State · 1965 – 1979

Rhodesia

A state of 1965 – 1979 — 14 years in sub-Saharan Africa. It was replaced by Zimbabwe Rhodesia. The atlas records 4 things within it — people 4. Its line of rulers holds 7 people, 4 with dated terms.

For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.

Stood: 14 years; 1965 – 1979
Rulers: 7; the President of Rhodesia
Most ground: 394,000 km²; in 1976
Within it: 4; recorded rows
Symbols: 3; on record, with years

Map: Rhodesia in 1976, its borders in gold among its neighbours — Rhodesia in 1976, when it held the most ground the borders dataset draws for it: 394,000 km². Its neighbours wear their tints, as on the atlas's own map. Borders from Cliopatria (CC BY 4.0), coast and rivers from Natural Earth, cities from Reba, Reitsma & Seto 2016 (CC BY 4.0), each city under the name it bore that year.

Where it sits in time

Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold, what it replaced or followed and what replaced or followed it in grey.

Before and after

The states the record files it as replacing or following, and those that replaced or followed it - Wikidata's own statements, each read from this state's side.

After it

Zimbabwe Rhodesia · replaced by · 1979

Rulers

The line of President of Rhodesia.

died in officeleft alive by a regular roada second row: a reign that began before the last had ended — rival claimants, or a shared throne

Ruler	Reign	Length	How it ended · source
Edgar Whitehead	1958 – 1962	4 years	left office aliveread off the dates alone
Ian Smith	1964 – 1979	15 years	left office aliveread off the dates alone
Clifford Dupont	1970 – 1975	5 years	left office aliveread off the dates alone
John Wrathall	1976 – 1978	2 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone

7 rulers, 4 with terms dated as terms, covering 1958 – 1979. Only 21 years of the line are dated - too short for a median. 1 of 3 handovers irregular - a killing, a deposition, a rival claimant, a rising or a coup beside it. The violent-handover count is withheld: power changed hands so often that any rising falls beside one (exposure 0.86, limit 0.6). A blank in the last column means no kin on record, which is coverage, never “unrelated”.

Ground held, by year

km² inside its borders as the borders dataset draws them, measured on an equal-area grid; a step series, held between the years the dataset maps.

393,600 km² in 1970, 393,600 km² in 1975. Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0.

Flags and arms, in order

Each symbol with the years its own statement gives; the timeline flies the one of the year on screen.

coat of arms, undatedCoat of arms of Southern Rhodesia (1924–1981) · Public domain
flag, 1965 – 1968Flag of Rhodesia (1964–1968) · Public domain
flag, 1968 – 1979Flag of Rhodesia (1968–1979) · Public domain

What happened within it, by century

Every row the atlas hosts under this state, by the century it began in: wars and battles in red, risings, regime changes and massacres beside them, everything else in grey. A tall bar is a century the record is full for, which is partly a fact about Wikipedia.

1900 – 19993 rows

Clifford Dupont · ruler · 1905 – 1978
John Wrathall · ruler · 1913 – 1978
Winston Field · ruler · 1904 – 1969

Among all states

Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.

How long it stood14 years
stood longer than 20% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.
The most ground it held394,000 km²
held more ground at its peak than 70% of 1,465 states with a border in Cliopatria.
Wars recorded per centurynone
had more wars on record per century than 44% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.
Rulers on record7
has more rulers on record than 73% of 1,968 states with a line of rulers.

What led to it, and what came of it

The investigation's own picture: 4 causes the record names and 1 result, the strongest six of each at their own years, joined to the state by the kind of claim - a recorded statement solid, the article's sentence dashed, a theory dash-dot.

in the articlelinkedcoincidence

Open the investigation: every row with its evidence, the conditions at the time, the theories condition by condition, and the succession analysed.

Theories that apply to its ending

Of 3 theories of why states fall, 1 has every condition present at this ending; each is applied by its own logic, condition by condition, and whether its authors named this case is a footnote.

Demographic-structural breakdown
Goldstone 1991 · Turchin & Nefedov 2009
Applies by its own logic: 2 of its 3 conditions held here (it needs 2), and this is the kind of outcome it predicts — unrest, adverse regime change or the state's ending.
- overlapping reigns — rival claimants — within 20 y, or 3 or more changes of ruler within 20 y, or 2 or more reigns of two years or less within 20 y, or a monarch deposed or killed within 20 y — rivalClaimants -9; handovers 3
- a war the state is fighting, still under way, or a war the state fought, ended within 10 y — warOngoing

Open in the atlas

On the timeline, 1955 – 1989, with everything that stood beside it.
On the map in 1976, live: scrub the year and watch its borders move.
Investigate it: what led to it, what came of it, and its succession analysed.

Wikidata Q217169 (CC0) · borders Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0 · coast and rivers Natural Earth · symbols from Wikimedia Commons, each credited above · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.