ABSTRACT
Zimbabwe has a land area of just under 400,000 square kilometres and by 1985 had a total population of about eight million. The GNP of US$850 makes it a less developed country by global standards but ranks Zimbabwe above all other central and southern African states, with the exception of South Africa. Much of this national income is obtained not only from the export of a relatively wide range of primary commodities, both agricultural and mineral, but also from a number of manufactured goods (Fig. 8.1). Despite the advent of independence in 1980, expatriate enterprises continue to dominate the production of the major export commodities, such as gold, asbestos and tobacco, as well as the manufacturing sector (Thompson 1985). This expatriate domination has a very marked spatial aspect which derives from the distribution of land between the white and black populations during the colonial period. This geographical distinction in land quality and ownership has been reinforced by trends in almost all other aspects of social and economic development, with the result that the principal urban centres (in which about one-quarter of the population live) are almost exclusively located in the former European areas.
