Great Zimbabwe

African history · ancient cities · architecture

Massive Stone City. Great Zimbabwe is the largest stone structure in all of precolonial Southern Africa, covering an area of over 7 square kilometers. People built it without using any mortar, just carefully stacked stone blocks that fit together perfectly.

Thriving Trade Hub. At its peak, around 10,000 people lived in Great Zimbabwe, and the kingdom it controlled spread across 50,000 square kilometers. It became incredibly wealthy and powerful by trading gold, ivory, and other goods with merchants from across Africa and the Indian Ocean.

Built Over Centuries. Construction on the stone city began around the 11th century and continued until the 15th century, showing that it took generations to build this incredible place. The Shona people, whose descendants still live in Zimbabwe today, created all these magnificent structures.

Rise and Fall. Great Zimbabwe was settled around 1000 AD and became the capital of the Kingdom of Great Zimbabwe in the 13th century, when it was at its most powerful. The city was abandoned sometime in the 16th or 17th century, though historians still study why.

World Heritage Site. Today, Great Zimbabwe is recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, meaning it is protected and preserved as part of humanity's precious history.