Matebele

Second Matebele War

In March 1896, the Matebele revolted against the authority of the BSAC in what is now celebrated in Mthwakazi as the First War of Independence. After a year of drought and cattle sickness, Mlimo, the Matebele spiritual leader, is credited with fomenting much of the anger that led to this confrontation. The Matebele retreated into their stronghold of the Matobo Hills near KwaBulawayo, which became the scene of the fiercest fighting against the white settler patrols, led by military figures such as Frederick Russell Burnham, Robert Baden-Powell, and Frederick Selous. Hundreds of white settlers and uncounted Matebele and Mashona were killed over the next year and a half. The Matebele military defiance ended only when Burnham found and assassinated Mlimo. Upon learning of Mlimo's death, Rhodes walked into the Matebele stronghold and persuaded the leaders to lay down their arms. This final uprising thus ended in October 1897; Matebeleland and Mashonaland were later renamed Rhodesia.