Kadoma
Kadoma Townhall
Coat of arms
Kadoma
Coordinates: 18°21′S 29°55′E / 18.35°S 29.917°E / -18.35; 29.917
Country	Zimbabwe
Province	Mashonaland West
District	Kadoma
Founded	1890s
Elevation	1,162 m (3,812 ft)
Population (2007)
- Total	81,000
	estimated
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+1)

Kadoma is a city in Zimbabwe in the Mashonaland West province, 140km south-west of Harare on the main road to Bulawayo. It was known as Gatooma until 1982.

Gatooma was founded in the 1890s as a mining camp, and constituted under a village management board in 1907. In 1917 the Gatooma municipality was created. The settlement was named after the nearby kraal of Chief Katuma,^[1] who is represented on the town's coat of arms by the mountain bearing his name and the chief's badge of office.^[2]

The Specks Hotel was opened in 1907, and Jameson High School started the same year when Mrs Amelia Fitt, wife of the first mayor of Kadoma started to give classes to the town children in her house. A public electricity supply was introduced in Kadoma in 1922. The Grand Hotel opened in 1925 and had a sprung floor for dancing, the first such floor in Zimbabwe.

The city is at the centre of a mining area, which provides gold, copper, nickel.The most significant mine of the region is the Cam and Motor Mine, which is in Eiffel Flats 7km outside Kadoma. Under the present regime, Cam and Motor is owned by Rio Tinto Zimbabwe. Cam and Motor is the largest gold producer in Rhodesia-Zimbabwe's history.

Cotton is raised in the area and there was some development of related industries before 1990. The David Whithead textile manufacturing company was opened in 1952.

Kadoma is at an elevation of 1,162 m (3,812 ft). Its population is 81,000 (2007 est.)^[3]

[edit] References

1. ^ Room, A. (1997). Placenames of the World. McFarland. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=M1JIPAN-eJ4C&pg=PA184&lpg=PA184&dq=kadoma+etymology&source=web&ots=idrnI1MUVK&sig=Xue3jacd3mobI7coOhOhtxBZpuk&hl=en&ei=6kaRSfarNoyu-gbIx7GVCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=9&ct=result. Retrieved 2009-02-10. 
2. ^ "Coat of arms of Kadoma (Zimbabwe)". Heraldry of the World. http://www.ngw.nl/int/afr/zim/kadoma.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-10. 
3. ^ World Gazetteer