History Commons^™

Best Of Intentions?: Rinderpest, Containment Practices, And Rebellion In Rhodesia In 1896, Brandon R. Katzung Hokanson

Student Publications

Rinderpest was a deadly bovine virus that plagued cattle herds across Europe and Asia for centuries. In the late 1880’s-early 1890’s, the virus found its way to the African continent where it wreaked immense havoc among the unimmune herds of African pastoralists and agriculturalists. By February 1896, the virus had crossed the Rhodesian border along the Zambezi River and began killing off cattle owned by ethnic groups like the Matabele and Shona, as well as those owned by white settlers. In an effort to contain the virus, the British South African Company consulted with colonial officials from the Cape Colony, …