Rhodesia (region) was first used to refer to the region by white settlers in the 1890s who informally named their new home after Cecil Rhodes, the Company's founder and managing director. It was used in newspapers from 1891 and was made official by the Company in 1895. To confuse matters, Southern Rhodesia, which became a self-governing colony of the United Kingdom in 1923, referred to itself simply as "Rhodesia" from 1964 to 1979, and in 1965 unilaterally declared independence under that name. It thereafter briefly renamed itself "Zimbabwe Rhodesia" in 1979. The usage of the term Rhodesia to refer to the historical
John Collins (British businessman) John Collins (British businessman) Sir John Collins (born 1941) is a British business executive and director for several corporations. He was born in Southern Rhodesia and after attending Campbell College in Belfast, he graduated from the University of Reading in England in 1964 and received an honorary degree from the University of Strathclyde in 1994. He worked for the Shell Group for nearly thirty years, starting in their Agribusiness in Africa and rising to be their Chief Executive for Shell, UK from 1990 to 1993. Since then he has held a number of positions, including the chairman of the UK's