Chimurenga is a Shona word for 'revolutionary struggle'. The word's modern interpretation has been extended to describe a struggle for human rights, political dignity and social justice, specifically used for the African insurrections against British colonial rule 1896–1897 (First Chimurenga) and the guerrilla war against the white minority regime of Rhodesia 1966–1980 (Second Chimurenga).

The concept is also occasionally used in reference to the land reform programme undertaken by the Government of Zimbabwe since 2000 (so-called Third Chimurenga).

The expression is also used in context with modern Zimbabwean music, Chimurenga music.

The First Chimurenga is now celebrated in Zimbabwe as the First War of Independence, it is also known in the English speaking world as the Second Matabele War. This conflict refers to the 1896–1897 Ndebele-Shona revolt against colonial rule by the British South Africa Company.

Mlimo, the Matabele spiritual/religious leader, is credited with fomenting much of the anger that led to this confrontation. He convinced the Ndebele and Shona that the white settlers (almost 4,000 strong by then) were responsible for the drought, locust plagues and the cattle disease rinderpest ravaging the country at the time. Mlimo's call to battle was well timed. Only a few months earlier, the British South Africa Company's Administrator General for Matabeleland, Leander Starr Jameson, had sent most of his troops and armaments to fight the Transvaal Republic in the ill-fated Jameson Raid. This left the country's defenses in disarray. The Ndebele began their revolt in March 1896.