John Cecil Rhodes
An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes is notably quoted as having said "to be born English is to win first prize in the lottery of life". He and his British South Africa Company founded the southern African territory of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe and
South Africa's Rhodes University is also named after him. He also devoted much effort to realising his vision of a Cape to Cairo Railway through British territory. Rhodes set up the provisions of the Rhodes Scholarship, which is funded by his estate. Often acknowledged by historians as a white supremacist, Rhodes explicitly believed in the superiority of white English people over all others, especially sub-Saharan Africans; he believed ardently that natives of the Cape existed in a state of barbarism.
The son of a vicar, Rhodes was born at Netteswell House, Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire. A sickly child, he was sent to South Africa by his family when he was 17 years old in the hope that the climate might improve his health. He entered the diamond trade at Kimberley in 1871, when he was 18, and, thanks to funding from Rothschild & Co, began to systematically buy out and consolidate diamond mines. Over the next two decades he gained near-complete domination of the world diamond market, forming a massive monopoly. His diamond company De Beers, formed in 1888, retained its prominence into the 21st century.
Rhodes entered the Cape Parliament at the age of 27 in 1881, and in 1890, he became prime minister. During his time as prime minister, Rhodes used his political power to expropriate land from black Africans through the Glen Grey Act, while also tripling the wealth requirement for voting under the Franchise and Ballot Act, effectively barring black people from taking part in elections.
After overseeing the formation of Rhodesia during the early 1890s, he was forced to resign in 1896 after the disastrous Jameson Raid, an unauthorised attack on Paul Kruger's South African Republic (or Transvaal). Rhodes's career never recovered; his heart was weak and after years of poor health he died in 1902. He was buried in what is now Zimbabwe; his grave has been a controversial site.
In his last will, he provided for the establishment of the prestigious international Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University, the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. Every year it grants 102 full postgraduate scholarships. It has benefited prime ministers of Malta, Australia and Canada, United States President Bill Clinton, and many others.
During his political career he successfully confiscated land from the indigenous population of the Cape Colony, and falsely claimed southern African archeological sites such as Great Zimbabwe were built by European civilisations instead. With the strengthening of international movements against racism, such as Rhodes Must Fall and Black Lives Matter, Rhodes' legacy is a matter of debate to this day.