Great Zimbabwe is the largest pre-colonial stone city in sub-Saharan Africa, its granite walls raised without a trace of mortar by Shona-speaking builders between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries. The ruins gave their name to the modern nation, and their very existence was denied by colonial authorities for the best part of a century.
At a glance
Great Zimbabwe is a granite-walled royal capital divided into three zones: the Hill Complex, the Valley Complex, and the Great Enclosure. Its Shona name, dzimba dza mabwe, means houses of stone, and it was this name that independent Zimbabwe took for itself in 1980, making the country the only one in the world named after an archaeological site.
At its peak, around 1350 to 1420 CE, the settlement is thought to have housed a population in the low tens of thousands, making it the largest known pre-colonial city in the interior of southern Africa.
Key facts
- Great Enclosure: an outer wall roughly 250 metres in perimeter, about 5 metres thick and 11 metres high, built from dry-stacked granite blocks with no mortar.
- Conical tower: a solid granite tower some 11 metres high inside the Great Enclosure, with no entrance or interior; its purpose remains unknown.
- Zimbabwe Birds: eight known soapstone bird sculptures, found on pedestals in the Hill Complex, that became the national symbol of Zimbabwe and appear on its flag and coat of arms.
- Population peak: an estimated eleven to eighteen thousand inhabitants around 1350–1420 CE.
- Heritage status: Great Zimbabwe National Monument, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986.
History
Great Zimbabwe was the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe, which flourished from around 1220 to 1450 CE and controlled trade in gold and ivory between the southern African interior and Swahili Coast ports such as Sofala and Kilwa Kisiwani, linking the plateau to markets in India and the Middle East. Gold, mined and panned locally, was the kingdom’s principal export.
The city was abandoned around 1420 to 1450 CE. Proposed explanations include exhaustion of the surrounding soil and timber under the pressure of a large population, and a shift of the gold trade northward to Kilwa that reduced the value of the southern route. Political power subsequently passed to the Mutapa kingdom, which established a new capital further north on the Zimbabwe plateau.
From the 1890s to the 1970s, colonial authorities and some archaeologists denied that Great Zimbabwe had been built by indigenous Africans, attributing it variously to Phoenician traders, the Queen of Sheba or King Solomon; the last idea inspired H. Rider Haggard’s novel King Solomon’s Mines. Under Ian Smith’s Rhodesian government, state archaeologists were officially barred from attributing the ruins to African builders. Excavations by Gertrude Caton-Thompson in 1929, and later by Roger Summers in 1958 and Thomas Huffman between 1971 and 1985, established beyond doubt that the site was built by Bantu-speaking African ancestors of the Shona.
What you see
The Hill Complex, the oldest part of the site, occupies a granite outcrop above the valley and contains the earliest stone walls, dating from the eleventh century, on what was the royal residence. The Valley Complex spreads below it, holding the remains of streets and residential compounds that make up the most extensive part of the ruined city.
The Great Enclosure is the best-preserved and most visited section: a continuous curved wall of interlocking granite blocks rising to eleven metres, its upper courses decorated with a chevron pattern frieze. Inside stands the conical tower, solid from base to top, its function still debated by archaeologists. The Zimbabwe Bird sculptures once stood on stone pedestals in the Hill Complex, flanking the approach to the royal residence.
Practical information
- Location: Great Zimbabwe National Monument, Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe.
- Visiting the site: the monument is divided into the Hill Complex, the Valley Complex and the Great Enclosure; current access arrangements, opening times and admission are best checked through the National Monument’s own visitor information.
- Heritage protection: managed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the Great Zimbabwe National Monument designation.
Getting there
Great Zimbabwe lies in Masvingo Province, near the town of Masvingo. Travellers should confirm current road access and transport options through official Zimbabwean tourism or National Monuments channels before setting out.
Nearby
- Masvingo — the provincial town nearest to the ruins, serving as the main access point to the site.
Sources
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Gertrude Caton-Thompson excavation record (1929)
- Roger Summers excavation record (1958)
- Thomas Huffman excavation record (1971–1985)
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