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Great Zimbabwe was a city in the south-eastern hills of the modern country of Zimbabwe, near Masvingo.

It was settled from around 1000 ADCE, and served as the capital of the Kingdom of Great Zimbabwe from the 13th century. Major construction on the city began in the 11th century until the 15th century, and it was abandoned in the 16th or 17th century. The edifices were erected by ancestors of the Shona people, currently located in Zimbabwe and nearby countries. The Zimbabwe state centred on it likely covered 50,000 km² (19,000 sq mi). The site of Great Zimbabwe is composed of the Hill Complex, the Valley Complex, and the Great Enclosure (constructed at different times), and contained area for commoner housing within the perimeter walls. The Great Enclosure, with its 11 m (36 ft) high dry stone walls (that is, constructed without mortar), was built during the 13th and 14th centuries, and likely served as the royal residence, with demarcated public spaces for rituals. Great Zimbabwe and surrounding sites were looted by European antiquarians between the 1890s and 1920s. Great Zimbabwe has since been adopted as a national monument by the Zimbabwean government, and the modern independent state was named after it. The word great distinguishes the site from the many smaller ruins, known as "zimbabwes", or "houses of stone", spread across the Zimbabwe Highveld.

These are the earliest Iron Age settlements in the area identified from archaeological diggings, and the later Gumanye people are considered the ancestors of the Karanga (south-central Shona), who would construct Great Zimbabwe.

The ruins at Great Zimbabwe are some of the oldest and largest structures located in Southern Africa.

They are known as the Hill Complex, the Valley Complex and the Great Enclosure. Notable features of the Hill Complex include the Eastern Enclosure, in which it is thought the Zimbabwe Birds stood, a high balcony enclosure overlooking the Eastern Enclosure, and a huge boulder in a shape similar to that of the Zimbabwe Bird.

In archaeological research, Great Zimbabwe was a significant site for gold working in Southern Africa.

There has historically been much debate around the origins of Great Zimbabwe, termed the "Zimbabwe controversy". The refutation of various fantastical and dehumanising theories ascribing the construction to Jews, Arabs, Phoenicians, and anyone but the Shona, along with other activities of the antiquarians, dominated the historiography of Great Zimbabwe throughout the 20th century.

Since the 1950s, there has been consensus among archaeologists as to the African origins of Great Zimbabwe.

Archaeologists generally agree that the builders spoke one of the Shona languages, based upon evidence of pottery, oral traditions and anthropology and DNA evidence and recent scholarship supports the construction of Great Zimbabwe (and the origin of its culture) by Shona and Venda peoples, who were probably descended from the Gokomere culture. Archaeological evidence indicates that it constitutes an early phase of the Great Zimbabwe culture.

Today, the most recent consensus attributes the construction of Great Zimbabwe to the Shona people (a Bantu group).

I was the archaeologist stationed at Great Zimbabwe. After the creation of the modern state of Zimbabwe in 1980, Great Zimbabwe has been employed to mirror and legitimise shifting policies of the ruling regime. A tower of the Great Zimbabwe is also depicted on the coat of arms of Zimbabwe.

In 1902, during the colonial period, the Great Zimbabwe Hotel was constructed in order to provide accommodation for Rhodesians and other Europeans who were visiting the Great Zimbabwe Monuments. The hotel is located within the cultural landscape of Great Zimbabwe and has been the subject of ongoing tension among the hotel's management, the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ), and surrounding local communities.

Manyikeni – a Mozambiquean archaeological site believed to be part of the Great Zimbabwe tradition of architecture

Quick Facts

• The site of Great Zimbabwe is composed of the Hill Complex, the Valley Complex, and the Great Enclosure (constructed at different times), and contained area for commoner housing within the perimeter walls.
• In 1902, during the colonial period, the Great Zimbabwe Hotel was constructed in order to provide accommodation for Rhodesians and other Europeans who were visiting the Great Zimbabwe Monuments.
• It was settled from around 1000 ADCE, and served as the capital of the Kingdom of Great Zimbabwe from the 13th century.
• Great Zimbabwe and surrounding sites were looted by European antiquarians between the 1890s and 1920s.
• The Great Enclosure, with its 11 m (36 ft) high dry stone walls (that is, constructed without mortar), was built during the 13th and 14th centuries, and likely served as the royal residence, with demarcated public spaces for rituals.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Great Zimbabwe". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.