The Shangani is a river in
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 Mozam ...
that starts near
Gweru
Gweru is a city in central Zimbabwe. Near the geographical centre of the country. It is on the centre of Midlands Province. Originally an area known to the Northern Ndebele people, Ndebele as "The Steep Place" because of the Gweru River's high ...
,
Gweru River
Gweru River (known as Gwelo River until 1982) is a river in Midlands Province of Zimbabwe.
Background
The name Gweru is a further distortion of the name Gwelo which was a distortion of the name Ikwelo meaning a very steep place where one would u ...
being one of its main tributaries' and goes through
Midlands
The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...
and
Matabeleland North
Matabeleland North is a Provinces of Zimbabwe, province in western Zimbabwe. With a population of 749,017 as of the Zimbabwean census, 2012, 2012 census, it is the country's second-least populous province, after Matabeleland South Province, Matab ...
provinces. It empties into the
Gwayi River
Gwayi River is a river in Zimbabwe. It is located in Matabeleland
Matabeleland is a region located in southwestern Zimbabwe that is divided into three provinces: Matabeleland North, Bulawayo, and Matabeleland South. These provinces are in t ...
.
The Shangani River was the site of the 4 December 1893
Shangani Patrol
The Shangani Patrol (or Wilson's Patrol) was a 34-soldier unit of the British South Africa Company that in 1893 was ambushed and annihilated by more than 3,000 Matabele warriors in pre-Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), during the First Matab ...
battle in which Major
Allan Wilson and 31 men of the
British South Africa Company
The British South Africa Company (BSAC or BSACo) was chartered in 1889 following the amalgamation of Cecil Rhodes' Central Search Association and the London-based Exploring Company Ltd, which had originally competed to capitalize on the expecte ...
were killed by the Matabele warriors. Only two Americans,
Frederick Russell Burnham
Frederick Russell Burnham DSO (May 11, 1861 – September 1, 1947) was an American scout and world-traveling adventurer. He is known for his service to the British South Africa Company and to the British Army in colonial Africa, and for teach ...
and Pete Ingram, and one Australian, W.L. Gooding, survived the attack.
References
Rivers of Zimbabwe
{{Zimbabwe-river-stub