become the ethnic Shona people, Shona) built the city-state of Great Zimbabwe which became one of the major African trade centres by the 11th century, controlling the gold, ivory and copper trades with the Swahili coast, which were connected to Arab and Indian states. By the mid 15th century, the city-state had been abandoned. From there, the Kingdom of Zimbabwe was established, fol ...
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White People In Zimbabwe
White Zimbabweans are people in Zimbabwe who are of European descent. In linguistic, cultural, and historical terms, these Zimbabweans of European ethnic origin are mostly English-speaking descendants of British settlers and a small minority of them are either Afrikaans-speaking descendants of Afrikaners from South Africa and/or those descended from Greek and Portuguese immigrants.100 km2 (>38.6 mi2)) mechanized estate, owned by a white family and employing hundreds of black people. Many white farms provided housing, schools and clinics for black employees and their families. At the time of independence in 1980, more than 40% of the country's farmed land comprised approximately 5,000 white farms. At the time, agriculture provided 40% of the country's GDP and up to 60% of its foreign earnings. Major export products included tobacco, beef, sugar, cotton and maize. The minerals sector was also important. Gold, asbestos, nickel and chromium were mined by foreign-owned co ...
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Harare
Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan area in 2019. Situated in north-eastern Zimbabwe in the country's Mashonaland region, Harare is a metropolitan province, which also incorporates the municipalities of Chitungwiza and Epworth. The city sits on a plateau at an elevation of above sea level and its climate falls into the subtropical highland category. The city was founded in 1890 by the Pioneer Column, a small military force of the British South Africa Company, and named Fort Salisbury after the UK Prime Minister Lord Salisbury. Company administrators demarcated the city and ran it until Southern Rhodesia achieved responsible government in 1923. Salisbury was thereafter the seat of the Southern Rhodesian (later Rhodesian) government and, between 1953 and 1963, th ...
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Languages Of Zimbabwe
Many languages are spoken, or historically have been spoken, in Zimbabwe. Since the adoption of its 2013 Constitution, Zimbabwe has 16 official languages, namely Chibarwe, English, Kalanga, Koisan, Nambya, Ndau, Ndebele, Shangani, Shona, sign language, Sotho, Tonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Chewa. The country's main languages are Shona, spoken by over 70% of the population, and Ndebele, spoken by roughly 20%. English is the country's lingua franca, used in government and business and as the main medium of instruction in schools. English is the first language of most white Zimbabweans, and is the second language of a majority of black Zimbabweans. Historically, a minority of white Zimbabweans spoke Afrikaans, Greek, Italian, Polish, and Portuguese, among other languages, while Gujarati and Hindi could be found amongst the country's Indian population. Deaf Zimbabweans commonly use one of several varieties of Zimbabwean Sign Language, with some using American Sign Language. Zimbabwean ...
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National Anthem Of Zimbabwe
The National Anthem of Zimbabwe, also known by its incipit in Shona, "" (), and the final line of each verse in Ndebele, "" (), was introduced in March 1994 after a nationwide competition to replace the South African-derived "Ishe Komborera Africa" with a distinctly Zimbabwean song. The winning entry was a Shona song written by Professor Solomon Mutswairo and composed by Fred Changundega. It was translated into English and Ndebele, the two other main languages of Zimbabwe. The Ndebele version is mainly sung in the Matebeleland regions of Zimbabwe, while the English version is not commonly sung. Some schools in Matabeleland South have introduced the Sotho/Tswana version. Lyrics Because Zimbabwe has 16 national languages, the lyrics of the original Shona song were translated into the other 15 national languages as part of the 2013 constitutional reforms. The official texts were laid out in the 2013 Constitution, however the final English text in the Constitution varied from th ...
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Zimbabwean English
Zimbabwean English (ZimE; en-ZIM; en-ZW) is a regional variety of English found in Zimbabwe. While the majority of Zimbabweans speak Shona (75%) and Ndebele (18%) as a first language, standard English is the primary language used in education, government, commerce and media in Zimbabwe, giving it an important role in society. Just under 5 percent of Zimbabweans are native English speakers and 89 percent of the population can speak English fluently or at a high level, second only to the Seychelles (93 percent) amongst African nations. Casual observers tend to have difficulty in placing the Zimbabwean accent, as it differs from those that are clearly from British, South African or other African Englishes; like other English dialects, the accent tends to vary between individuals based on education, class and ethnic background. To Americans, it sounds slightly British, while British speakers find the accent rather old-fashioned and either nasal or somewhat twangy or African-influe ...
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Christianity In Zimbabwe
Christianity is the largest religion practiced in Zimbabwe, accounted for more than 84% of the population.Inter Censal Demography Survey 2017 Report
Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (2017)
The arrival of Christianity dates back to the 16th century by Portuguese missionaries such as Fr. Gonsalo Da Silveira of the Roman Catholic Church. Christianity is embraced by the majority of the population. It is estimated 85 percent of Zimbabweans claim to be , with approximately 62 percent regularly attending church services.
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Shona People
The Shona people () are part of the Bantu ethnic group native to Southern Africa, primarily living in Zimbabwe where they form the majority of the population, as well as Mozambique, South Africa, and a worldwide diaspora including global celebrities such as Thandiwe Newton. There are five major Shona language/dialect clusters : Karanga, Zezuru, Korekore, Manyika and Ndau. Regional classification The Shona people are grouped according to the dialect of the language they speak. Their estimated population is 16.6 million: * Karanga or Southern Shona (about 8.5 million people) * Zezuru or Central Shona (5.2 million people) * Korekore or Northern Shona (1.7 million people) * Manyika tribe or Eastern Shona (1.2 million) in Zimbabwe (861,000) and Mozambique (173,000). * Ndau in Mozambique (1,580,000) and Zimbabwe (800,000). History During the 11th century, the Karanga people formed kingdoms on the Zimbabwe plateau. Construction, then, began on Great Zimbabwe; the capital of t ...
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Shona Language
Shona (; sn, chiShona) is a Bantu language of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. It was codified by the colonial government in the 1950s. According to ''Ethnologue'', Shona, comprising the Zezuru, Korekore and Karanga dialects, is spoken by about 7.5 million people. The Manyika dialect of Shona is listed separately by ''Ethnologue'', and is spoken by 1,025,000 people. The larger group of historically related languages—called Shona languages by linguists—also includes Ndau (Eastern Shona) and Kalanga (Western Shona). Instruction Shona is a written standard language with an orthography and grammar that was codified during the early 20th century and fixed in the 1950s. In the 1920s, the Rhodesian administration was faced with the challenge of preparing schoolbooks and other materials in the various languages and dialects and requested the recommendation of South African linguist Clement Doke. The first novel in Shona, Solomon Mutswairo's ''Feso'', was published in 1957. Shona ...
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Northern Ndebele People
The Northern Ndebele people ( nd, amaNdebele) are an offshoot of the Bantu found in Southern Africa. Their three related Ndebele groups in South Africa are divided into (Northern and Southern Ndebele), the Northern Ndebele of South Africa comprise three tribes, namely ndebele of Langa/Laka, ndebele of Ndzundza & Mghumbhane/ mokopone-Mashashani who are ndebele of kekana (Manala) whereas the Southern Ndebele comprise mzilikazi they are a young compared to those of Langa & Ndzundza . This "Northern Ndebele" group from Zimbabwe is not the same as the Northern Ndebele group from South Africa and the two groups are not related either genealogically or historically, however, the Northern Ndebele and Southern Ndebele of South Africa are related genealogically and historically. They speak a language called isiNdebele. The Northern Ndebele were historically referred to as the Matabele by Sotho people, for a Nguni speaking person. Sotho people called all Nguni-speaking people 'Matebe ...
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Northern Ndebele Language
Northern Ndebele (), also called Ndebele, isiNdebele saseNyakatho, Zimbabwean Ndebele or North Ndebele, associated with the term Matabele, is a Bantu language spoken by the Northern Ndebele people which belongs to the Nguni group of languages. As a start and to give some context, Ndebele is a term used to refer to a collection of many different African cultures in Zimbabwe. It perhaps by default became a 'language' (for lack of better word) spoken predominantly by the descendants of Mzilikazi. As a language, it is by no means similar to the Ndebele language spoken in kwaNdebele in South Africa although, like many Nguni dialects, some words will be shared. Many of the natives that were colonized by the Matabele were assimilated into Mzilikazi's kingdom to create a version of isiZulu. The Matebele people of Zimbabwe descend from followers of the Zulu leader Mzilikazi (one of Zulu King Shaka's generals), who left the Zulu Kingdom in the early 19th century, during the Mfecane, arr ...
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Kalanga Language
Kalanga, or ''TjiKalanga'' (in Zimbabwe), is a Bantu language spoken by the Kalanga people in Botswana and Zimbabwe. It has an extensive phoneme inventory, which includes palatalised, velarised, aspirated and breathy-voiced consonants, as well as whistled sibilants. Kalanga is recognised as an official language by the Zimbabwean Constitution of 2013 and is taught in schools in areas where its speakers predominate.The iKalanga language is closely related to the Nambya, TshiVenda, and KheLobedu languages of Zimbabwe and South Africa. Classification and varieties Linguists place Kalanga (S.16 in Guthrie's classification) and Nambya (in the Hwange region of Zimbabwe) as the western branch of the Shona group (or Shonic, or Shona-Nyai) group of languages, collectively coded as S.10. Kalanga has a dialectal variation between its Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern ...
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Zimbabwean Sign Languages
Several Zimbabwean sign languages developed independently among deaf students in different Zimbabwean schools for the deaf starting in the 1940s. It is not clear how many languages they are, as little research has been done; Masvingo School Sign is known to be different from that of other schools, but each school apparently has a separate sign language, and these are different from the community language or languages used outside of the schools. American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canadians, Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual lang ... is reported to be used, but it is not clear to what extent. "Sign language", without further clarification, became one of Zimbabwe's official national languages with the Constitution of 2013. References Sign language isolates Languages of Zimbabwe {{sign ...
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