The poor African nation of Zimbabwe has become famous all over the world because of the phenomenal inflation rate, because of which the government had to even abandon the national currency. This state is quite typical for Africa — poverty, inequality, beautiful nature and suffocating heat.
Facts about Zimbabwe
- The country got its name in honor of the capital of the Monomotapa empire, which formerly occupied these lands. The city, of which only ruins now remain, was called Great Zimbabwe, which means “stone houses” in the language of local tribes.
- After Zimbabwe gained independence from the colonialists, the proportion of its European residents began to steadily decline, and now accounts for about 1% of the total number of Zimbabweans.
- Zimbabwe ranks third in the world in terms of reserves in its bowels of platinum group metals and chromium ores. In addition, the country has numerous deposits of diamonds, rubies and emeralds (interesting facts about diamonds).
- Here is one of the largest waterfalls on the planet – Victoria, which in ancient times the locals called “Thundering Smoke”. Its width is approximately 1.8 km, and the height of the water fall reaches 108 meters. The fog that the waterfall creates is visible up to 50 km away.
- Protected areas cover approximately 10% of the country.
- Zimbabwe has the coldest months of the year — this is June and July.
- Half of all black rhinos left on the planet live here.
- Zimbabwe has had an AIDS pandemic for several years – about 5,000 inhabitants of this country die every week from the immunodeficiency virus.
- Despite the abundance of natural resources, about 70% of the country’s population lives below the poverty line.
- Although before gaining independence, the country of Zimbabwe was one of the most prosperous countries in Africa, now it is one of the poorest on the planet (interesting facts about Africa).
- In Zimbabwe, a population explosion has been going on for more than 10 years – every 4 years the population of the state increases by 1 million people.
- Before abandoning its own currency, banknotes with a face value of 100 trillion Zimbabwean dollars were printed here. Now these banknotes are actively sold on the black market to interested tourists and collectors.
- Zimbabwe occupies one of the last places among the states of the planet in terms of the life expectancy of its population. Local men live to an average of 37 years, and women rarely cross the age of 34.
- Zimbabwe has 16 official languages, some of which are sign languages.
- This country is almost a century was a British colony, although its area exceeds the size of Britain by almost 3 times (interesting facts about Great Britain).
- The national costume of the Zimbabweans consists of a skirt, hat, traditional necklace and earrings.
- Robert Mugabe served as the head of Zimbabwe for 6 terms in a row, having spent more than 36 years in power.
- Zimbabwe regularly participates in the Olympic Games and has 8 medals of these competitions in its piggy bank. Of these, one was won in field hockey, and all the others in swimming.
- The literacy rate of Zimbabweans is one of the highest in Africa. According to official statistics, about 90% of Zimbabweans are taught to read and write.