Tile: Great Zimbabwe
Description: An old city known for its massive structures and walls. It remains one of the lost cities of the world.
Keywords: Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe, ancient city, city, ruins, buildings, Africa, Dark continent, Olduvai gorge, Tanzania, history, legend, myth, Bible, King Solomon, Queen of Sheba, culture, civilisation, evidence, River Zambezi, Limpopo, Shona, tribe, Valley ruins, Hill complex, agriculture, cattle, Great enclosure, King Solomon, Bible, Israel, Egyptians, Phoenicians, European civilisation, Archaeologists, Iron age, civilisation,
THE GREAT ZIMBABWE
The "Dark Continent" of Africa is full of adventure and legend. It is not only a continent of immense natural wealth but is also known as the cradle of humankind. The "early-Humans" who were no more than apes "appeared" on earth as early as 1.7 million years ago, in the region of the Olduvai Gorge (present day Tanzania). Apart from being the birthplace of mankind, the African continent has been a witness to the rise of a number of cultures and civilisations. However, not much is known about most of these civilisations because of the lack of any recorded history.
The most intriguing civilisation in the African continent, whose origin still remains a mystery, is popularly known as the "Great Zimbabwe". The only material evidence of this civilisation left with us, is in the form of a vast ruined city. The Great Zimbabwe gets its name because of its location in present day Zimbabwe. There is very little known about the people who built these massive structures. Because of the absence of any written material it is extremely difficult for us to understand what made these people build the Great Zimbabwe.
The Great Zimbabwe is located in a region between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers, in the southeastern part of Zimbabwe. It is said that an ancient African tribe, moved in and settled in this region as early as 6th century AD. By the 12th century they started building the Great Zimbabwe. And by 1500 AD the city was abandoned. The origin of the Shona group of people, presently living on Zimbabwe, can be traced to this ancient tribe.
The main occupation of the ancient Shona tribe was farming and cattle herding. The vast expanses of grasslands around the Great Zimbabwe were ideal for cattle grazing and agriculture. It is believed that the city of Great Zimbabwe supported as many as 18,000-20,000 people at the height of its glory. The region around the Great Zimbabwe was also rich in gold deposits. The gold obtained from these regions were used by the people of the Great Zimbabwe to trade with the neighbouring countries.
It is interesting to note that most civilisations and cultures of the ancient and medieval world originated and flourished around some perennial source of water be it a river or a lake. Though, the city of Great Zimbabwe was located in a region between two important rivers, it was actually quite far away from any river. How a settlement, with a population of as many as 20,000 people survived without a nearby source of water, remains a mystery to date.
The ruins of the city of Great Zimbabwe are spread out and not concentrated in one place. The structures associated with this city can be divided into three broad categories: the Valley ruins, the Hill complex and the Great enclosure. The Valley ruins mostly comprise of remains of earthen houses. They are located in an area between the Hill complex and the Great enclosure. Many remains of such houses have been excavated in the valleys and plains around the Great Zimbabwe. The small houses served as the dwelling place for a majority of the Great Zimbabwe's residents.
The Hill complex, as the name suggests, is located on a hillock rising to a height of 262 feet (80 m) above the ground. It is believed that this complex served as a religious nerve centre of the Great Zimbabwe. The Hill complex has a number of buildings in it. The people of this culture might have used some of these buildings as temples for praying and performing ancient rituals. The deities worshipped by the people of Great Zimbabwe were probably associated with natural phenomenon, since it was essentially an agrarian society.
The oldest buildings of the Great Zimbabwe are found in the Hill complex, which date back to 900 AD. The Great Zimbabwean people also built massive walls around these buildings. In some places these walls were as thick as 20 feet (6 m) and 36 feet (11m) high. The buildings and walls of this complex were made up of rectangular blocks of granite, carved out from the nearby hills by the artisans. A number of ruined mud-brick houses have also been found within the precincts of the massive walls of this complex.
The Great enclosure, located to the south of the Hill complex, is an interesting structure. It has an elliptical shape and is entirely made up of rectangular blocks of granite. The circumference of the outer wall of this structure is more than 800 feet (243 m). This wall is 32 feet (9.75 m) high and is as thick as 17feet (5.18 m) at some places. An inner wall inside the Great enclosure runs parallel to some parts of the outer wall, forming a narrow passage. This passage leads to a 33 feet (10 m) high conical tower.
The exact purpose behind this tower remains uncertain to us. It was probably a huge granary, which was used for storing food grain. Or the enclosure may have well been the residence of the King who ruled the Great Zimbabwe. It could also be the place where the people of Great Zimbabwe extracted pure gold by melting it in huge furnaces.
The stone structures of the Great Zimbabwe though massive, followed a standard form. An interesting aspect about the stone structures of the Great Zimbabwe was that the stones were joined together without making the use of mortar.
Nobody knows the reason as to why the inhabitants of the Great Zimbabwe abandoned it during the 15th century. The Portuguese discovered the Great Zimbabwe ruins in the 16th century. They were awestruck by its massive walls and overall grandeur. The Portuguese thought that they had found the palace of the legendary Queen of Sheba, a legend mentioned in the Holy Bible. The legend of the Queen of Sheba is mentioned in the Holy Bible. It is believed that King Solomon of Israel knew her. Some historians believed that the Egyptians, the Phoenicians or some European civilisation built the ancient city. They could not believe that a native African culture could design such developed structures.
This wrong notion persisted till the early 20th century, however, it was confirmed by archaeologists that the Great Zimbabwe was truly of African origin. Archaeologists have also confirmed that the Great Zimbabwe was one of the Iron Age cultures, which flourished on the African continent.
The city of Great Zimbabwe remains one of the lost cities of the world, without any written clue about its origin or decline. Nonetheless it remains a marvel of human civilisation and architecture.
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