Concession, which gave the grantees complete and exclusive charge over all metals and
minerals situated in Lobengula’s Kingdom, together with full power to do such things as
might be deemed necessary to win and procure the same.
Armed with this concession Rhodes obtained from Britain the Royal Charter of the British
South Africa Company, duly sealed under letters patent signed by Queen Victoria in October,
1889 “to acquire by any concession, agreement, grant or treaty, all or any rights, interests,
authorities, jurisdictions and powers of any kind or nature whatever, including powers
necessary for the purposes of government, and the preservation of public order in or for the
protection of territories, lands or property comprised or referred to in the concessions and
agreements made as aforesaid or affecting other territories, lands, or property in Africa, or
the inhabitants thereof, to hold, use and exercise such territories, lands, property, rights,
interests, authorities, jurisdictions and powers respectively for the purposes of the Company
and on the terms of this our Charter”.
These powers were subject to the approval of the Colonial Secretary in Britian, who had a
right of veto on most of the actions of the chartered company.
The Charter gave the company other useful powers. It could raise its own police force and fly
its own flag. It could make roads, railways, telegraphs and harbours. It could establish banks
and conduct mining operations. It could settle territories that it acquired and it could irrigate
and clear land.
Having obtained the Charter, Rhodes’ next move was to organise the occupation of
Mashunaland by the Pioneer Column, consisting of about 200 pioneers and settlers escorted
by 350 mounted police and followed by approximately 400 black and coloured auxiliaries.
The Pioneer Column crossed into Zimbabwe on 5th July, 1890 and raised the Union Jack on a
patch of ground now called Africa Unity Square in Harare on 13th September, 1890.
What did the pioneers come to? A country which in its final definition was 39 million hectares
or 97 million acres in size, containing a native population of about half a million people i.e. a
population density of approximately 200 acres for every man, woman and child in the
country. The climate was in the main neither too hot nor too cold and the rainfall enabled the
successful production of crops in most areas. Of course agriculture was not the first priority
of the pioneers. Most of them had joined the venture in the hope of making their fortunes by
gold mining. Zimbabwe does have gold over a widely scattered area but the huge deposits of
the Rand were not found and very few of the pioneers made their fortune in this way. As the
country developed, however, numerous other minerals were found such as platinum, nickel,
chrome, copper and coal. All of these have had a substantial part in the subsequent
development of Zimbabwe. Two weeks after the pioneers arrived at Harare they were
demobilised to take up the 15 mining claims promised to each of them as well as a farm and
so it was that having received three months rations and being allowed to retain his rifle and
100 rounds of ammunition, each pioneer dispersed to stake his claims and find his farm.
Farming did not play an important part in the country’s economic life at first. There was little
or no market for the crops that could be produced and most of the pioneers settled down to
gold prospecting, trading and to transport riding. Hardly any of them managed to make any
money and in fact most of them later left the country. In his book “The Pioneers of
Mashonaland” Darter investigates the fortunes of 184 pioneers in 1914. Of these only 25
were still living in the country, 24 were known to have been killed and 45 had died a natural
death. This illustrates how few, if any, of the present day white farmers of Zimbabwe are
descendants of the original pioneers and inherited farms given to their pioneer forefathers as
pioneer grants. During the first years of the occupation of Mashonaland the number of farms
settled by whites were so small in relation to the size of the country that Africans at first
suffered very little pressure from the newcomers. Most of the early settlers selected their
land on the heavy red and black loams that are to be found on the plateau surrounding
Harare. The Mashona tribes sometimes worked red soils. On the whole, however, they stuck
to light coloured granite country sandy soils situated in rugged regions broken by kopjes
capable of affording natural defence in times of war. Their women, with hoes, could scratch
sand soils with less effort than heavy loams. These light soils were not sought after by
pioneers intent on growing maize and only acquired commercial value when tobacco farming
became important.
It was only after the conquest of Matabeleland in 1893 that the land issue came into focus.
Settlers received farms of 6000 acres in extent, double the size of those in Mashonaland as
