Colonial Rule and the Rise of Nationalism: notes

Settler laws

• Land Apportionment Act (1930): shared land by race and gave the best land to whites.
• Land Husbandry Act (1951): forced changes in farming and removed many Africans from the land.
• Discrimination: Africans had poorer schools, lower pay and separate housing and services.

Rise of nationalism

• Nationalism: the wish of a people to rule themselves.
• Early voices were trade unions and African associations.
• ZAPU (1961) and ZANU (1963): the main nationalist parties. The government banned them and detained their leaders.
• Federation (1953 to 1963): Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland were joined. Africans opposed it because it kept white control.

UDI

• In 1965 the Rhodesian Front under Ian Smith declared independence from Britain without agreement (Unilateral Declaration of Independence).
• Britain and the United Nations placed sanctions on the country.

Common mistake

UDI was a declaration by the white settler government, not independence for the people.