The
Great Zimbabwe ruins are the best of archaeological finds in the southern part of Africa and the most amazing structure after the Pyramids of Egypt. The civilization that flourished with the walls of the
Great Zimbabwe walls are considered a lost civilization that left behind no written records to back information about the people of this place. Unfortunately even their language is lost and hence no oral record could be gathered for research. However, the
Shona people of the present day are believed to be the descendants of the habitants of the
Great Zimbabwe City. This great structure was built about 600-1000 years ago. Yet no significant discovery had been made till Carl Mauch actually confirmed the reports in 1871.
THE ARCHITECTURE OF GREAT ZIMBABWE
- The specialty of the Great Zimbabwe city is that they are built of huge multiform stones that are not held with mortar.
- The stone walls guarding the structure is 32 feet high.
- The diameter of this elliptical city is about 100-200 miles.
- Covers a total land area of 1,800acres.
- The city lies between the two rivers, Limpopo and Zambezi but not on the river banks because it was not an agricultural city. Rather the people were based on gold mining and trading.
Much dispute has been waged over the builders of this magnificent stone city,
Great Zimbabwe. According to some the black people were no capable of building something so majestic. Even some white invaders claimed that it belonged to some early white civilization on mere ground that he black population were supposedly incapable. This however is simply a rumor which was encouraged in order to claim right over the Rhodesian land by the whites.
