We inhabit a snapshot of history. The procession of time before we reached our snapshot is largely demoted to the background and we take for granted the present format of geopolitics and zeitgeist. Take Zimbabwe for instance. A British empire builder, Cecil B. Rhodes bought the rights to plunder the minerals of this part of Africa from the tribe leaders. The colonial rule gradually transitioned into an unrecognized democratic state, Republic of Rhodesia. Of course the democratically elected government just happened to be conveniently lead by the white minority politicians.
In this phase of history, proto-Zimbabwe is blessed with two national anthems:
The first anthem is to praise their proxy monarch in Britain and it lasted for 1965-1970. In 1974, Rhodesia came up with the second anthem for this new nation.
It was finally in 1980 that Rhodesia attained recognized sovereignty and universal suffrage, renaming itself as the Republic of Zimbabwe. We had to wait till 1994 for a new national anthem for this newly minted state in the African Union.
It's interesting to see the evolution of this primary tool for nationalism in a surgically created state out of a population with varying ethnicity.
In this phase of history, proto-Zimbabwe is blessed with two national anthems:
The first anthem is to praise their proxy monarch in Britain and it lasted for 1965-1970. In 1974, Rhodesia came up with the second anthem for this new nation.
It was finally in 1980 that Rhodesia attained recognized sovereignty and universal suffrage, renaming itself as the Republic of Zimbabwe. We had to wait till 1994 for a new national anthem for this newly minted state in the African Union.
It's interesting to see the evolution of this primary tool for nationalism in a surgically created state out of a population with varying ethnicity.
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