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30-625: By 1899, Chitambo's village had dispersed to another site after the death of the chief, and the tree was decaying. It was cut down by Robert Codrington who had been sent by the British Commissioner Alfred Sharpe to prepare the way for a permanent memorial. He made a clearing in the forest and had the carving removed and sent to the Royal Geographical Society 's museum in London . The memorial

60-641: A short stabbing-spear or assegai (also the principal weapon of the Zulu people ). For defence, they carried large oval shields of ox-hide, either black, white, red, or speckled according to the impi (regiment) they belonged to. The Ndebele maintained their position due to the greater size and tight discipline in the army, to which every able-bodied man in the tribe owed service. "The Ndebele army, consisting of 15,000 men in 40 regiments [was] based around Lobengula's capital of Bulawayo ." In 1870 King Lobengula granted Sir John Swinburne 's London and Limpopo Mining Company

90-473: Is now called Matabeleland in western Zimbabwe , but they claimed sovereignty over a much wider area. Members of the tribe had a privileged position against outsiders whose lives were subject to the will of the king. In return for their privileges, however, the Ndebele people both men and women had to submit to a strict discipline and status within the hierarchy. That set out their duties and responsibilities to

120-557: The Battle of the Shangani . As early as December 1893, it was reported that Lobengula had been very sick, but his death sometime in early 1894 was kept a secret for many months, and the cause of his death remains uncertain. By October 1897, the white colonists had successfully settled in much of the territory known later as Rhodesia . He had well over 20 wives, possibly many more; among them were Xwalile , daughter of king Mzila of

150-554: The British Central Africa Protectorate , also known as Nyasaland (later Malawi ). He rose rapidly through the colonial ranks and as a result of his military experience he was given the job of conquering the Ngoni and Yao by force and stamping out the last vestiges of the slave trade in the area. He was a practical man and he solved the shortage of British people in the territory available to run

180-654: The Kazembe-Lunda . In 1907, Codrington was appointed Administrator of North-Western Rhodesia based at Livingstone , but only served a year before his death. In that time he reorganised its administration in a similar fashion to North-Eastern Rhodesia, paving the way for the two territories to be merged in 1911. Codrington studied ethnological aspects of Africa, and collected cultural artefacts . While some of these had been taken from their rightful owners by slave traders whom he had defeated, many valuable pieces including very old works of Luba origin were taken from

210-538: The Royal Navy , but instead he went to southern Africa and joined the Bechuanaland Border Police in 1890. In 1893 this force took part in the occupation of Matabeleland by white settlers , the overthrow of its ruler, Lobengula , and the taking of African land by force, which still has violent consequences in today's Zimbabwe . Codrington was then appointed Collector of Revenue in

240-559: The colonial Administrator of the two territories ruled by the British South Africa Company (BSAC) which became present-day Zambia . He was Administrator of North-Eastern Rhodesia , based at Fort Jameson , now Chipata, from 11 July 1898 to 24 April 1907, and then of North-Western Rhodesia , based at Livingstone from February 1908 to his death in London on 16 December 1908 from heart disease at age 39. He laid

270-684: The Matabele in addition to a pledge that any people who came to dig would be considered as living in his kingdom. As part of this agreement, and at the insistence of the British, neither the Boers nor the Portuguese would be permitted to settle or gain concessions in Matabeleland. Although, Lobengula was illiterate and was not aware of how damaging this contract was to his country, only found out

300-722: The administration by appointing Africans educated by the Scottish missionaries in Nyasaland. In this way he helped support education generally and establish a group of Nyasaland African administrators (though he kept them subordinate to the whites ) who were influential there and in Northern Rhodesia. This set him against the settlers especially in Southern Rhodesia who opposed education and employment of native people other than in manual labour. He came to

330-556: The attention of Cecil Rhodes who appointed him at the age of 29 as Deputy Administrator, later Administrator (equivalent to Governor), of North-Eastern Rhodesia, charged with subduing by force any opposition to the BSAC's rule. He used military approaches to administration and leadership, and his African nickname 'Mara' relates to his saying 'it is settled', by which he terminated any discussion, reflecting his use of his authority. He brought in staff and workers from Nyasaland. Although he saw

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360-441: The base and were replaced in the early 1950s by iron chains. When the top of the obelisk was damaged, the repairs included a bronze cross placed on top of it. The Memorial is reached from the tarred Serenje - Samfya highway via a turn-off to the north, which is 10 km northeast from the turn-off south to Kasanka National Park . A gravel road of about 30 km reaches the memorial in woodland. David Livingstone did not die "on

390-590: The choicest meats were offered to Mlimo, the Ndebele spiritual leader, and to the dead Mzilikazi. Great quantities of millet beer were also consumed. About 10,000 Matabele warriors in full war costume attended the crowning of Lobengula. Their costumes consisted of a headdress and short cape made of black ostrich feathers, a kilt made of leopard or other skins and ornamented with the tails of white cattle. Around their arms they wore similar tails and around their ankles they wore rings of brass and other metals. Their weapons consisted of one or more long spears for throwing and

420-464: The court of Mwata Kazembe by the British punitive expedition sent by him against Mwata Kazembe X in 1897, and these he kept. They were placed in 1920 in a museum in Southern Rhodesia , 1000 km from their Kazembe-Lunda owners. He wrote a number of articles for the Royal Geographical Society . Codrington was, after Cecil Rhodes, one of the chief architects of British rule in central Africa. Although portrayed by some writers as kind and just, he

450-528: The floodplain to the Lulimala River. The memorial is 5 km south of the Lulimala, 10 km south of the edge of the floodplain, and 40 km from the edge of the permanent swamps. There is a visitors' book in the nearby village health centre. There are now four bronze plaques on the monument, and the most recent of which was added in 1973 reads: "After 100 years David Livingstone's spirit and

480-477: The foundation for the amalgamation of the two territories as Northern Rhodesia four years later. His administration was influential in establishing British colonial government in Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland and making them different in character from white-settler-led Southern Rhodesia . Codrington was born in the United Kingdom into a Gloucestershire family with a background of service in

510-612: The hands of trained administrators. These factors helped put Zambia and Malawi on a different path from Southern Rhodesia, helping them gain peaceful independence more than fifteen years before Zimbabwe. Lobengula Lobengula Khumalo (c. 1835 – c. 1894) was the second and last official king of the Northern Ndebele people (historically called Matabele in English). Both names in the Ndebele language mean "the men of

540-452: The long shields", a reference to the Ndebele warriors' use of the Nguni shield . The Matabele were descendants of a faction of the Zulu people who fled north during the reign of Shaka following the mfecane ("the crushing") or difaqane ("the scattering"). Shaka's general, Mzilikazi led his followers away from Zulu territory after a falling-out. In the late 1830s, they settled in what

570-457: The love of God so animated his friends of all races that they gathered here in thanksgiving on 1st May 1973 led by Dr Kenneth David Kaunda President of the Republic of Zambia." 12°18′00″S 30°17′28″E  /  12.30000°S 30.29111°E  / -12.30000; 30.29111 Robert Edward Codrington Robert Edward Codrington (6 January 1869 – 16 December 1908) was

600-490: The question was ultimately decided by the arbitration of the assegai , with Lobengula and his impis crushing the rebels. Lobengula's courage in the battle led to his unanimous selection as king. The coronation of Lobengula took place at Mhlahlandlela, one of the principal military towns. The Ndebele nation assembled in the form of a large semicircle, performed a war dance, and declared their willingness to fight and die for Lobengula. A great number of cattle were slaughtered, and

630-424: The real terms of the contract he signed as his subjects found out. After going to friendly English missionaries to confirm this rumor, Lobengula sent two emissaries to the British queen, Victoria , but this proved futile. They were delayed by Alfred Beit 's associates at the port. As a last resort, Lobengula formally protested the contract to the queen on 23 April 1889. As a response from the queen's advisor, Lobengula

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660-518: The rest of society. Infringements of any social responsibility were punished with death, subject to the king's seldom-awarded reprieve. This tight discipline and loyalty were the secret of the Ndebele's success in dominating their neighbours. After the death of Mzilikazi, the first king of the Ndebele nation, in 1868, the izinduna , or chiefs, offered the crown to Lobengula, one of Mzilikazi's sons from an inferior wife. Several impis (regiments) led by Chief Mbiko Masuku disputed Lobengula's ascent, and

690-638: The right to search for gold and other minerals on a tract of land in the extreme southwest of Matabeleland along the Tati River between the Shashe and Ramaquabane rivers, in what became known as the Tati Concession . However, it was not until about 1890 that any significant mining in the area commenced. Lobengula had been tolerant of the white hunters who came to Matabeleland ; he would even go so far as to punish those of his tribe who threatened

720-512: The scene, had opened up Bemba lands to the British, and had been accepted so completely he had been offered a Bemba chieftainship. However, Codrington saw the practical value of Dupont staying and invited him to sit next to him at a Bemba coronation. He worked closely with Alfred Sharpe , the Governor in Nyasaland, and with the latter's military assistance ensured the subjugation of the Bemba and

750-557: The shores of Lake Bangweulu ", as stated in some publications, but 100 km south-east of the lake, near the edge of the floodplain which borders the Bangweulu Swamps. The area was not in Barotseland as stated in other sources. Livingstone had been trying to discover the rivers flowing in and out of the swamps, but he did so at the end of the rainy season when the annual flood carried his party's boats at his crib across

780-559: The value in allowing missions in his new territory to provide educated personnel and tradesmen (since the BSAC did not provide such education), he controlled the incursion of missionaries to prevent conflict with tribes such as the Bemba who might be hostile to them. His administration initially told the French Catholic bishop Joseph Dupont that he had to leave, even though he had set up in Bemba territory before Codrington arrived on

810-448: The whites. However, when a British team (Francis Thompson, Charles Rudd and Rochfort Maguire ) came in 1888 to try to persuade him to grant them the right to dig for minerals in additional parts of his territory, he was wary about entering into negotiations. Lobengula gave his agreement only when his friend, Leander Starr Jameson , a qualified medical doctor who had once treated Lobengula for gout, proposed to secure money and weaponry for

840-510: Was paternalistic towards Africans and uncompromising in his view of the superiority of the British. Though he had taken part in the bloody events in Matabeleland, three aspects of his later work influenced the course of history north of the Zambezi in more peaceful ways. He encouraged African education and employed them in administration, he instigated indirect rule through local chiefs, and he opposed rule by white settlers, keeping it firmly in

870-491: Was constructed in 1902 by Owen Stroud and some African artisans who travelled from Fort Jameson (now Chipata ) to do the job. The site was still marked by the clearing made by Codrington. Stroud built an obelisk around 6 m high from burnt brick plastered with smooth cement and attached to it two brass plaques sent from London. (These were replaced around 1935 by spare copies and in the 1950s by bronze replicas.) Four brick and wooden posts with iron and wooden rails were set up around

900-486: Was told it was "impossible for them to exclude white men". Lobengula informed Queen Victoria he and his Indunas would recognize the contract as they believe he was tricked. The 25-year Rudd Concession was signed by Lobengula on 30 October 1888. The First Matabele War began in October 1893, and the British South Africa Company 's overwhelming military force led to devastating losses for the Ndebele warriors, notably at

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