Cecil John Rhodes is buried in the Matopos

Cecil John Rhodes

Updated: 13 Nov 2025

Empire-builder and former prime minister of the Cape Colony, Cecil John Rhodes, was buried in the Matopo Hills, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Rhodes visited England in 1901. He was already ill on his return to Cape Town in the early months of 1902 and died soon afterwards at his seaside cottage in Muizenberg, Cape Town. In his will he asked to be buried on the 'View of the World' hill in the Matobo district, Matabeleland. The bulk of his vast fortune was left to the public service, but he also provided for the education of young British colonists by the creation of a yearly scholarship, still in existence today. His immense estates in Rhodesia were left to the people of the territory, to be cultivated for their benefit. He left his home, Groote Schuur as a residence for the prime minister of South Africa.

How we know this

01Potgieter, D.J. et al. (eds)(1970). Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Cape Town: NASOU, v. 9, p. 323.
02Bulawayo, Cecil John Rhodes stumbles on Matopos Hills, from Bulawayo1872.com, [online], Available at www.bulawayo1872.com [Accessed: 02 April 2014]

Last updated · 13 Nov 2025

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Cecil John Rhodes is buried in the Matopos. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011249

South African History Online (2011) 'Cecil John Rhodes is buried in the Matopos', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011249 (Accessed: 22 October 2026).

South African History Online, Cecil John Rhodes is buried in the Matopos [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011249, (accessed 22 October 2026).

"Cecil John Rhodes is buried in the Matopos." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011249. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

South African History Online. "Cecil John Rhodes is buried in the Matopos." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011249.