Timeline of Bulawayo

19th century

1830s - Ndebele Mzilikazi Khumalo locates seat of Mthwakazi nation in Bulawayo, in Matabeleland (approximate date).^[1]
1893 - Ndebele capital "GuBulawayo" besieged, demolished by British South Africa Company forces during the First Matabele War.^[2]
1894
- Bulawayo town established near former settlement by British South Africa Company.^[2]
- Telegraph begins operating.^[2]
- Chronicle newspaper begins publication.^[3]
1896/97 - Siege of Bulawayo during the Second Matabele War^[4]
1897
- Bulawayo becomes a municipality.^[1]
- State House, Bulawayo completed as "Government House".^[4]
- I.G. Hirschler becomes mayor.
- Railway to South Africa begins operating.^[1]
1899 - Railway to Salisbury and Mozambique begins operating.^[1]
1900 - Beira–Bulawayo railway opened.^[4]

Remove ads

20th century

1902 - Cecil Rhodes was buried at the Matoppo Hills at Malindidzimu^[4]
1904
- Statue of Cecil Rhodes erected.^[4]
- "White" population: 3,840.^[4]
1905 - Railway to Victoria Falls and Zambia begins operating.^[1]
1919 - James Cowden becomes mayor.
1926 - Rhodes Matopos National Park established near Bulawayo.
1927 - Bulawayo Technical School established.
1931 - Catholic Mission of Bulawayo established.^[5]
1934 - Bulawayo Club building constructed.
1943 - Bulawayo attains city status.^[1]
1950 - Rainbow Hotel built.^[6]
1957 - Bulawayo Thermal Power Station (coal-fired thermal power plant) opens.
1960 - Trade fair begins.^{[chronology citation needed]}
1964 - Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe opens.
1970 - National Gallery of Zimbabwe branch opens.
1972 - Bulawayo Railway Museum opens.
1973 - Population: 307,000 (estimate).^[7]
1981 - February: 1981 Entumbane uprising.
1983 - Population: 429,000 (estimate).^[8]
1985 - National Railways of Zimbabwe headquarters building constructed.^[6]
1991 - National University of Science and Technology established.
1992 - Population: 621,742.^[9]
1999 - Beitbridge Bulawayo Railway (Beitbridge-Bulawayo) begins operating.
2000 - June: Political activist Patrick Nabanyama of the Movement for Democratic Change kidnapped.^[10]

Remove ads

21st century

2001
- August: Municipal election postponed by Mugabe administration.^[11]
- November: Political unrest.^[12]
- Japhet Ndabeni Ncube becomes mayor.
2008 - Patrick Thaba-Moyo becomes mayor.
2012 - Population: 653,337.^[13]
2013
- Joshua Nkomo statue erected.^[14]
- Martin Moyo becomes mayor.
- Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport new terminal opens.

2024: Zoe Ncube is born

19th century