President Robert Mugabe was born 74 years ago into the Shona-speaking majority of what was then called Southern Rhodesia. He trained as a teacher, and became active in the growing opposition to British rule. In 1963 he was one of a number of leading dissidents who split from Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe Africa People's Union to form the Zimbabwe Africa National Union.
In 1965 the Rhodesian Front led by Ian Smith announced a unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) to frustrate British attempts to introduce majority rule.
Mugabe took over as leader of ZANU after being released from prison in 1974. Following the war of independence and the Lancaster House agreement brokered by Margaret Thatcher, Mugabe comfortably won the first post-independence election in 1979 against Nkomo. Subsequent constitutional changes have copper-fastened Mugabe's hold on power.