Bulawayo - General information

20°10S 28°43E, pop (2000e) 612 100. Capital of Matabeleland North province, Zimbabwe, 370 km/230 mi SW of Harare; second largest city in Zimbabwe; founded, 1893; airport; railway junction; commercial, industrial, and tourist centre; asphalt, agricultural equipment, confectionery, electrical equipment, tyres, cement; national parks nearby.

Bulawayo is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, after the capital Harare, with a population of 676,000 (UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator, Zimbabwe, 2005), now estimated on 707,000.

General information

The name "Bulawayo" comes from the Sindebele word Kwabulawayo meaning 'place of the persecuted one' or 'place of slaughter'. In 1881, the king moved the royal settlement further north, to an area roughly corresponding with Bulawayo's modern northern suburbs near modern day Northlea High School. On 4 November 1894, Leander Starr Jameson declared Bulawayo a settlement under the rule of the British South Africa Company and Cecil John Rhodes ordered that the new settlement be built on the ruins of Lobengula's royal town, which is where the State House stands today.

During the 1896 Matabele Revolt Bulawayo was besieged by Ndebele forces for several months, and a laager was established there for defensive purposes.

Bulawayo has been regarded as the business capital of Zimbabwe and is home to the National Railways of Zimbabwe because of its strategic position near Botswana and South Africa.

The liberation struggle for the independence of Zimbabwe was started in Bulawayo and today it is home to the strongest opposition to the government of Robert Mugabe.

Bulawayo became a city in 1943. Before the collapse of Zimbabwe's rail infrastructure, Bulawayo was an important transport hub, providing rail links between Botswana, South Africa and Zambia and promoting the city's development as a major industrial centre.

Bulawayo is home to the Queens Sports Club and Bulawayo Athletic Club, two of the three grounds in Zimbabwe where test match cricket has been played.

Other facilities include:

National Museum and Archives of Zimbabwe Natural History Museum National Gallery, Bulawayo National University of Science and Technology, NUST Bulawayo Polytechnic College Christian Brothers College Whitestone School Petra Primary School Falcon College Centenary Park

The majority of the population of Bulawayo belong to the Ndebele ethnic and language group, who descend from 19th century Zulu immigrants and are a minority in Zimbabwe.