Great Zimbabwe is a large complex of stone ruins on the plains of southern Africa, near Masvingo in the modern-day nation of Zimbabwe. From about 1100 to about 1450, Great Zimbabwe flourished as the capital of a large empire built by the ancestors of the Shona people. The word zimbabwe means house of stone in the Shona language.
The ruins at Great Zimbabwe include the Hill Complex, a group of stone buildings at the top of a granite hill. Scholars think that the rulers and other individuals of high social standing lived there. Six large soapstone sculptures of birds found at this location may have served as emblems of royal authority. Scholars estimate that as many as 18,000 people lived in the area surrounding the Hill Complex.
Another feature, the Great Enclosure, includes two thick walls up to 36 feet (11 meters) high. They form a narrow passage leading to a cone-shaped tower 30 feet (9 meters) tall. A wall about 800 feet (240 meters) long surrounds the tower. These structures consist of granite slabs fitted together without mortar. Scholars believe that the Great Enclosure served as an important ritual center.
Great Zimbabwe was the center of a large empire that was located throughout most of modern-day Zimbabwe and part of Mozambique. The site ranks as the largest of more than 300 stone ruins found throughout the region that were home to vassals (local rulers). Great Zimbabwe’s wealth and power came from vast herds of cattle that were kept for meat and milk. Its rulers distributed cattle to the vassal territories in exchange for goods from the interior of Africa. At Great Zimbabwe, rulers taxed gold, ivory, copper, wild animals, and agricultural products, then passed them on to Sofala and other port cities on the southeast coast of Africa. There, the goods were traded for porcelain, cloth, beads, and other articles from China, India, and the Middle East.
Great Zimbabwe declined during the 1400’s as Europeans took control of trade along the east coast of Africa. Environmental degradation—including deforestation and the exhaustion of soils—may have also contributed to the empire’s decline. By the late 1700’s, Great Zimbabwe was abandoned. In 1986, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared the ruins at Great Zimbabwe a World Heritage Site, an area of unique natural or cultural importance.
See also Africa (States and kingdoms); Zimbabwe (History).
