Zimbabwe Rhodesia (/zɪmˈbɑːbweɪ roʊˈdiːʒə, zɪmˈbɑːbwi roʊˈdiːʒə/), alternatively known as Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, also informally known as Zimbabwe or Rhodesia, was a short-lived unrecognised sovereign state that existed from 1 June 1979 to 18 April 1980, though it lacked international recognition. Zimbabwe Rhodesia was preceded by another state named the Republic of Rhodesia and was briefly under a British-supervised transitional government sometimes referred to as a reestablished Southern Rhodesia, which according to British constitutional theory had remained the lawful government in the area after Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) in 1965. Following the 1980 Southern Rhodesian general election, the country was granted internationally-recognized independence within the Commonwealth as the Republic of Zimbabwe.

Under pressure from the international community, an "Internal Settlement" was drawn up between the Smith administration of Rhodesia and moderate African nationalist parties. Meanwhile, the government continued to battle armed resistance from the Patriotic Front, a coalition of two African Leadership parties: the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union (ZAPU) and the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU). The liberation war was a proxy conflict between the West and East.

The "Internal Settlement", signed in March 1978, led to the creation of an interim government in which Africans were included in leading positions for the first time, while creating an independent civil service, judiciary, police force, and army. The settlement also created an executive council composed of Ian Smith and three black individuals (Muzorewa, Sithole, and Chirau), and a ministerial council, while Smith retained his title as prime minister. It was also stated that the primary job of this new government was to draw up a constitution for the country, hold elections in April 1979, and arrange a ceasefire with the Patriotic Front. A further goal of the agreement was said to be the hope of ending the country's civil war. Following the election, Muzorewa remarked that he didn't want the country to be "a sham, a fraud, a hollow shell with the mere trappings of independence" or the country to "ever to become another banana republic."

Furthermore, a goal of the settlement was for Rhodesia to receive international recognition and have the sanctions imposed on the country due to Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965 to be removed. Following the settlement, Muzorewa attempted to convince the British government to recognize the transitional government, but they did not do so. In the same vein, some believed that the settlement was "sufficient" grounds for recognition of Rhodesia and lifting sanctions. Later in 1978, the removal of sanctions was agreed to by the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, with the caveat that they could only be lifted "once elections were held". The settlement also reportedly resulted in the release of political prisoners. However, the country's civil service, judiciary, police and armed forces continued to be administered by the same officials as before, of whom most were White Zimbabweans, due to the composition of the upper-middle class of the period.

The new state did not gain international recognition. The Commonwealth Secretariat claiming that the "so-called 'Constitution of Zimbabwe Rhodesia'" would be "no more legal and valid" than the UDI constitution it replaced, The U.N. Security Council, in Resolution 448 condemned the general election in April 1979 as "null and void" and described the country as an "illegal racist regime" which was attempting to retain and extend "racist minority rule and...preventing the accession of Zimbabwe to independence and genuine majority rule." It also called on all states to not recognize the government and to strictly follow mandatory sanctions against the country. As noted by Time in June 1979, United States President Jimmy Carter believed that the elections which installed the government in were neither "fair or free," because they were held under a constitution that reserved "a disproportionate share of power for the white minority." He later, in November 1979, continued sanctions until the negotiations conducted by the United Kingdom to end the "peaceful resolution" of the conflict in Rhodesia had come to a close.

As early as 1960, African nationalist political organizations in Rhodesia agreed that the country should use the name "Zimbabwe"; they used that name as part of the titles of their organisations. The name "Zimbabwe", broken down to Dzimba dzamabwe in Shona (one of the two major languages in the country), means "houses of stone". Meanwhile, the white Rhodesian community was reluctant to drop the name "Rhodesia", hence a compromise was met.

The constitution named the new state as "Zimbabwe Rhodesia", with no reference to its status as a republic in its name. Although the official name contained no hyphen, the country's name was hyphenated in some foreign publications as "Zimbabwe-Rhodesia". The country was also nicknamed "Rhobabwe", a blend of "Rhodesia" and "Zimbabwe". It had first been used in the late 1960s.

After taking office as prime minister, Abel Muzorewa sought to drop "Rhodesia" from the country's name. The name "Zimbabwe Rhodesia" had been criticised by some black politicians like Senator Chief Zephaniah Charumbira, who said it implied that Zimbabwe was "the son of Rhodesia". ZANU, led by Robert Mugabe in exile, denounced what it described as "the derogatory name of 'Zimbabwe Rhodesia'". The proposed changes to the name were not implemented.