Climate and Societal Interaction in Southwestern Matabeleland, Colonial Zimbabwe: The Drought of 1964–66 and its Antecedents

Abstract

The drought which afflicted colonial Zimbabwe (then known as Rhodesia until 1980) during the period, 1964–1966, in general and Southwestern (SW) Matabeleland, in particular was perhaps the most debilitating calamity in the colonial era than any other drought, yet it has remained unrecognized and hidden in the opaque shadows of Zimbabwe's colonial history. Despite the occurrence of many droughts and other ecological disasters in Zimbabwe, there have not been, any historical studies dedicated to understanding these calamities, let alone studies that interrogate the ways in which climate and society have interacted to determine how they (disasters) have been historically produced. This paper responds to recent calls by scholars on drought research for more textured histories of environmental disasters that dispense with the practice of treating climate as a mono-causal explanation for disasters and present studies that highlight the intricate interaction between climate variability and society. It argues that the impact of the 1964–66 drought in SW Matabeleland can only be understood by taking a long historical view which examines the complex interaction between colonial policies and practices which violently removed Africans to areas of ‘environmental marginality’ and the effects of climate change such as rainfall variability and droughts.