The Colonialist

This first comprehensive biography of Cecil Rhodes in a generation illuminates Rhodes’s vision for the expansion of imperialism in southern Africa, connecting politics and industry to internal development, and examines how this fueled a lasting, white-dominated colonial society.

Rhodes was one of the most influential people in the history of the British Empire. He made a fortune by leading the world’s most important diamond mining company, De Beers, as well as gold-mining concern Consolidated Gold Fields. He was a member of the Cape Colony’s legislature and served as prime minister from 1890 to 1896, a key period for the development of racial discrimination. His British South Africa Company was given a charter to govern what is today Zambia and Zimbabwe.

A complex figure, admired and detested in his own time, Rhodes dreamt to unite Southern Africa’s colonies and republics into one state, dominated by white settlers, with labour provided by Black people who were constrained and pressured by discriminatory laws. In 1895 and 1896, he encouraged a failed plot to overthrow the independent Boer republic in the Transvaal.

Rhodes’ coup helped to precipitate the South African War, which started in 1899 and ended in 1902, the year of Rhodes' death.

This authoritative biography focuses on the relationship between Rhodes’ well-known activities in business and politics and the development of Southern Africa's infrastructure, most famously his plan for a Cape-to-Cairo railway. Rhodes envisioned a region where racism became embedded in the mining, farming, communication, and transportation industries. He pursued this vision in the face of opposition from many quarters.

Understanding the extent of Rhodes’ activities helps us to understand the challenges of modern Africa and the recent Rhodes Must Fall movement. A critical analysis of this contested figure, The Colonialist offers an original portrait of a crucial figure of his era.