Cecil Rhodes had the ambition of the British Empire occupying land from the Cape to Cairo and he needed to secure this against rival German and Portuguese aspirations. It was believed at the time the land North of the Limpopo River would contain gold to rival that of the Rand in the Transvaal. Occupying the land that became Rhodesia would also prevent the Portuguese from joining their two colonies of Moçambique and Angola together, thereby blocking the concept of British occupation the length of Africa.

This led to the creation of the Pioneer column under the auspices of the British South Africa Company that were to be escorted and protected by the British south Africa Company Police.