White Zimbabweans

White Zimbabweans (formerly White Rhodesians) are an ethnocultural Southern African people of European descent. Most are English-speaking descendants of British settlers; a small minority are either Afrikaans-speaking descendants of mostly Dutch originating Afrikaners from South Africa or descendants of Greek, Irish, Portuguese, Italian, and Jewish immigrants.

Following the establishment of the colony of Southern Rhodesia by Britain, white settlers began to move to the territory and slowly developed rural and urban communities. From 1923, the settlers concentrated on developing rich mineral resources and agricultural land in the area. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the number of white people emigrating to Rhodesia from Britain, Europe and other parts of Africa increased, almost doubling the white population, with white Rhodesians playing an integral role in the nation's strong economic development throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. At its height in the early 1970s, the number of white people in the region was the highest in Africa outside South Africa and Kenya, peaking at around 300,000 people, some 5% of the population.

Various social, economic and political disparities between the black majority and smaller white population were factors in the Rhodesian Bush War after the government of white Prime Minister Ian Smith implemented the Unilateral Declaration of Independence, establishing Rhodesia as a ''de facto'' independent state in 1965, although it was not recognised internationally and was technically still a British Colony. Following the independence of Zimbabwe in 1980, the white population gradually began to decline; many remained in the country, with some still identifying as Rhodesian. White Zimbabweans continued to represent a majority of the country's middle and upper classes during the 1980s and 1990s, but after 2000 the population shrank further as a result of violence, economic instability and controversial land reform policies enacted by the government of Robert Mugabe in which white-owned farmland was forcibly seized. White Zimbabweans reportedly faced increased levels of poverty following the deterioration of the Zimbabwean economy during the 2000s and 2010s. An influx of returning White Zimbabweans, including farmers whose lands had been confiscated, followed Mugabe's removal from power and replacement by Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Communities of White Zimbabweans continue to exist in larger towns and cities including Bulawayo and the Harare metropolitan area, with numerous Harare suburbs such as Avondale, Mount Pleasant and Borrowdale hosting significant white populations. According to the 2022 census, white Zimbabweans numbered just 24,888, representing 0.16% of the national population. Provided by Wikipedia