The Great Zimbabwe
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Source: The Great Courses Daily
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By Evan Andrews
One of the most impressive
monuments in sub-Saharan Africa is the Great Zimbabwe, an imposing collection
of stacked boulders, stone towers and defensive walls assembled from cut
granite blocks. The rock citadel has long been the subject of myths and
legends—it was once thought to be the residence of the Biblical Queen of
Sheba—but historians now know it as the capital city of an indigenous empire
that thrived in the region between the 13th and 15th centuries. This kingdom
ruled over a large chunk of modern day Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. It
was particularly rich in cattle and precious metals, and stood astride a trade
route that connected the region’s gold fields with ports on the Indian Ocean
coast.
Though little is known about its
history, the remains of artefacts such as Chinese pottery, Arabian glass and
European textiles indicate that it was once a well-connected mercantile centre.
The fortress city at the Great Zimbabwe was mysteriously abandoned sometime in
the 15th century after the kingdom went into decline, but in its heyday, it was
home to an estimated 20 000 people.
Source: History
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