Cecil Rhodes

Cecil John Rhodes (July 5, 1853 – March 26, 1902) was an English businessman and the effective founder of the state of Rhodesia (which was named after him). Rhodesia (later Northern and Southern Rhodesia) eventually became Zambia and Zimbabwe. Rhodes profited greatly from Southern Africa's natural resources, proceeds of which founded the Rhodes Scholarship upon his death.

South Africa

After a brief stay with the Surveyor-General of Natal, Dr. P. C. Sutherland, in Pietermaritzburg, Rhodes joined his brother Herbert on his cotton farm in the Umkomaas valley in Natal. In October 1871 Rhodes left the colony for the diamond fields of Kimberley. He supervised the working of his brother's claim and speculated on his behalf. Among his associates in the early days were John X Merriman and C. D. Rudd, who later became his partner in the De Beers Mining Company.

Related Topics:
Pietermaritzburg - Umkomaas - 1871 - De Beers Mining Company

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In 1872 Rhodes suffered a slight heart attack. Partly to recuperate, but also to investigate the prospects of finding gold in the interior, the Rhodes brothers trekked north by ox wagon. Their trek took them along the missionary road in Bechuanaland as far north as Mafeking, then eastwards through the Transvaal as far as the Murchison range. The journey inspired a love of the country in Rhodes and marked the beginning of his interest in the road to the north and the northern interior itself.

Related Topics:
1872 - Heart attack - Gold - Bechuanaland - Mafeking - Transvaal - Murchison

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