★ UNESCO
World Heritage ◈ hidden gem
World Heritage ◈ hidden gem
📷 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