Category: zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in southern Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique. The capital and largest city is Harare.
A country of roughly 16 million people, Zimbabwe has 16 official languages, with English, Shona, and Ndebele the most commonly used.
Since the 11th century, present-day Zimbabwe has been the site of several organised states and kingdoms as well as a major route for migration and trade. The British South Africa Company of Cecil Rhodes first demarcated the present territory during the 1890s; it became the self-governing British colony of Southern Rhodesia in 1923. In 1965, the conservative white minority government unilaterally declared independence as Rhodesia. The state endured international isolation and a 15-year guerrilla war with black nationalist forces; this culminated in a peace agreement that established universal enfranchisement and de jure sovereignty as Zimbabwe in April 1980. Zimbabwe then joined the Commonwealth of Nations, from which it was suspended in 2002 for breaches of international law by its then-government, and from which it withdrew in December 2003. The sovereign state is a member of the United Nations, the Southern African Development Community -SADC, the African Union -AU, and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa -COMESA. It was once known as the “Jewel of Africa” for its prosperity under the former Rhodesian administration.
Животный мир Зимбабве довольно разнообразен. В малонаселённых районах страны встречаются антилопы -импала, стенбок и другие, буйволы, жирафы, зебры, слоны, носороги, львы, бегемоты, леопарды, гиены, земляные волки. Много птиц, ящериц, змей, в том числе африканский питон; в реках водятся крокодилы. Распространены различные виды муравьёв и термитов; на Севере – муха цеце. Под угрозой исчезновения числятся 9 видов птиц и млекопитающих, в том числе черные носороги, половина мировой популяции которых проживает в Зимбабве, а также 73 вида растений. Для охраны животного и растительного мира создан ряд заповедников и национальных парков около 10 % территории страны, наиболее крупные из них – Хванге, Матусадона, Виктория-Фолс, Мана-Пулс.
