Mount Hampden is the parliamentary seat of Zimbabwe. It is in
Mashonaland West Province about eighteen kilometers from the main capital,
Harare
Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...
. It was the original destination of the
Pioneer Column
The Pioneer Column was a force raised by Cecil Rhodes and his British South Africa Company in 1890 and used in his efforts to annex the territory of Mashonaland, later part of Zimbabwe (once Southern Rhodesia).
Background
Rhodes was anxious to ...
of 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 ...
;
however, the Column eventually settled to the south, in present day Harare. Mount Hampden was named after English politician
John Hampden
John Hampden (24 June 1643) was an English politician from Oxfordshire, who was killed fighting for Roundhead, Parliament in the First English Civil War. An ally of Parliamentarian leader John Pym, and a cousin of Oliver Cromwell, he was one of ...
by the hunter and explorer
Frederick Courteney Selous.
Recent Developments
In 2012, the government of Zimbabwe under then
President of Zimbabwe,
Robert Mugabe
Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of th ...
announced plans to build a new parliament in Mount Hampden, replacing the previous parliament in central Harare. The new complex already houses the
New Zimbabwe Parliament Building, and will eventually include a
Presidential palace
A presidential palace is the official residence of the president in some countries. Some presidential palaces were once the official residences to monarchs in former monarchies that were preserved during those states' transition into republics. ...
, the
Supreme Court of Zimbabwe and the
High Court of Zimbabwe, the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, residential suburbs, hotels and modern shopping malls.
After completion of
New Zimbabwe Parliament Building in 2022,
with the move of parliament in 2023, Mount Hampden became the parliamentary capital of Zimbabwe.
In Mount Hampden, Dubai based
Nawab Shaji Ul Mulk is building a development called "Zim Cyber City" with centerpiece Mulk Tower, potentially to be the tallest building in Africa. It is on the site of the former Turner Farm and its construction is expected to displace thousands of current residents.
References
{{Zimbabwe-geo-stub
Populated places in Mashonaland East Province
Planned capitals
Planned communities