RHODESIA
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ward, the Imperial Government placed Basutoland in 1884,
Bechuanaland in 1885, and finally Swaziland in 1894, under
its protection. A Resident Commissioner was put in control
over the first immediately; but the others were administered
for a time by the South African Company — Bechuanaland
till 1891 and Swaziland till 1903. They are all now under
resident commissioners, subject to the High Commissioner
of South Africa, and ruled through the native headmen and
chiefs, of whom there are usually one paramount chieftain
and a number of lesser rulers responsible for their respective
districts or tribes to the head chief. Local customs, rights,
tribal government, languages, and methods of life, trade,
and agriculture have been carefully preserved. England has
been well served and her resident commissioners have been
uniformly able, tactful, broad-minded men, inspiring the
confidence and preserving the good will of both the people
and the chiefs. This system of rule has been very successful
among the native states in South Africa, and it has given to
these protectorates many years of peace, fair prosperity, and
steady development, and removed a serious thorn from the
side of the colonies. In addition 300,000 square miles, ap-
proximately, have been added to the British possessions in
South Africa.
While this movement was in progress, another of far more
consequence for South Africa was inaugurated and brought
through tribulation to a successful issue. North of the
Transvaal and the Limpopo River lay the two native dis-
tricts of Matabeleland and Mashonaland covering an area of
144,000 square miles and reaching to the Zambesi River.
Beyond that great waterway, a vast unoccupied region
stretched away northward to the Congo and Lakes N yasa
and Tanganyika. Cecil Rhodes, who later earned the title
of “empire-builder,” was among the first to see the possibil-
ities of this great hinterland and what its possession might