Rhodesia 1898 during the British South Africa Company's administration of the Rhodesias, and retained by the self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia after the end of Company rule in 1923. This naming dispute dated back to October 1964, when Northern Rhodesia became independent from the UK and concurrently changed its name to Zambia. The Southern Rhodesian colonial government in Salisbury felt that in the absence of a "Northern" Rhodesia, the continued use of "Southern" was superfluous. It passed legislation to become simply Rhodesia, but the British government refused to approve this on the grounds that the country's name was defined by British
1964 Southern Rhodesian independence referendum made a Unilateral Declaration of Independence, making the country a de facto independent state until returning to British colonial rule in 1979 following the Lancaster House Agreement.The British Government did not accept Southern Rhodesian independence as the referendum was not representative of all of Southern Rhodesia. Voter turnout was 61.9%. 1964 Southern Rhodesian independence referendum A referendum on independence was held in Southern Rhodesia on 5 November 1964. The question put to voters was "Are you in favour of or against Southern Rhodesia obtaining independence on the basis of the 1961 Constitution of Southern Rhodesia. Ian Smith called a meeting