Harare

Sister cities

• Lago
• Cincinnati
• Nottingham
• Prato
• Windhoek
• Minsk
• Munich
• Kazan
• Buxton

History

The Pioneer Column, a military volunteer force of settlers organized by Cecil Rhodes, founded the city on 12 September 1890 as a fort. They originally named the city Fort Salisbury after The 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, then-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and it subsequently became known simply as Salisbury. The Salisbury Polo Club was formed in 1896. Salisbury was declared a municipality in 1897, and it became a city in 1935. At the time of the city's founding, its site and surroundings were poorly drained. The earliest development was on sloping ground along the left bank of a stream, in an area where the Julius Nyerere Way industrial road runs today. The first area to be fully drained was near the head of the stream and was named Causeway. Causeway is now the site of many important government buildings, including the Senate House and the Office of the Prime Minister. After the position was abolished in January 1988, the office was renamed for the use of the President. Salisbury was the seat of the British South Africa Company administrator and became the capital of the self-governing British colony of Southern Rhodesia in 1923. In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, Salisbury expanded rapidly, boosted by its designation as the capital of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. This growth ushered in a wave of liberalism, investment and developmentalism from 1953 to 1963, transforming the city's skyline in the process. This was accompanied by significant post-war immigration, primarily from Great Britain, Southern Africa and, to a lesser extent, Southern Europe. According to the US Department of State, more than half of white Zimbabweans arrived in Zimbabwe after WW2. The rapid rise of motor vehicle ownership and the investment in road…

Geography

The city sits on one of the higher parts of the Highveld plateau of Zimbabwe at an elevation of . The original landscape could be described as a "parkland" or wild place. The soils of Harare are varied: the northern and central areas largely have reddish brown, granular clay; some of the southern parts have gray-brown sand over pale, loamy sand or sandy loam. Harare Kopje (1540 m) is the highest point in Harare. The City of Harare is divided into suburbs, outside of which are independent municipalities such as Epworth, Mount Hampden, Norton, Ruwa, and Chitungwiza, which are still located within the greater metropolitan province. Additionally, many government ministries and museums, such as the Zimbabwe Museum of Human Sciences, are located here. Rotten Row is a sub-district of downtown Harare that begins at the intersection of Prince Edward Street and Samora Machel Avenue and runs to the flyover where it borders Mbare on Cripps Road. Rotten Row was named after a road in London of the same name. The name "Rotten Row" is an altered form of the French phrase "Route du Roi," the King's Road. It is known as Harare's legal district, home to the Harare Magistrate's Court, the city's central library, and the ZANU-PF building, along with numerous law offices. The northern and north-eastern suburbs of Harare are generally home to its more affluent residents, including former president Robert Mugabe, who lived in Borrowdale Brooke. These northern suburbs are often referred to as "dales" because of the common suffix "-dale" found in some suburbs such as Avondale, Greendale, and Borrowdale. The dwellings are mostly low-density homes of 3 bedrooms or more, and these are usually occupied by families. Borrowdale in particular is home to some of the most extensive real estate…

Most-observed species

• Pied Crow

  Corvus albus Statius Muller, 1776 · Aves
  2,414
• Red-eyed Dove

  Streptopelia semitorquata (Rüppell, 1837) · Aves
  1,986
• Southern Cordonbleu

  Uraeginthus angolensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,843
• Laughing Dove

  Spilopelia senegalensis (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  1,828
• Arrow-marked Babbler

  Turdoides jardineii (A.Smith, 1836) · Aves
  1,774
• Crested Barbet

  Trachyphonus vaillantii Ranzani, 1821 · Aves
  1,757
• Variable Sunbird

  Cinnyris venustus (Shaw, 1799) · Aves
  1,707
• White-browed Robin-Chat

  Cossypha heuglini Hartlaub, 1866 · Aves
  1,648