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Archibald Ross Colquhoun was the first Administrator of Southern Rhodesia. He held office from 1 October 1890 – 10 September 1892 from the period of the founding of Fort Salisbury after the arrival of the Pioneer Column. At this time the administrator's jurisdiction covered Mashonaland only, as Matabeleland was annexed in 1893. He was also acting Chief Magistrate of Southern Rhodesia between 24 July 1891 and 18 September 1891.
Colquhoun spent much of his life travelling. In the 1880s he took part in several exploratory expeditions to Burma, Indo-China and southern China, before moving to South Africa in 1889. He left Southern Rhodesia after his term of office and settled in the United Kingdom, but continued to travel. From 1900–1901, he and his wife Ethel travelled in the Pacific —the Dutch East Indies, Borneo, Philippines, Japan — returning to England via Siberia. From 1902 to 1903, he travelled in the West Indies, Central America and the United States. During 1904 and 1905, he returned temporarily to Rhodesia. In 1913, Colquhoun inspected the Panama Canal construction work and carried out one last mission for the Royal Colonial Institute in South America before his death on 18 December 1914.
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