- published: 21 Jul 2015
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Northern Rhodesia was a territory in south central Africa, formed in 1911. It became independent in 1964 as Zambia.
It was initially administered under charter by the British South Africa Company and formed by it in 1911 by amalgamating North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodesia. Although it had features of a charter colony the territory's treaties and charter gave it protectorate status. From 1924 it was administered by the British government as an official British protectorate.
The geographical, as opposed to political, term "Rhodesia" referred to a region generally comprising the areas that are today Zambia and Zimbabwe. From 1964 it only referred to the former Southern Rhodesia.
The name "Rhodesia" was derived from Cecil John Rhodes, the British empire-builder who was a guiding figure in British expansion north of the Limpopo River into south-central Africa. Rhodes pushed British influence into the region by obtaining mineral rights from local chiefs under questionable circumstances. After making a vast fortune in mining in South Africa, it was his ambition to extend the British Empire north, all the way to Cairo if possible. He sent European settlers into the territory that became Southern Rhodesia, and encouraged and financed British expeditions to bring areas north of the Zambezi into the British sphere of influence.