Provinces of Zimbabwe

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Updates: 

I accidentally transposed two digits in the 1992 population of Mashonaland Central. It's fixed now.

Renato de Mello-Silva questioned the Portuguese names for Zimbabwe that I had listed. I did some checking, and revised them.

There is sufficient evidence that the capital of Matabeleland North province has moved from Bulawayo to Lupane. A 2002 report from the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names  says, "the administrative centre of Matabeleland North was recently moved from Bulawayo to Lupane." A May 2002 Zimbabwe Situation  report mentions "Lupane, the Matabeleland North capital". A report from Inter Press Service , apparently dated 2003-10-23, says "Lupane ... was declared the capital of Zimbabwe's Matabeleland North province four years ago." Similar evidence shows that the capital of Mashonaland East has moved from Harare to Marondera, but no date can be established for the move.

The Zimbabwe Relief and Recovery  page has 1992 and 2002 census figures for the provinces and districts of Zimbabwe. They are described as coming from "Census 1992, Preliminary Report, Central Statistical Office" and "Census 2002, Preliminary Results Summary, Central Statistical Office", respectively. There are two discrepancies between the figures given on that site for 1992 and the figures previously shown on this page. Mashonaland Central has 875,318 according to Relief, 857,318 according to my former data; Midlands has 1,302,214 according to Relief, 1,302,212 according to my former data. The total population, according to Relief, is 10,401,767, which is compatible with only one combination of the putative populations. If you use my figure for Mashonaland Central and Relief's figure for Midlands, the total comes out right. So I chose that combination.

Change Notice 8 to FIPS PUB 10-4 is dated 2002-06-28. It lists codes for the new cities with provincial status, Bulawayo and Harare.

International standard ISO 3166-2 was published on December 15, 1998. It superseded ISO/DIS 3166-2 (draft international standard). For Zimbabwe, the draft standard showed eight provinces. The final standard shows the same eight provinces, with the same codes, and two new divisions, which are cities with provincial status: Bulawayo and Harare.

Country overview: 

Southern Rhodesia was a territory administered by the British South Africa Company at the start of the 20th century. It became a British colony in 1923. It joined in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland during that entity's term of existence (1953-1963), and then returned to colony status. In an attempt to retain a European-dominated government, it declared independence unilaterally. After some 14 years as a pariah state, it gave up the attempt and became fully independent as Zimbabwe.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Zimbabwe
2. Dutch: Zimbabwe, Republiek Zimbabwe (formal)
3. English: Republic of Zimbabwe (formal), Southern Rhodesia (obsolete)
4. Finnish: Zimbabwe
5. French: Zimbabwe m
6. German: Simbabwe n
7. Icelandic: Simbabve
8. Italian: Zimbabwe
9. Norwegian: Zimbabwe, Republikken Zimbabwe (formal)
10. Portuguese: Zimbabwe, Zimbábue (Brazil), República f do Zimbábue m (formal)
11. Spanish: Zimbabue, República f de Zimbabue (formal)
12. Swedish: Zimbabwe
13. Turkish: Zimbabve, Zimbabve Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

Named for ancient capital in ruins, whose name is Bantu zimba: palace, bwe: stone

Primary subdivisions: 

Zimbabwe is divided into eight provinces and two cities with provincial status.

Further subdivisions:

See the Districts of Zimbabwe page.

Origins of names: 

Manica, Mashona, and Matabele are all ethnic names.

Change history: 

1. 1923-10-01: Southern Rhodesia became a British colony.
2. 1953-07-14: British Parliament passed the Rhodesia and Nyasaland Federation Act, by which Northern Rhodesia protectorate, Nyasaland protectorate, and Southern Rhodesia colony were joined in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (capital Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia). At this time, the divisions of Southern Rhodesia were Mashonaland and Matabeleland.
3. The 1957 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica World Atlas lists five provinces of Southern Rhodesia: Bulawayo, Gwelo, Salisbury, Umtari, and Victoria. It gives no details of area and population. Judging solely by the names, I would guess that Bulawayo corresponds to Matabeleland, Gwelo to Midlands, Salisbury to Mashonaland, Umtari to Manicaland, and Victoria to Masvingo.
4. 1963-12-31: Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland dissolved into its original components.
5. 1965-11-11: Southern Rhodesia declared independence unilaterally, taking the name Rhodesia.
6. ~1974: Matabeleland split into Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South.
7. 1979: Rhodesia began to style itself "Zimbabwe Rhodesia" as it moved toward integration.
8. 1979-12-12: Zimbabwe Rhodesia returned to the status of a British colony.
9. 1980-04-18: The country attained independence and changed its name to Republic of Zimbabwe. Name of the capital changed from Salisbury to Harare. The names of Victoria province and its capital, Fort Victoria, began to fall out of favor and be replaced by the native name Masvingo.
10. ~1981: Mashonaland North split into Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland West (part); Mashonaland South split into Mashonaland East and Mashonaland West (part). Part of Matabeleland South around the city of Zvishavane annexed to Midlands.
11. ~1997: Bulawayo city split from Matabeleland North province; Harare split from Mashonaland East.
12. ~2000: Capital of Mashonaland East province moved from Harare to Marondera. Capital of Matabeleland North province moved from Bulawayo to Lupane.

Other names of subdivisions: 

Masvingo: Victoria (obsolete)