>> Why? Why do they feel the need to do this? The desired end-point narrative changes with the political objective. 120 years ago Cecil Rhodes was keen to pro

>> Why? Why do they feel the need to do this? The desired end-point narrative changes with the political objective. 120 years ago Cecil Rhodes was keen to prove that Zimbabwe was fantastically advanced for its time and place, because it would prove it could not have been built by the locals, and therefore he could take the land from the present occupants, because they had taken it from someone else. As Michener puts it in his (fictionalized) account: "So now, if Rhodes could prove that no black society had ever been advanced enough to have built Zimbabwe, his theft of Matabeleland would seem more palatable. It would, after all, be rather ugly to have stolen a kingdom in order to bring it civilization if that kingdom had once been civilized."