Great Zimbabwe

Stone city of the Shona, built without mortar, hub of a gold trade reaching the Indian Ocean.

Core Principles & Analysis

• Its dry-stone Great Enclosure walls rise eleven metres with no mortar at all.
• Gold and ivory flowed through it to Swahili-coast ports and on to Arabia and India.
• Colonial authorities long denied its African builders; archaeology settled the question for the Shona.

Specifications & Metrics

• ERA: ~1100 – 1450
• REGION: Southern Africa