Great Zimbabwe Ruins

Great Zimbabwe ruins, aerial picture. From wayfairing.info

Great Zimbabwe are the largest and most extraordinary ruins in Africa, covering approximately 1800 acres. From this ruins, the modern nation of Zimbabwe took its name.

They are located 30 km beyond the town of Masyngo,   South Eastern Zimbabwe.

The  undulating structures of rectangular granite stones, were built by indigenous African people between AD 1250 and AD 1450 by Bantu speaking ancestors of the Shona.

There are 300 similar complexes in the Zimbabwean plateau, but Great Zimbabwe has an impressive scale; the Great Enclosure (as commonly referred to) has walls of 19.5 feet wide, by 36 feet in height with a length of near 820 feet. This art of building with stone without the use of mortar persisted along the years, so the ¨venerated houses¨ (per the words origin) are numerous.

Entrance. Picture from wayfairing.info

Chambers. Picture from wayfairing.info

Picture from wikipedia.org

Great Zimbabwe was an early example of a state with much political, economic, and military power. With its formation, social and political organization became more hierarchical. This involved a move from village level organization to a larger, broader social and political organization resulting in the Kingdom of Great Zimbabwe.

In SXIX, European travelers and English colonizers, stunned by the structures, attributed them to alien powers. Many of these have been severely impacted and almost demolished, at least 50, as a result of the hunger for gold by Europeans.

Picture from exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu

Picture from wayfairing.info

REFERENCE:

Text adapted from:
 http://www.places.co.za/html/greatzim.html

http://www.wayfaring.info/2007/07/10/important-looking-stone-structures-in-great-zimbabwe/