Zimbabwe and its predecessor, Rhodesia (correctly Southern Rhodesia until Mr Smith compressed the name), have produced a crop of fine writing.

ECONOMIST: Zimbabwe

In 1975, in Rhodesia, formerly Southern Rhodesia, talks between the white minority government and black leaders opened in railway carriages near Victoria Falls.

CNN: Tuesday,

Mr Rowland seems to have been welcomed in what was Southern Rhodesia as a fellow white who spoke with a decent upper-class accent.

ECONOMIST: Tiny Rowland

Before long, Reverend Banana became enthused with the ideals of liberation politics, and started to denounce the white racist regime of what was then called Southern Rhodesia from the pulpit.

ECONOMIST: Canaan Banana

When Victoria sanctioned the concept, Rhodes led thousands of white settlers into the areas now known as Zambia and Zimbabwe (Northern and Southern Rhodesia, respectively), eventually uniting them under his British South Africa Company.

CNN: Seeds of Zimbabwe's land conflict were planted more than a century ago

In 1952 Mr Nkomo came to London to discuss the formation of a Central African federation of Northern and Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, all then tied to Britain, and now, respectively, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

ECONOMIST: Joshua Nkomo