(1853–1902), British colonial statesman and financier, one of the main promoters of British rule in southern Africa.

Rhodes was born July 5, 1853, in Bishop’s Stortford, England. In 1870 he was sent to live with his brother Herbert (fl. about 1845–73) in Africa, in the area now known as the Republic of South Africa. Diamond fields were discovered at Kimberley in Cape Colony (now in Northern Cape Province; see CAPE PROVINCE,) in the following year, and Rhodes became a diamond prospector; by the time he was 19 years old he had accumulated a large fortune. In 1873 he returned to England to study at the University of Oxford; until 1881, when he received his degree, he divided his time between the university and the diamond fields. His most important achievement during this period was the amalgamation of a large number of diamond-mining claims to form De Beers Mining Co., which he controlled. In 1881 he entered the Cape Colony Parliament and held the seat for the rest of his life. Rhodes was largely responsible for the annexation to the British Empire of Bechuanaland (now Botswana) in 1885. In 1888, with the founding of De Beers Consolidated Mines, Rhodes monopolized the diamond production of Kimberley. In the same year he received exclusive diamond mining rights from Lobengula, who was the ruler of Matabeleland (now in Zimbabwe). The following year Rhodes was granted a charter to incorporate the British South Africa Co. Until 1923 the company controlled what are present-day Zimbabwe and Zambia; the region was named Rhodesia in 1894 in honor of Rhodes.

In 1890 Rhodes was made prime minister of the Cape. Five years later he supported a conspiracy by British settlers in the Transvaal Republic (now Transvaal Province) to overthrow their government, which was dominated by the Boers. The revolt was to be backed by a British South Africa Co. force led by Sir Leander Starr Jameson, British administrator of the lands constituting present-day Zimbabwe. On Dec. 29, 1895, Jameson invaded Transvaal prematurely and unsuccessfully. Rhodes was acquitted of responsibility for the invasion, known as Jameson’s Raid, but he was censured for his role in the plot against the Transvaal government and was forced to resign his premiership the following month. He then devoted himself to the development of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). During the Boer War he was prominent in the defense of Kimberley. He died at Cape Town on March 26, 1902, before the war was over. In his will Rhodes left most of his fortune to the establishment of the RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS, (q.v.).