The stone-carved Zimbabwe Bird is the national emblem of

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

, appearing on the national flags and coats of arms of both Zimbabwe and

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

, as well as on

banknotes A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable instrument, negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes w ...

and coins (first on the

Rhodesian pound The pound was the currency of Southern Rhodesia from 1964 to 1965 and Rhodesia from 1965 until 1970. It was subdivided into 20 ''shillings'', each of 12 ''pence''. History The Rhodesian pound was introduced following the break-up of the Federati ...

and then on the

Rhodesian dollar The Rhodesian dollar (''R$ or Rh$'', ) was the currency of Rhodesia between 1970 and 1980. It was subdivided into 100 cents. History The dollar was introduced on 17 February 1970, less than a month before the declaration of a republic on 2 Mar ...

). It probably represents the

bateleur eagle The bateleur (; ''Terathopius ecaudatus'') is a medium-sized eagle in the family Accipitridae. It is often considered a relative of the snake eagles and, like them, it is classified within the subfamily Circaetinae.Kemp, A. C., G. M. Kirwan, an ...

(''Terathopius ecaudatus'') or the

African fish eagle The African fish eagle (''Haliaeetus vocifer'') or the African sea eagle, is a large species of eagle found throughout sub-Saharan Africa wherever large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply occur. It is the national bird of Malawi, Na ...

(''Haliaeetus vocifer''). The bird's design is derived from a number of

soapstone Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium rich mineral talc. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occur in the zo ...

sculptures found in the ruins of the medieval city of

Great Zimbabwe Great Zimbabwe is a medieval city in the south-eastern hills of Zimbabwe near Lake Mutirikwi and the town of Masvingo. It is thought to have been the capital of a great kingdom during the country's Late Iron Age about which little is known. Con ...

. It is now the definitive icon of independent

, with Matenga (2001) listing over 100 organisations which now incorporate the Bird in their logo.

Origins

The original carved birds are from the ruined city of

, which was built by ancestors of the

Shona Shona often refers to: * Shona people, a Southern African people * Shona language, a Bantu language spoken by Shona people today Shona may also refer to: * ''Shona'' (album), 1994 album by New Zealand singer Shona Laing * Shona (given name) * S ...

, starting in the 11th century and inhabited for over 300 years.Great Zimbabwe (11th–15th century) , Thematic Essay , Timeline of Art History , The Metropolitan Museum of Art
/ref> The ruins, after which modern Zimbabwe was named, cover some and are the largest ancient stone construction in sub-Saharan Africa. Among its notable elements are the

bird sculptures, about tall and standing on columns more than tall, which were originally installed on walls and monoliths within the city. They are unique to Great Zimbabwe; nothing like them has been discovered elsewhere. Various explanations have been advanced to explain the symbolic meaning of the birds. One suggestion is that each bird was erected in turn to represent a new king, but this would have required improbably long reigns. More probably, the Zimbabwe birds represent sacred or totemic animals of the Shona – the

bateleur The bateleur (; ''Terathopius ecaudatus'') is a medium-sized eagle in the family Accipitridae. It is often considered a relative of the snake eagles and, like them, it is classified within the subfamily Circaetinae.Kemp, A. C., G. M. Kirwan, an ...

eagle (

: ''chapungu''), which was held to be a messenger from

Mwari Mwari also known as Musikavanhu, Musiki, Tenzi and Ishe, is the Supreme Creator deity according to Shona traditional religion. It is believed that Mwari is the author of all things and all life and all is in him. The majority of this deity's fol ...

(God) and the ancestors, or the fish eagle (''hungwe'') which it has been suggested was the original totem of the Shona.

Colonial acquisition and return to Zimbabwe

In 1889 a European hunter, Willi Posselt, travelled to Great Zimbabwe after hearing about it from another European explorer, Karl Mauch. He climbed to the highest point of the ruins despite being told that it was a sacred site where he should not trespass, and found the birds positioned in the centre of an enclosure around an apparent altar. He later wrote: Posselt compensated Andizibi with a payment of blankets and "some other articles". As the bird on its pedestal was too heavy for him to carry, he hacked it off and hid the pedestal with the intention of returning later to retrieve it. He subsequently sold his bird to

Cecil Rhodes Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his Br ...

, who mounted it in the library of his

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

house,

Groote Schuur Groote Schuur (, Dutch for "big shed") is an estate in Cape Town, South Africa. In 1657, the estate was owned by the Dutch East India Company which used it partly as a granary. Later, the farm and farmhouse was sold into private hands. Groote Sc ...

, and decorated the house's stairway with wooden replicas. Rhodes also had stone replicas made, three times the size of the original, to decorate the gates of his house in England near

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. A German missionary came to own the pedestal of one bird, which he sold to the Ethnological Museum in Berlin in 1907. Rhodes' acquisition of Posselt's bird prompted him to commission an investigation of the Great Zimbabwe ruins by

James Theodore Bent James Theodore Bent (30 March 1852 – 5 May 1897) was an English explorer, archaeologist, and author. Biography James Theodore Bent was born in Liverpool on 30 March 1852, the son of James (1807-1876) and Eleanor (née Lambert, c.1811-1873) ...

, which took place in 1891 following the

British South Africa Company The British South Africa Company (BSAC or BSACo) was chartered in 1889 following the amalgamation of Cecil Rhodes' Central Search Association and the London-based Exploring Company Ltd, which had originally competed to capitalize on the expecte ...

's invasion of Mashonaland. Bent recorded that there were eight birds, six large and two small, and that there had probably originally been more as there were several additional stone pedestals of which the tops had been broken off. The colonists erroneously attributed Great Zimbabwe to ancient Mediterranean builders, believing native Africans to be incapable of constructing such a complex structure; thus in Rhodes' mind, as a 1932 guidebook put it, it was "a favourite symbol of the link between the order civilisation derived from the North or the East and the savage barbarism of Southern and Central Africa before the advent of the European." Bent attributed the birds, wholly erroneously, to the

Phoenicians Phoenicia () was an ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient thalassocracy, thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-st ...

. In 1981, a year after the attainment of independence in Zimbabwe, the South African government returned four of the sculptures to the country in exchange for a world-renowned collection of

Hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order (biology), order of insects, comprising the sawfly, sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are Par ...

(bees, wasps and ants) housed in Harare; the fifth remains at Groote Schuur. In 2003, the German museum returned its portion of the bird's pedestal to Zimbabwe. The birds were displayed for a while in the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council cl ...

and the Museum of Human Sciences in Harare, but are now housed in a small museum on the Great Zimbabwe site.

Cultural depictions

The Zimbabwe bird has been a symbol of Zimbabwe and its predecessor states since 1924. The crest of Southern Rhodesia's coat of arms incorporated the Zimbabwe bird, and over time the bird became a widespread symbol of the colony. The paper money and coins of the

Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central African Federation or CAF, was a colonial federation that consisted of three southern African territories: the Self-governing colony, self-governing British colony of Southe ...

, issued by the Bank of Rhodesia and Nyasaland also displayed the bird, as did the

Flag of Rhodesia The flag of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) changed with political developments in the country. At independence in 1965 the recently adopted flag of Southern Rhodesia was used, until a new flag (the green and white tricolour) was adopted in 1968. Th ...

. The flag and state symbols of modern Zimbabwe continue to feature the Zimbabwe Bird. It is now the definitive icon of independent

with Matenga (2001) listing over 100 state, corporate and sporting organisations which incorporate the Bird in their emblems and logos. File:Flag of Zimbabwe.svg, National

flag of Zimbabwe The national flag of Zimbabwe consists of seven even horizontal stripes of green, gold, red and black with a white triangle containing a red five-pointed star with a Zimbabwe Bird. The present design was adopted on 18 April 1980. The soapstone ...

containing the Zimbabwe Bird File:Flag of Zimbabwe Rhodesia.svg,

Flag of Zimbabwe Rhodesia The flag of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) changed with political developments in the country. At independence in 1965 the recently adopted flag of Southern Rhodesia was used, until a new flag (the green and white tricolour) was adopted in 1968. T ...

(1979–1980) File:Flag of Rhodesia (1968–1979).svg,

(1968–1979) File:Coat of arms of Rhodesia.svg, Coat of Arms of Rhodesia (1924–1981) File:Rhodesia - Signal Corps emblem.jpg, Emblem used by the Rhodesia Corps of Signals (1970–1980) File:Rhodesia Parliament logo.jpg, Logo used by the Parliament of Rhodesia File:GCLM.jpg, Rhodesian Grand Commander of the Legion of Merit (GCLM) medal (Civil and Military) File:Rhodesia 20c obverse.jpg, Obverse of a Rhodesian 20c coin File:Monnaie Zimbabwe.jpg, Reverse side of a Zimbabwean one dollar coin File:Zimbabwe fifty dollars.jpg, Reverse side of a Zimbabwe fifty dollar note (2nd series) illustrating the

Ruins and Zimbabwe Bird in the bottom right hand corner File:$100 Zimbabwe revenue stamps in block of four.jpg,

Revenue stamp A revenue stamp, tax stamp, duty stamp or fiscal stamp is a (usually) adhesive label used to designate collected taxes or fees on documents, tobacco, alcoholic drinks, drugs and medicines, playing cards, hunting licenses, firearm registration, ...

s of Zimbabwe File:Coat of arms of Zimbabwe.svg,

Coat of Arms of Zimbabwe The current coat of arms of Zimbabwe was adopted on 21 September 1981, one year and five months after the Flag of Zimbabwe, national flag was adopted. Previously the coat of arms of Zimbabwe was identical to the former #Coat of arms of Rhodesia (1 ...

(1981–) File:Zim Passport.jpg, Zimbabwe Passport Cover (1st version) (1980) File:Flag of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces.svg, Flag of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces File:Flag of the Zimbabwe National Army.svg, Flag of the

Zimbabwe National Army The Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) is the primary branch of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces responsible for land-oriented military operations. It is the largest service branch under the Zimbabwean Joint Operations Command (JOC). The modern army has ...

File:Zimbabwe - Prison Service badge image.jpg, Emblem of the Zimbabwe Prison Service File:Air Force Ensign of Zimbabwe.svg, Flag of the Air Force of Zimbabwe File:Zimbabwe - Air Force Chief of Staff car flag.jpg, Air Force of Zimbabwe Chief of Staff Car and Aircraft car flag File:Flag of Harare.svg, Flag of

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

, capital of Zimbabwe File:Heroes Acre, Harare, Zimbabwe (1).jpg, Relief at National Heroes Acre, Harare

References and sources

External links

{{Rhodesian topics Birds in art National symbols of Rhodesia National symbols of Zimbabwe Stone sculptures Zimbabwean culture African art Heraldic birds Heraldic eagles