Other ethnic groups who inhabit parts of Matabeleland include the Tonga, Bakalanga, Venda, Nambya, Khoisan, Xhosa, Sotho, Tswana, and Tsonga.

The capital and largest city is Bulawayo, other notable towns are Plumtree, Victoria Falls, Beitbridge, Lupane, Esigodini, Hwange Gwanda and Maphisa.

Mzilikazi, a former general under Shaka, organised this ethnically diverse nation into a militaristic system of regimental towns and established his capital at Bulawayo ("the place of killing").

The area, settled by the Zezuru people, remnants of the Mwenemutapa kingdom, while the European powers increasingly became interested in the region.

Gold was already known to exist, but with the Rudd concession, Rhodes was able in 1889 to obtain a royal charter to form the British South Africa Company.

The first decisive battle was fought on 1 November 1893, when a laager was attacked on open ground near the Bembesi River by Imbizo and Ingubo regiments.

This incident had a lasting influence on Matabeleland nationalism and spirit of resistance and the colonists who died in this battle are buried at Matobo Hills along with Jameson and Cecil Rhodes.

In white Rhodesian history, Wilson's battle takes on the status of General Custer's stand at Little Big Horn in the United States.

Lobengula died in January 1894, under mysterious circumstances; within a few short months the British South Africa Company controlled Matabeleland, and white settlers continued to arrive.

In March 1896, the Ndebele revolted against the authority of the British South Africa Company in what is now celebrated in Zimbabwe as the First Chimurenga, i.e., First War of Independence.

He convinced the Ndebele 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.

The British would immediately send troops to suppress the Ndebele and the Shona, only it would take months and cost many hundreds of lives before the territory would be once again be at peace.

Shortly after learning of the assassination of Mlimo at the hands of the American scout Frederick Russell Burnham, Cecil Rhodes walked unarmed into the Ndebele stronghold in Matobo Hills and persuaded the impi to lay down their arms, thus bringing the war to a close in October 1896.

[7] Later, Baden-Powell wrote a number of books on Scouting, and even started to train and make use of adolescent boys, most famously during the Siege of Mafeking, during the Second Boer War.

Ten years later, the British South Africa Company ceded its mineral rights to the territory's government for £2 million.

25% was designated "Tribal Trust Land", which was available to be worked on a collective basis by the already settled farmers and where individual title was not offered.

They are said to have been carried out by some military elements mainly alleged to be a now disbanded fifth brigade, a paramilitary force that was trained in North Korea, from early 1983 to late 1987.

[citation needed] Greater Matabeleland has rich central plains, watered by tributaries of the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers, allowing it to sustain cattle and consistently produce large amounts of cotton and maize.