The British South Africa Company was founded by Cecil Rhodes as a means of extending British colonial interests in southern Africa without directly involving the British Government. It was incorporated on 29th October 1889 as a chartered company with widespread powers, including the ability to annexe and administer land, raise its own police force and establish settlements within its own boundaries. The initial incursion of a British South Africa Company pioneer force under Major Patrick Forbes into the territory of the Ndebele in present day Zimbabwe led to the raising of its own flag over Bulawayo. The area under the Company's immediate control was soon named Rhodesia after its founder. The Company's charter was renewed in 1914. However, it folded in 1923 when Rhodesia became a self-governing colony under the British Crown.

Rhodes (1853-1902) was the father of the De Beers Consolidated Mining Co. and a powerful presence in the Transvaal gold mining industry. Prime Minister of Cape Colony, he was a chief architect of British policy in southern Africa, though the Jameson Raid of 1897 on the Afrikaner republic of the Transvaal, in which he was implicated, diminished his influence. He was also a major benefactor to the University of Oxford.