The British self-governing colony of
Southern Rhodesia—simply Rhodesia from October 1964—was created on 1 October 1923, from land previously governed by the
British South Africa Company. The British government annexed the land, and granted the new
crown colony responsible government in the same year. From 1953 to 1963,
Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia and
Nyasaland—equivalent to today's Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi, respectively—were joined in the
Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central African Federation.
Godfrey Huggins served as
Federal Prime Minister from 1953 to 1956, then
Roy Welensky held the post until the end of Federation on 31 December 1963. When Northern Rhodesia gained independence as Zambia on 24 October 1964, Southern Rhodesia began to refer to itself simply as "Rhodesia". Prime Minister
Ian Smith's government issued a
Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Britain in 1965, and he remained prime minister when the country was declared a republic in 1970. Under the
Internal Settlement in 1979, after a
long period of conflict, the country became known as
Zimbabwe Rhodesia, with
Abel Muzorewa as its first black prime minister. None of these acts were recognised internationally, and under the
Lancaster House Agreement the country's government agreed to revert to colonial status in 1979 to facilitate the introduction of majority rule and the creation of the independent state of
Zimbabwe in 1980. The office of
Prime Minister of Zimbabwe was abolished in 1987, when
Robert Mugabe became executive president. However, in 2009, it was restored through
political negotiations, resulting in
Morgan Tsvangirai becoming the first prime minister of the country in over 21 years. ==List of prime ministers of Rhodesia==