Clarke - The Last Rhodesians: Society Adrift

Southern Africa, circa 1890

T he cover shows The Balancing Rocks , by the Rhodesian artist Clive Kay in Canada, 2021, whose artworks may be visited at clivekay-artist.com. It is found near Harare on Epworth Mission. The large rock near the top is known in Shona as Domboramwari: the rock of God. An image of the balancing rocks was on Reserve Bank of Zimbabwes hundred-trillion-dollar banknote.

The Southern Africa Map (c 1890) portrays the cartography of the interior from the Cape to Congo Free State, German East Africa in the northeast, Portuguese East Africa in the east, and Bechuanaland with German Territories in the west. Zambesia was in the heart of this savannah. From it, Rhodesia was formed.

The Map of Rhodesia, 1973 , portrays towns and communications as drawn by the Geological Survey Office, Salisbury, Rhodesia. It is sourced from the website Rhodesia.me.uk, with the kind permission of the curator Colin Weyer.

The Part I pictograph is of San people who inhabited the terrain for thousands of years before displacement by Bantu incomers from the north. The sketch for Part II portrays typical San hunters targeting prey. Part III depicts Cecil Rhodes grave, where buried in the Matopo Hills at Worlds View in 1902. The image for Part IV derives from a Rhodesian postage stamp issued in 1940 to honour Rhodes, as the Founder, in celebration of fifty years from occupation in Mashonaland in 1890. The figure for Part V is from an original sketch done at Great Zimbabwe, the ancient stone ruins visited by pioneers on their trek to Fort Salisbury in 1890. The map of Zimbabwe in Part VI is from GISGeography with the kind permission of its online web curators.

Prior to Appendices is an image of the royal sable antelope found on the Great Plateau. It was Rhodesias national symbol and the brand of Royal Sable Publishing, which commissioned drawings and original illustrations in Parts IV.