‘Our Greater Rhodesia’: Settler Aspirations, Indigenous Fears, and Whitehall Concerns Regarding Amalgamation, 1919–1945
Abstract
In the interwar period, and even into the Second World War, white Southern and Northern Rhodesians tried and failed to ‘amalgamate’ their colonies. An examination of this failure allows useful lessons to be drawn about the divergences and differences between colonial and metropolitan opinion regarding the purpose of the British Empire and the relationship between coloniser and colonised. The British Empire, ultimately, was defined by sets of interlocking contradictions. These contradictions were between the interests and demands of white settlers, metropolitan colonial officials, and the black African subjects.
Fields of Study & Subjects
African studies and sociopolitical issues
African history and culture studies
Colonial History and Postcolonial Studies
Publication details
- Journal / source
- South African Historical Journal
- Volume
- 78
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 92–111
- Publication date
- 2 January 2026
- Language
- EN