Cecil John Rhodes was a British imperialist and the effective founder of the state of Rhodesia (since 1980 known as Zimbabwe), named after himself. He profited greatly from southern Africa's natural resources.

Rhodes was born in Bishop's Stortford, England, United Kingdom the son of a vicar, and travelled to South Africa as a young man for the benefit of his health. He soon began making a profit from mining the Kimberley diamond mines, and he formed his own company, De Beers Consolidated Mines in 1888.

On his return to England, he studied at Oriel College, Oxford, but was obliged to return to a better climate and went into politics, becoming a member of the Cape House of Assembly. By 1890 he was Prime Minister of the Cape Colony. He also became managing director of the British South Africa Company, which administered a territory roughly equivalent to present-day Zimbabwe. He resigned as Prime Minister in 1896, following the outcry over the "raids" into Transvaal by his friend Dr. Leander Starr Jameson.

Although he remained a leading figure in the politics of southern Africa, especially during the Boer War, he was dogged by ill-health throughout his relatively short life. As a result of his will, the Rhodes Scholarships, which enable foreign nationals to study at Oxford, came into being.

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