The lost city of Great Zimbabwe

Great Zimbabwe  is an ancient city found in the south-eastern hills of Zimbabwe near Lake Mutirikwe and the town of Masvingo.  The local name for the area was “Dzimba dza mabwe” (roughly “Houses of Stone”) or simply “Zimbabwe”.   It was the capital city of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe  during the late Iron Age. Construction on the monument began in the 11th century and continued until the 15th century.  The stone city spans an area of about 722 hectares  which, at its peak, could have housed up to 18,000 people .

 Great Zimbabwe was home to a cattle-herding people who also became adept at metal-working. The ruins are the largest of their kind on the Zimbabwe Plateau, but they are by no means unique. Other, smaller sites were ransacked by European treasure-hunters in the 19th century. These smaller ruins are called zimbabwes and can be found as far as Mozambique. 

 Great Zimbabwe 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. Among the edifice's most prominent features were its walls, some of which were over five metres high. They were constructed without mortar  (dry stone). Eventually, the city was abandoned and fell into ruin. 

Here are some pictures of Great Zimbabwe :

The  Great Enclosure

Internal Buildings

The Conical Tower

Outside the Ruins

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