Harare

Harare (known as Salisbury until 1982) is the most populous city and capital of Zimbabwe. It has an estimated population of 1,600,000 inhabitants, with some 2,800,111 people in its metropolitan area (2006). It is the administrative, commercial, and communications center of Zimbabwe. It is a trading center for tobacco, corn, cotton and citrus. Its industrial activity includes textiles, steel and chemicals. In the area there are gold mines.

Harare is home to the University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe's largest institution of higher learning, located in the suburb of Mount Plesant five kilometers north of the city center. Despite the city's renaming, most of the city's suburbs retain their European colonial names dating back to the 19th century, such as, Warren Park 'D', Borrowdale, Mount Pleasant, Tynwald, Rotten Row and Rietfontein.

Harare is famous for its beautiful streets, which are lined with jacaranda trees, and when they bloom, they fill the city with their beautiful purplish-blue color.

History

Cecil Rhodes.

Jacarandas on Montagu Avenue, Harare Center.

The city was founded in 1890 as a fort by the "Pioneer Column," a mercenary group organized by Cecil Rhodes. The city was originally named Salisbury after the Third Marquess of Salisbury, who was then the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It gained city status in 1935. Salisbury was then the capital of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland from 1953 to 1963.

The city's name was changed to Harare on April 18, 1982, on the second anniversary of Zimbabwe's independence, the name being derived from the name of the Shona chief, Neharawa.

In the early years of the 21st century, Harare was severely affected by the political and economic crisis that gripped Zimbabwe, after the difficult presidential election of 2002 and the parliamentary elections of 2005. The elected parliamentary board was replaced by a government commission due to its alleged inefficiency, and essential services such as public cleaning and street maintenance rapidly deteriorated. In a May 2006 Zimbabwean newspaper, Financial Gazette, the city was described in an editorial as a "beautiful city turned garbage dump".

In May 2005, the Zimbabwean government demolished several informal settlements in Harare and other cities in the country, in what was called Operation Murambatsvina (Operation 'Take Out the Trash'). This caused a strong reaction in the international community because said plan was carried out without any prior notice, and without planning alternative shelters for all those displaced. It was suspected that the plan was part of a reprisal campaign against the poorest sectors of the urban population, mostly in favor of the opposition party, Movimiento por el Cambio Democrático, thus reducing the possibilities of protests and actions against the government by expelling opponents from the cities. The government justified the operation by stating that it was trying to reduce crime, epidemics, and prostitution.

Infrastructures

Transportation

Urban transportation

The public transportation system within the city includes public and private sector operations. The former consist of buses and commuter trains operated by the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company and the National Railways of Zimbabwe respectively. Previously, vans called, until 1993, Emergency Taxis. operated. In that year, the government began to replace them with licensed buses and minibuses, officially known as local buses.

Rail transport

From Harare there is a daily passenger train service to Mutare, and another to Bulawayo, using the Beira-Bulawayo railway.

Air transportation

Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport is the country's main air terminal. It is operated by the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe, and has international flights between Africa and Asia.

Robert Mugabe International Airport in Harare.

Climate

Harare has a pleasant subtropical highland climate (Köppen climate classification: Cwb). The mean annual temperature is 17.95 °C (64.3 °F), which is low for the tropics, and this is due to its elevated location and the prevalence of cool south-eastern airflow.

There are three seasons: a hot and humid season from November to March/April; a cold and dry season from May to August (corresponding to winter in the southern hemisphere); and a hot and dry season in September/October. Daily temperature ranges from about 7-22°C (45-72°F) in July (coldest month), around 15-29°C (59-84°F) in October (hottest month).) and around 16-26 °C (61-79 °F) in January (midsummer). The hottest year on record was 1914 with a mean annual temperature of 19.73 °C (67.5 °F) and the coldest year was 1965 with 17.13 °C (62.8 °F).

Mean annual precipitation is about 825 mm (32.5 inches) in the southwest, rising to 855 mm (33.7 inches) in the highlands of the northeast (Borrowdale to Glen Lorne). Very little rain normally falls during the period from May to September, although sporadic precipitation does occur most years. Precipitation varies greatly from year to year and follows cycles of wet and dry periods lasting 7 to 10 years.

The climate favors the natural vegetation of open forests. The most common tree in the local region is the Msasa Brachystegia spiciformis which colors the landscape in red wine with its new leaves at the end of August. Two South American species of trees, the Jacaranda and the Flamboyan, which were introduced during colonial times, color the streets of the city with those of the lilac flowers of the Jacaranda or the red flowers of the Flamboyán. They flower in October/November and are planted in the streets of the capital. Bougainvillea is also common.

Average Harare climate parameters
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Temp. max. abs. (°C)	32	31	30	32	28	26	28	31	33	34	35	33	35
Average temperature (°C)	26.2	26	26.2	25.6	23.8	21.8	21.6	24.1	28.4	28.8	27.6	26.3	25.5
Average temperature (°C)	21	20.9	20.4	19.1	16.6	14.3	14.1	16.3	20.1	21.7	21.6	21.1	18.9
Temp. medium (°C)	15.8	15.7	14.5	12.5	9.3	6.8	6.5	8.5	11.7	14.5	15.5	15.8	12.3
Temp. min. abs. (°C)	8	9	8	6	2	0	0	1	3	7	8	9	0
Total precipitation (mm)	190.8	176.3	99.1	37.2	7.4	1.8	2.3	2.9	6.5	40.4	93.2	182.7	840.6
Days of precipitation (≥)	17	14	10	5	2	1	0	1	1	5	10	16	82
Hours of sun	217	192.1	232.5	249	269.7	264	279	300.7	294	285.2	231	198.4	3012.6
Source No. 1: World Meteorological Organization Hong Kong Observatory (1961-1990)
Source No. 2: BBC Weather

Economy

Harare is Zimbabwe's main financial, commercial, and communications center, as well as an international trading center for tobacco, corn, cotton, and citrus. The manufacturing industry, which includes textiles, steel, and chemicals, is also economically important, as is the trade in precious minerals such as gold, diamonds, chrome, and platinum. It has also experienced a real estate boom recently, particularly in the wealthy northern suburbs, with prices rising dramatically in the last decade, despite problems in other sectors of the economy. This boom has been largely fueled by by members of the Zimbabwean diaspora and speculation, with investors hedging against the local currency. However, the previously booming market has started to cool off due to the rise in interest rates in 2019 and the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving several projects unfinished. Harare has been the site of several international summits, such as the 8th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (6 September 1986) and the 1991 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. The latter produced the Harare Declaration, which sets out the criteria for membership of the Commonwealth of Nations (Commonwealth of Nations). In 1998, Harare was the host city for the 8th Assembly of the World Council of Churches. Although it may have seemed that the economy was finally on the mend, initial investor optimism following the Mnangagwa government's inauguration has largely faded due to the slow pace of reforms to improve the business environment. The economy suffered from a high inflation and frequent power outages in 2019, making investment even more difficult. The failure to implement adequate monetary reforms to complement the government's efforts to reduce the budget deficit also undermined investor confidence in the financial sector. Although the government has repeatedly stressed its interest in improving transparency, ease of doing business and fighting corruption, progress remains limited under the Mnangagwa administration.

Another challenge to Harare's economy is the continued emigration of highly-skilled and educated residents to the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand, largely due to the economic downturn and political unrest. city brains, almost unprecedented compared to other emerging markets, has led to the decline of a local business class, a bloated and declining middle class, and a dearth of employment opportunities outside the informal and public sector. In addition, the city's working-class residents are increasingly moving to nearby South Africa and Botswana, though they are easily replaced by poorer rural migrants. However, despite more than a decade of neglect, the The city's infrastructure and human capital remain comparable to other cities in Africa and Latin America. It remains to be seen whether the current government can entice its young, diverse and well-educated Zimbabwean diaspora, numbering some 4-7 million people, to invest in the economy, let alone consider returning.

Culture

Zimbabwe National Gallery.

The Zimbabwe Museum of Human Sciences in the 1970s.

The arts thrive in Harare despite the economic and political crisis, the effects of which have provided opportunities for satire, experimentation and reinvention. Although authors and musicians such as Doris Lessing, Petina Gappah and Thomas Mapfumo have long criticized the corruption and shortcomings of the Smith and Mugabe governments, the rise of critical and protest theater since 2000 has invigorated the local art scene. Actors, directors and artists have joined musicians and writers in criticizing political maleficence, and the public has joined them, making the local theater and arts scene one of the most vibrant in the southern hemisphere.

Notable institutions in the city include:

• National Gallery of Zimbabwe - which houses exhibitions of shona art and stone sculpture
• Acre of the National Heroes - The Acre of the Heroes is a national cemetery and monument whose aim is to commemorate the independence fighters killed during the Rhodes War and also the contemporary Zimbabweans whose service to their country justifies their burial in the place.
• Zimbabwe Museum of Human Sciences (Zimbabwe Museum of Human Sciences) - near Rotten Row, documents the archaeology of Southern Africa from the Stone Age to the Iron Age.
• Chapungu Sculpture Park - a sculpture park in Msasa Park, which shows the work of stone sculptors from Zimbabwe. It was founded in 1970 by Roy Guthrie, who helped promote the work of his sculptors worldwide.
• National Archives - The gallery on the second floor has a small but complete display of some of the artifacts related to Zimbabwe that are useful to understand its history. Among them there are newspapers, photographs and other objects detailing the milestones of the history of Zimbabwe, while the exhibition of the mezzanine focuses on the first Chimurenga revolts, or Ndebele-Shona, of 1896-97, which put in perspective the historical struggle for independence.
• National Botanical Gardens - in Alexandra Park, is a good place to visit, take a walk or see plants of Zimbabwe or southern Africa and forested habitats such as the msasa (Brachystegia spiciformis), the miombo (type of savannah) or less commonly the arbusive masses of fynbos of the Cape.
• Royal Harare Golf Course: an 18-hole competition course that also houses the Zimbabue Open every year, part of the Sunshine Tour; the streets (fairways) are located in a msasa forest where there are some antelopes that feed on the grass.
• Vaughn Animal Sanctuary: along the Shamva and Enterprise roads, it houses lions, vervet monkeys and hyenas.
• Epworth Balancing Rocks - just south of the city's boundaries, hosts large and extraordinary rock formations and ancient friezes of rock art
• Recreational park of the Cleveland dam - on the Mutare Highway (A3) magnificent msasa forests bordering the edges of the dam and beautiful views over it. You can see cormorants and claws, as well as aquatic rods or green cercopitecos (vervet, Chlorocebus pygerythrus) and other monkeys. It's better to avoid weekends.
• Botanical gardens of Ewanrigg.
• Parque de Leones y Guepardos. Although there are currently few guepardos, if you have a few days in Harare, or you have never seen a living lion, it is worth visiting the park, as it is near the city, on the road of Bulawayo (A5).
• Mukuvisi Woodlands, in Hillside, comprises 263 hectares of indigenous forest of Msasa and miombo and is very well located for a first introduction to hunting in Zimbabwe. It houses zebras, giraffes, eland, ñus, ostriches and impalas, including some of its offspring in the forests, as well as a wide variety of native birds and flora.
• The Eastgate Centre, a pioneering and innovative, equidistant shopping centre in Unity Square and Borrowdale.
• The Mbare Musika market is the largest and most colorful in the city with a mix of fresh products, local art and various items. It is the curiosities that attract tourists here; there is a large collection of neotraditional sculpture, wood crafts and baskets. It is located in a poor area of the city and the carterists abound, so it is better to visit it with a tourist group.
• The Book Cafe: a bohemian centre of literary, social and musical discussion where writers, poets, singers and other artists act without censorship.
• The Reps Theatre in Belgravia has a wide range of performances ranging from classical music to experimental and improvisational theatre.

Twinned cities

Harare maintains a town twinning with:

• Canton, China.
• Cincinnati, Ohio, United States.
• Kazan, Volga, Russia.
• Lake, Calabria, Italy.
• Maputo, Mozambique.
• Munich, Bavaria, Germany.
• Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.
• Nottingham, England, United Kingdom.
• Prato, Tuscany, Italy.
• Windhoek, Khomas, Namibia.
• Oaxaca, State of Oaxaca, Mexico.