Great Zimbabwe
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Lost City of Ancient Africa
Great Zimbabwe
Location in the Ancient World
Great Zimbabwe was located in the Bantu speaking region of ancient Africa. The Shona tribe settled this area in the early “Iron Age” circa 300 AD. The early Khoisan people also settled in this area.
Modern Location
Great Zimbabwe is located at South 20 degrees 16 minutes and East 30 degrees 55 minutes.
It is located in the modern country of Zimbabwe. It is located west of Mozambique, east of Botswana and north of South Africa. It is northeast of the Limpopo River and southeast of the Zambezi River.
How Big is Great Zimbabwe?
Great Zimbabwe covers more than 1,800 acres.
The largest structure is called The Great Enclosure. It has walls that are 36 feet high and it covers an oval shape roughly 820 feet in diameter.
There are more than 300 other smaller structures throughout the hill side.
Great Zimbabwe was built over many years.
When was it built?
Great Zimbabwe took over 300 years to complete. From circa 1000 AD to 1400 AD this civilization improved their building techniques. Great Zimbabwe was built in stages over more than 300 years.
The Shona people made simple iron tools. They did not use cement or mortar to hold their walls together. Instead they carved each brick with a slight inward slope. The weight of the walls is what holds them together.
What civilization built this wonder?
Scientists do not know much about the early Bantu speaking people that built Great Zimbabwe. The word Bantu refers to the more than 300 regional ethnic groups that live in central Africa. Scientists call the tribe of people who lived here, the Shona Tribe.
The Shona People
Archeologists know that beef cattle was the most important part of the Shona diet. There is a theory that many of the walls of Great Zimbabwe were built not keep out enemies but to corral cattle.
Scientists think that the Shona people settled in this area to escape the Tsetse Fly. The flies lived in the valley and carried disease. The people moved into the rocky hills because the flies could not live at the higher altitude.
Interaction
The people of Great Zimbabwe lived in small huts. The huts were made of mud and wood with a thatched roof made from long grass. The community leaders lived safely behind the huge walls at the top of the hill.
Geography and the people of Great Zimbabwe
The builders of Great Zimbabwe used the natural hilltop features to help them build the city. The walls were built right around the huge stones in the hilltop.
Interaction
To reach the top, stairs were carved right out of the boulders.
The people of Great Zimbabwe mined for gold in the nearby hills and mountains. The made jewelry out of the gold and traded it throughout the ancient world. Archeologists have traced gold from Great Zimbabwe as far away as Arabia and India.
Movement and Interaction
How did the people use Great Zimbabwe?
The people of Great Zimbabwe traded throughout the ancient world. This map from the 1st century AD shows African trade routes through out the ancient world.
What happened to Great Zimbabwe?
Sometime around 1450 AD Great Zimbabwe was abandoned.
Scientists have several theories why the city was deserted.
#1 They ran out of natural resources, the gold ran out and they ran out of wood.
#2 Because they had gold they might have been conquered by a neighbor.
#3 Something happened to their cattle and they had to move to find new food.
It remains a mystery.
Great Zimbabwe Now
Great Zimbabwe remained a “lost” city for the next 450 years. It was rediscovered by German archeologists in the 1890s. At first it was thought that Great Zimbabwe was the mythical palace of the Queen of Sheba or that it was made by the Greeks or Romans. Archeologists proved that it was built by local people. Since 1986 it has been part of the United Nations/UNESCO world heritage program. Tourists and scientists can visit here.