ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author seeks to summarize his own gradual reconsideration of the evidence on 1896, made during the years since 1971 when his own attention was primarily on pre-1850 Shona history. He argues that all analyses of the rising made since 1896, including his own thesis, were wrong on two important points: the rising was not 'simultaneous' or 'almost simultaneous' even within the limitations of Shona communications and technology. The author focuses on the same basic documents used by T. O. Ranger, with some support from fieldwork carried out in Hartley and Charter in 1969–1970. He involves a close examination of the picture given by Ranger, giving an alternative chronological account of the rising with the differences from Ranger's picture being pointed out inter alia. Ranger points out, a feature of the religious organizers was their ability to react and re-plan their strategy in response to the changing military situation.
