Zimbabwe People

Covering Zimbabwe people and culture as well as pictures

Zimbabwe people consist of mainly two national groups from Matebeland and Mashonaland. The country of Zimbabwe itself is an interesting melting pot of people from various ethnic backgrounds with the Shona and Ndebele being the two largest groups.The capital of Zimbabwe is Harare and the second largest city is Bulawayo.

Like most African countries the languages spoken in Zimbabwe by Zimbabwe people emanate from the bantu people who once lived in central Africa before spreading southwards and northwards across the vast continent of Africa.

People of Zimbabwe are generally a subdued people who have too often been labeled too peaceful and resilient as measured by the political abuse that has lasted for over a decade. In all the political and economic troubles faced in Zimbabwe generally the people remained subdued uncharacteristic of many other African countries such as Kenya and South Africa.The history of Zimbabwe has immensely contributed to the character and custom of its people.

Zimbabwe people are renowned for friendliness especially to foreign visitors. In the 1990s the generality of the Zimbabwean population freely accepted the inflow of Mozambican refugees fleeing the civil war. Many were accommodated and offered with Jobs. There were no widely reported cases of xenophobia or abuse of foreign nationals as not long ago experienced in South Africa. Millions of tourists who have visited Zimbabwe since it's independence in 1980 have enjoyed this treat.

To this day Zimbabweans remain a very respectful people to neighbors and visitors. Due to the persistent economic challenges it's unfortunate that many young people of ordinarily good character were turned to crooks in order to survive on a day to day basis. Even though the Zimbabwe economy has now started showing signs of recovery, the general spirit of profiteering has remained in a significant percentage of people who are economically active.

Visitors to the country need to be a little more careful when making contact with service providers especially in the informal sectors i.e crafts, art, taxis.This applies to all cities in Zimbabwe.

The most leading past-time in Zimbabwe is soccer watching at local stadiums. There is a huge movement of people that religiously follow the soccer fixtures. European club soccer is equally important to Zimbabweans. There is a strong correlation between beer drinking in Zimbabwe and soccer fanaticism.

Many others also enjoy to spend their time barbecuing especially during weekends. Amazingly this "hobby" refused to die even during the worst of economic times in the last ten years. Cricket is an important sport to a sector of the population, so is swimming and tennis.

In terms of crime and safety, its rare for most Zimbabweans to attack without provocation. Even when provoked there is a general practice of restraint as is characteristic of Zimbabwean upbringing. This however does not speak for outright criminals who sometimes use force and even murder to overcome their target.

In terms of belief system, most Zimbabwe people confess to be Christians. As a result the nation is known as a Christian nation. However there is widespread practice of other religions such as African traditional religion, Islam and other smaller religions. It looks like Islam is rapidly gathering pace especially in Harare. Mostly young Zimbabweans desperate for economic sustainance are taking jobs for employers who are predominantly Muslim thereby converting to Islam.

A very huge chunk of the people in Zimbabwe are black with a small minority of white people and Indian people. There is a growing number of Asian people especially after the ZANU PF government increased cooperation with China in recent years. you may want to read more facts about Zimbabwe


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