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Category Archives: African History
Union Jack at Fort Salisbury
This is the eighth installment in a series about Rhodesia. It concludes this portion of the series. We will leave Rhodesia for a while to explore other topics, but we will return to the subject to cover the Matabele Wars … Continue reading
Posted in African History, British History, History
Tagged Cecil Rhodes, E.G. Pennefather, Frank Johnson, Frederick Selous, Lobengula, Paul Methuen, Pioneer Column
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The friendly Dr. Jim
This is the seventh installment in a series about Rhodesia. The party of Royal Horse Guards in their dashing uniforms had brought the Queen’s message to Lobengula: the “wisest and safest course” for him was to carry out his agreement … Continue reading
The betrayal of Lobengula
This is the sixth installment in a series about Rhodesia. Lobengula had investigated the white concessionaires and the missionaries, and determined that the Rudd concession was a fraud. Its sole purpose was to deceive him into giving away his country. … Continue reading
From Bulawayo to London
This is the fifth installment of a series about Rhodesia. Lobengula’s envoys and the two white men who accompanied them, Maund and Colenbrander, arrived in Southampton early March, 1889. Babayane and Mshete wore western-style hats and three-piece suits, not any … Continue reading
Repercussions of the Rudd concession
This is the fourth installment of a series about Rhodesia. When Lobengula first put his mark to the Rudd document, he must have felt satisfied. He’d finally solved his problem of dealing with the swarms of white petitioners who came … Continue reading
Posted in African History, British History, History
Tagged Cecil Rhodes, Edward Maund, Lobengula, Lord Knutsford, Rudd concession, Sir Hercules Robinson
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The Rudd concession
This is the third installment of a series about Rhodesia. Lobengula had grown weary of the continuous stream of concessionists and big-game hunters who came to his royal kraal begging favors. He posted a notice at the entry point to … Continue reading
Lobengula and the concession hunters
This is the second installment in a series about Rhodesia. King Lobengula of the Matabele found himself extraordinarily popular with white men—too popular. Day in and day out, they rode in their wagons to the royal residence at Bulawayo, where … Continue reading
Cecil Rhodes and British expansionism
This is the first of a series about Rhodesia. “I contend that we are the first race in the world, and that the more of the world we inhabit the better off it is for the human race.”*—Cecil Rhodes It … Continue reading
G.W. Williams and the horror in the Congo
He was a huckster, a poseur, a man who claimed falsely to have earned the rank of colonel in the U.S. Army and to possess a doctoral degree. Careless about paying bills, he was often pursued by creditors. In the … Continue reading
1870 to 1918 