Cecil John Rhodes (redirected from Cecil Rhodes)

Rhodes, Cecil John 

Born July 5, 1853, in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire; died Mar. 26, 1902, in Muizenberg, Cape Colony. British colonial figure.

Rhodes was the inspirator and organizer of the seizure of enormous territories in southern and central Africa by the British South Africa Company in the 1880’s and 1890’s. Part of these territories formed a colony, which in 1895 was named Rhodesia in Rhodes’ honor. Rhodes was the founder and coowner of a number of South African diamond- and gold-mining companies. From 1890 to 1896 he was prime minister of the Cape Colony. He was forced to resign after the failure of an attempt to seize the Boer South African Republic. Rhodes was one of the initiators of the Boer War of 1899–1902.