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Great Zimbabwe
★ UNESCO
World Heritage
◈ hidden gem
Great Zimbabwe

📷 Marius Loots · CC BY-SA 3.0

Where in the world

Zimbabwe

The site

Great Zimbabwe is a stone city in the south-eastern hills near Masvingo, Zimbabwe, settled from around 1000 CE and serving as a kingdom's capital from the 13th century. Built by ancestors of the Shona people, it is the largest stone structure in precolonial Southern Africa, spanning some 7.2 square kilometers. Its Hill Complex, Valley Complex and towering Great Enclosure rose across the 11th to 15th centuries before the city was abandoned.

Field notes

civilizations
Great Zimbabwe
types
City
built
1,100 CE — 1,450 CE
occupied
1,000 CE — 1,500 CE
country
Zimbabwe

See it in 3D

3D capture The Hill Complex - Great Zimbabwe Zamani Project-UCT ↗
3D capture The Great Enclosure - Great Zimbabwe, Zimbab Zamani Project-UCT ↗

Nearby sites