Editing Cecil Rhodes (section)

==Legacy==
[[File:5 Crown Elizabeth II Cecil Rhodes - 1953.png|thumb|250px|[[Silver coin]]: 1 crown [[Southern Rhodesia]]; Bust of Cecil John Rhodes, the Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, colonial magnate, and namesake of Southern Rhodesia, in a circle in the center and three shields for each colony developed by Rhodes, representing (from left to right) Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia, and Nyasaland below, all flanked by two wreaths wrapped in banners]]
Rhodes has been the target of much recent criticism, with some historians attacking him as a ruthless imperialist and [[white supremacist]].{{sfn|Maylam|2005|p=6}} The continued presence of his grave in the Matopos (now Matobo) hills has not been without controversy in contemporary Zimbabwe. In December 2010, [[Cain Mathema]], the governor of Bulawayo, branded the grave outside the country's second city an "insult to the African ancestors" and said he believed its presence had brought bad luck and poor weather to the region.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kenrick|first=David|title=Decolonisation, Identity and Nation in Rhodesia, 1964–1979: a race against time|date=2019|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3-030-32697-5|location=|pages=}}{{page?|date=October 2024}}</ref>

In February 2012, Mugabe loyalists and [[ZANU-PF]] activists visited the grave site demanding permission from the local chief to exhume Rhodes's remains and return them to Britain. Many considered this a nationalist political stunt in the run up to an election, and Local Chief Masuku and Godfrey Mahachi, one of the country's foremost archaeologists, strongly expressed their opposition to the grave being removed due to its historical significance to Zimbabwe. Then-president [[Robert Mugabe]] also opposed the move.{{sfn|Laing|2012}} 
In 2004, Rhodes was voted 56th in the [[SABC 3]] television series ''[[Great South Africans (television series)|Great South Africans]]''.{{sfn|Blair|2004}} A preparatory school in the Midlands town of Gweru in Zimbabwe is named after him. In the early 2000s during the height of the land reform and racial tensions, ZANU-PF politicians called for a change in all the country's school names with colonial ties, however, efforts were mostly fruitless as most people felt that it was unnecessary and names of places they live in reflect the diverse identity and cultural heritage of the country but called for the government to embrace the history of the country and allow room for new names for new places in the ever-growing towns and cities.

In his second will, written in 1877 before he had accumulated his wealth, Rhodes wanted to create a [[secret society]] that would bring the whole world under British rule. His biographer calls it an "extensive fantasy."{{sfn|Rotberg|1988|p=102}} Rhodes envisioned a secret society to extend British rule worldwide, including China, Japan, all of Africa and South America, and indeed the United States as well:

{{Blockquote|
text=To and for the establishment, promotion and development of a Secret Society, the true aim and object whereof shall be for the extension of British rule throughout the world, the perfecting of a system of emigration from the United Kingdom, and of colonisation by British subjects of all lands where the means of livelihood are attainable by energy, labour and enterprise, and especially the occupation by British settlers of the entire Continent of Africa, the [[Holy Land]], the Valley of the [[Euphrates]], the Islands of Cyprus and [[Crete|Candia]], the whole of South America, the [[Pacific Islands|Islands of the Pacific]] not heretofore possessed by Great Britain, the whole of the Malay Archipelago, the seaboard of China and Japan, the ultimate recovery of the United States of America as an integral part of the British Empire, the inauguration of a system of Colonial representation in the Imperial Parliament which may tend to weld together the disjointed members of the Empire and, finally, the foundation of so great a Power as to render wars impossible, and promote the best interests of humanity.<ref>Michael Howard, ''The Lessons of History'' (1992) p.  66.</ref>
|author=Cecil Rhodes}}

Rhodes's final will—when he actually did have money—was much more realistic and focused on scholarships.  He also left a large area of land on the slopes of [[Table Mountain]] to the South African nation. Part of this estate became the upper campus of the [[University of Cape Town]], another part became the [[Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden]], while much was spared from development and is now an important conservation area.{{sfn|Rotberg|1988|pp=663–69}} 

South Africa's [[Rhodes University]] is named after him. 

=== Rhodes Scholarship ===
{{main|Rhodes Scholarship}}
[[File:Rhodes House Oxford 20040909.jpg|thumb|right|[[Rhodes House]], Oxford, in 2004.]]
In his last will, he provided for the establishment of the [[Rhodes Scholarship]]. Over the course of the previous half-century, governments, universities and individuals in the settler colonies had been establishing travelling scholarships for this purpose.  The Rhodes awards fit the established pattern.{{sfn|Pietsch|2011|pp=723–39}} The scholarship enabled male students from [[Territorial evolution of the British Empire|territories under British rule or formerly under British rule]] and from Germany to study at Rhodes's alma mater, the University of Oxford. Rhodes' aims were to promote leadership marked by public spirit and good character, and to "render war impossible" by promoting friendship between the great powers.{{sfn|Rhodes|1902|pp=23–45}}<ref>Philip Ziegler, ''Legacy: Cecil Rhodes, the Rhodes Trust and Rhodes Scholarships'' (Yale UP, 2008) [https://networks.h-net.org/node/14281/reviews/16186/garner-ziegler-legacy-cecil-rhodes-rhodes-trust-and-rhodes-scholarships online review]</ref>

=== Memorials ===
[[File:Rhodes Memorial 1998.jpg|thumb|[[Rhodes Memorial]] at [[Devil's Peak (Cape Town)]].]]
[[File:Cecil John Rhodes 013.jpg|thumb|Statue of Rhodes in [[Kimberley, Northern Cape|Kimberley]].]]
[[Rhodes Memorial]] stands on Rhodes's favourite spot on the slopes of [[Devil's Peak (Cape Town)|Devil's Peak]], Cape Town, with a view looking north and east towards the [[Great North Road, Zambia|Cape to Cairo]] route. From 1910 to 1984 Rhodes's house in Cape Town, [[Groote Schuur]], was the official Cape residence of the prime ministers of South Africa and continued as a presidential residence.

His birthplace was established in 1938 as the Rhodes Memorial Museum, now known as [[Rhodes Arts Complex|Bishops Stortford Museum]]. The cottage in Muizenberg where he died is a provincial heritage site in the [[Western Cape]] Province of South Africa. The cottage today is operated as a museum by the Muizenberg Historical Conservation Society, and is open to the public. A broad display of Rhodes material can be seen, including the original De Beers board room table around which diamonds worth billions of dollars were traded.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2020-06-11 |title=Bishop's Stortford: Rhodes Birthplace Trust to be renamed |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-53009318 |access-date=2025-04-18 |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Rhodes University College, now [[Rhodes University]], in [[Grahamstown]], was established in his name by his trustees and founded by Act of Parliament on 31 May 1904.

The residents of [[Kimberley, Northern Cape]] elected to build a memorial in Rhodes's honour in their city, which was unveiled in 1907. The 72-ton bronze statue depicts Rhodes on his horse, looking north with map in hand, and dressed as he was when he met the Ndebele after their [[Second Matabele War|rebellion]].{{sfn|Maylam|2005|p=56}}

The founder of the original country of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Cecil John Rhodes first visited [[Nyanga, Zimbabwe|Nyanga]] in the Eastern Highlands of the country in 1897. Captivated by the unspoilt and breathtaking beauty of the area, he immediately purchased a parcel of farms totalling 40,000 ha and then proceeded to import cattle from Mozambique and develop extensive plantations of apple and fruit trees. When he died in 1902, Rhodes bequeathed most of the estate to the nation, and this now forms the [[Nyanga National Park]]. Rhodes's original farmhouse has been meticulously preserved and is now the Rhodes Nyanga Hotel. 

====Opposition====
[[File:Rhodes no nose.JPG|thumb|Noseless bust at the [[Rhodes Memorial]], [[Cape Town]]]]
{{main|Rhodes Must Fall}}
Memorials to Rhodes have been opposed since at least the 1950s, when some [[Afrikaners|Afrikaner]] students demanded the removal of a Rhodes statue at the [[University of Cape Town]].<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Cecil-John-Rhodes-As-divisive-in-death-as-in-life-20150322|title = Rhodes: As divisive in death as in life|date = 22 March 2015|access-date = 20 January 2016|website = News24|last = Masondo|first = Sipho|archive-date = 6 February 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160206203751/http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Cecil-John-Rhodes-As-divisive-in-death-as-in-life-20150322|url-status = dead}}</ref> A 2015 movement, known as "Rhodes Must Fall" (or #RhodesMustFall on social media), began with student protests at the University of Cape Town that were successful in getting university authorities to remove the Rhodes statue from the campus.<ref name="Rhodesmoved">{{cite web | url=http://www.rdm.co.za/politics/2015/04/09/rhodes-statue-removed-from-uct  | title=Op-Ed: Rhodes statue removed from uct  | work=[[The Rand Daily Mail]] | location=Johannesburg | publisher=[[Times Media Group]] | date=9 April 2015 | access-date= 10 April 2015 }}</ref> The protest also had the broader goal of highlighting what the activists considered the lack of systemic post-apartheid racial transformation in South African institutions.<ref name="Rhodesfall">{{cite web | url=http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2015-04-06-op-ed-say-it-aloud-rhodes-must-fall/#.VSMm2_mUd-4 | title=Op-Ed: Say it aloud – Rhodes must fall | publisher=[[Daily Maverick]] | date=6 April 2015 | access-date=7 April 2015 | author=Grootes, Stephen}}</ref>

Following a series of protests and [[vandalism]] at the University of Cape Town, various movements both in South Africa and other countries have been launched in opposition to Cecil Rhodes memorials. These include a campaign to change the name of [[Rhodes University]]<ref name="RUnamechange">{{cite web | url=http://www.sabreakingnews.co.za/2015/06/01/rhodes-uni-council-approves-plans-for-name-change/ | title=Rhodes Uni Council approves plans for name change | publisher=SA Breaking News | access-date=1 June 2015 | author=Ispas, Mara | archive-date=10 July 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710145033/https://www.sabreakingnews.co.za/2015/06/01/rhodes-uni-council-approves-plans-for-name-change/ | url-status=dead }}</ref> and to remove a statue of Rhodes from [[Oriel College, Oxford]].<ref>{{cite news|first1=Hassan|last1=Hind|title=Oxford Students Want 'Racist' Statue Removed|url=http://news.sky.com/story/1517577/oxford-students-want-racist-statue-removed|access-date=13 July 2015|agency=Sky News|date=12 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116124310/https://news.sky.com/story/oxford-students-want-racist-statue-removed-10352887|archive-date=16 January 2017}}</ref> The campaign was covered in a documentary by [[Channel 4]], which was called ''The Battle for Britain's Heroes''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/tv-review-the-battle-for-britains-heroes-channel-4-a8369491.html|title=TV Review: The Battle for Britain's Heroes (Channel 4)|first=Sean|last=O'Grady|date=29 March 2019|website=The Independent|language=en|access-date=2 April 2019}}</ref> The documentary was commissioned after [[Afua Hirsch]] wrote an article on the topic. Moreover, an article by [[Amit Chaudhuri]], in ''[[The Guardian]]'', suggested the criticism was "unsurprising and overdue".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/mar/16/the-real-meaning-of-rhodes-must-fall|title=The real meaning of Rhodes Must Fall|author-link=Amit Chaudhuri|last=Chaudhuri|first=Amit|date=16 March 2016|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=2 April 2019|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Other academics including Kehinde Andrews, prominent British academic and author specialising in Black studies, have vocally spoken in favour of #RhodesMustFall.<ref name="The Real Cecil Rhodes"/> However, Oriel College opted to keep the Rhodes statue, despite the protests.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/feb/02/students-cecil-rhodes-statue-campaign-oxford-oriel-college|title=Oxford students' fight to topple Cecil Rhodes statue was the easy option|first=Peter|last=Scott|newspaper=The Guardian|date=2 February 2016}}</ref> Oriel College claimed in 2016 they would lose about £100 million worth of gifts if they removed the statue.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/jan/28/cecil-rhodes-statue-will-not-be-removed--oxford-university|title=Cecil Rhodes statue to remain at Oxford after 'overwhelming support'|first=Kevin |last=Rawlinson|newspaper=The Guardian|date=28 January 2016}}</ref> Nevertheless, in June 2020, the college voted in favour of setting up an independent commission of inquiry, amid widespread support for removing the statue.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Mohdin|first1=Aamna|last2=Adams|first2=Richard|last3=Quinn|first3=and Ben|date=17 June 2020|title=Oxford college backs removal of Cecil Rhodes statue|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jun/17/end-of-the-rhodes-cecil-oxford-college-ditches-controversial-statue|access-date=17 June 2020|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
A statue of Rhodes was erected in the city of [[Bulawayo]] in 1904 in the city centre. In 1981 after the country's independence the statue was removed to the centenary park at the [[Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe]].

''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'', discussing his legacy, wrote of Rhodes that he "once defined his policy as 'equal rights for every white man south of the Zambezi' and later, under liberal pressure, amended 'white' to 'civilized'. But he probably regarded the possibility of native Africans becoming 'civilized' as so remote that the two expressions, in his mind, came to the same thing."<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cecil-Rhodes/Effects-of-the-Jameson-raid-on-Rhodess-career Encyclopaedia Britannica Effects Of The Jameson Raid On Rhodes’s Career]</ref>

As part of his legacy, on his death Rhodes left a significant amount of money to be used to finance talented young scholars ("race" was not a criterion) at Oxford. Currently, in Oxford a number of those South African and Zimbabwean recipients of funds from his legacy are campaigning for his statue to be removed from display in Oxford. When asked if there was any double standard or hypocrisy in being funded by the Rhodes Scholarship fund and benefiting from the opportunity, whilst at the same time campaigning against the legacy of Rhodes, one of the South African campaigners, [[Ntokozo Qwabe]], replied that "this scholarship does not buy our silence...There is no hypocrisy in being a recipient of a Rhodes scholarship and being publicly critical of Cecil Rhodes and his legacy... There is no clause that binds us to find 'the good' in Rhodes' character, nor to sanitise the imperialist, colonial agenda he propagated".<ref>{{Cite web|date=13 January 2016|title=Cecil Rhodes statue row: Chris Patten tells students to embrace freedom of thought|url=http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/jan/13/cecil-rhodes-statue-row-chris-patten-tells-students-to-embrace-freedom-of-thought|access-date=17 June 2020|website=The Guardian|language=en}}</ref>

In June 2020, amid the wider context of [[George Floyd protests in the United Kingdom|Black Lives Matter protests]], the governing body of Oxford's Oriel College voted to remove the statue of Rhodes located on the college's façade facing [[High Street, Oxford|Oxford's High Street]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/rhodes-will-fall-oxford-university-remove-statue-amid-anti-racism-n1231387|title=Rhodes will fall: Oxford University to remove statue amid anti-racism calls|last=Shakib|first=Delara|author2=Linda Givetash|date=18 June 2020|work=NBC News|access-date=7 July 2020}}</ref> The actual removal was not to take place until at least early spring 2021, when a commission set up by the college delivered its report on the future of the statue.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Race |first1=Michael |title=Decision over future of Oxford's Cecil Rhodes statue delayed |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-55549876 |website=BBC News |access-date=27 April 2021 |date=5 January 2021}}</ref> In May 2021, the commission reported that, while the majority of members supported the statue's removal, the costs to do so were prohibitively high, and the college would therefore not be taking action.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Race|first=Michael|date=20 May 2021|title=Removal of Oxford's Cecil Rhodes statue on hold over costs|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-57175057|access-date=20 May 2021}}</ref>