Great Zimbabwe

(noun)

A ruined city in the southeastern hills of Zimbabwe near Lake Mutirikwe and the town of Masvingo. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe during the country's Late Iron Age. Construction on the monument began in the 11th century and continued until the 15th century. It is believed to have served as a royal palace for the local monarch. As such, it would have been used as the seat of political power.

Related Terms

Examples of Great Zimbabwe in the following topics:

  • Great Zimbabwe

    • Great Zimbabwe is a ruined city in the southeastern hills of today's Zimbabwe.
    • The exact identity of the Great Zimbabwe builders is at present unknown.
    • The Kingdom of Zimbabwe, of which Great Zimbabwe was the capital, existed between circa 1220 and 1450 in modern-day Zimbabwe.
    • Within a generation, Mutapa eclipsed Great Zimbabwe as the economic and political power in Zimbabwe.
    • Great Zimbabwe is notable for its advanced masonry techniques.

  • The Bantu Migration

    • Further east, Bantu-speaking communities had reached the great Central African rainforest, and by 500 BCE, pioneering groups had emerged into the savannas to the south, in what are now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, and Zambia.
    • Another stream of migration, moving east by 1000 BCE, was creating a major new population center near the Great Lakes of East Africa, where a rich environment supported a dense population.
    • Movements by small groups to the southeast from the Great Lakes region were more rapid, with initial settlements widely dispersed near the coast and near rivers due to comparatively harsh farming conditions in areas further from water.
    • Between the 13th and 15th centuries, the relatively powerful Bantu-speaking states on a scale larger than local chiefdoms began to emerge in the Great Lakes region, in the savanna south of the Central African rainforest, and on the Zambezi river where the Monomatapa kings built the famous Great Zimbabwe complex.
    • By the time Great Zimbabwe had ceased being the capital of a large trading empire, speakers of Bantu languages were present throughout much of Southern Africa.

  • Mugabe and the Republic of Zimbabwe

  • The Swahili Culture

    • Swahili culture is the product of the history of the coastal part of the African Great Lakes region.
    • They all competed against one another for the best of the Great Lakes region's trade business, and their chief exports were salt, ebony, gold, ivory, and sandalwood.
    • Kilwan traders from the coast encouraged the development of market towns in the Bantu-dominated highlands of what are now Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe.

  • Great Bison Culture and Hunting

  • Great Bison Culture and Hunting

  • Great Bison Culture and Hunting

  • Great Bison Culture and Hunting

  • Argentina Before the Great Depression

  • The Great Uprising of 1857