Archaeological Sites
Great Zimbabwe
11th, 15th c. AD · Near Masvingo, Zimbabwe
Protected (UNESCO)The prize. A medieval African gold-trading capital in stone
Where. Near Masvingo, Zimbabwe
Status. Protected (UNESCO)
Where. Near Masvingo, Zimbabwe
Status. Protected (UNESCO)
The account
Mortarless granite walls eleven metres high rise from the bush, the heart of a kingdom that traded gold and ivory to China, India, and Arabia six hundred years ago. Colonial looters stripped its gold and tried to deny Africans had built it; archaeology proved them wrong. The carved soapstone birds of its towers became the emblem on a nation's flag.
Leads, where the trail points now
- The great stone city that ruled a medieval gold empire and inspired the King Solomon's Mines legend; its wealth flowed out through Swahili-coast trade.
- It is a protected UNESCO site, badly looted in the 1890s by the Ancient Ruins Company, which stripped gold and wrecked the archaeology.
- The lead is the many smaller zimbabwes across the region and the work of interpreting a site that early treasure hunters nearly erased.
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