Discover Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe

Today we'll get to know about the exciting and interesting city of Harare, the capital and industrial center of Zimbabwe. Lying in the northeastern part of Zimbabwe is Harare, a beautiful city with a vision to achieve a world-class city status by 2025. Harare houses lots of beautiful tourist attractions like wildlife, museums and cultural centers amongst others. As we continue with this video, kindly subscribe to our channel if you're new here. Also turn on our notification to always get notified each time we drop a video. Stay tuned. Harare, formerly Salisbury until 1982, is the capital and most popular city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 960.6 km2 and a population of 2,123,000 in the 2012 census and an estimated 3,121,000 in its metropolitan area in 2019. Situated in northeastern Zimbabwe in the country's Mashuna land region, Harare is a metropolitan province which also incorporates the municipalities of Chittunguiza and Epworth. The city was founded in 1890 by the Pawnia Column, a small military force of the British South Africa Company and named Fort Salisbury after the UK Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury. It retained the name Salisbury until 1982 when it was renamed Harare on the second anniversary of Zimbabwean independence from the United Kingdom. Along the commercial capital of Zimbabwe, Harare has seen economic ups and downs since the 2000s. It remains an important center of commerce, government, finance, real estate, manufacturing, healthcare, design, education, arts, culture, tourism, agriculture, mining and regional affairs. Harare has the second highest number of embassies in southern Africa and serves as the location of the African headquarters of the World Health Organization which it shares with Brazzaville. Harare is Zimbabwe's leading financial, commercial and communication center as well as an international trade center for tobacco, maize, cotton and citrus fruits. Manufacturing including textiles, steel and chemicals are also economically significant as is the trade of 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 over the last decade despite challenges in other sectors of the economy. However, the once booming market has begun to cool off due to a 2019 hike in interest rates and the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic leaving a number of projects unfinished. A major challenge to Harare's economy is the persistent emigration of highly educated and skilled residents to the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, the Ireland and New Zealand largely due to the economic downturn and political unrest. Harare surprises many visitors with its beautiful resort areas and alluring tourist gems. A haven for wondrous wildlife, the city is encompassed by sprawling African plains and spectacular scenery home to giraffes, lions, wildebeests and more. And with some great museums and majestic gardens too, travelers can easily lose themselves for days in this busy, dynamic and charming place. The city of Harare is characterized by wide streets and a mix of historic post-war and modern buildings. The district is also notable for a number of upmarket hotels such as the Mikkels Hotel which are relatively luxurious but not particularly modern. Other downtown sites include the Kobje Africa Unity Square, the Harare Gardens, the National Gallery, the August House Parliamentary Buildings and the National Archives. Like in many African countries, a majority of Zimbabweans depend on staple foods. Mealy meal or cornmeal as it is known in other parts of the world is used to prepare bota, a porridge made by mixing cornmeal with water to make a thick taste. This is usually flavored with butter or peanut butter. Cornmeal is also used to make saza which is usually eaten for dinner and by many for lunch too. As earlier stated, Harare has a vision to achieve a world-class city status by 2025 and with the ongoing growth and development measures put in place, that goal is very visible. If you are yet to subscribe to this channel, kindly take a second to do so. Drop a like if you enjoyed this video and feel free to leave us a comment in the comment section below. Thanks for watching.