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Southern Africa and Great Zimbabwe - Coggle Diagram
Southern Africa and Great Zimbabwe
Great Zimbabwe
The Shona people settled in the the fertile, well-watered plateau between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers in modern Zimbabwe.
This area was a really good for farming and cattle raising
Sometime around 1000 Great Zimbabwe gained control of the trade routes that had connected the goldfields with the coastal trading city of Sofala
Almost everything that is known about Great Zimbabwe comes from its impressive stone ruins, which include a complex of walled enclosures on a large hill
Archaeologists believe the construction of Great Zimbabwe may have taken about 400 years.
Excavations suggest that Great Zimbabwe’s society included multiple social and economic classes.
Huts outside of the city’s enclosures were very close together, but inside the enclosures, they were not—a fact suggesting that those living inside the enclosures enjoyed elite status.
Some huts inside the hill enclosure seem to be for special purposes, such as religious ceremonies.
most cattle bones on the site were found near the wall of the Great Enclosure, an indication that the elite of the community were probably the only ones who ate beef, and most commoners could have ate sheep or goat
The people of Great Zimbabwe practiced a traditional religion similar to the Shona religion of today.
By 1450, Great Zimbabwe was abandoned. No one knows for sure why it happened
farming had worn out the soil, and people had used up the salt and timber. The area could no longer support a large population.
Karl Mauch was one of the first Europeans to discover the remains of these stone dwellings in 1871
Evacuation of the Ruins
The Shona people built a city in the middle of their emipre. It covered many acres and housed 10,000 people.
By 1450, Great Zimbabwe was unknowingly abandoned
One theory suggests that cattle grazing had worn out the grasslands
Additionally, farming had worn out the soild and the people had used up all the salt and timber.
This area could no longer sustain a large population.
What evidence is there to support the idea that the Great Zimbabwe was an organized state?
The people of Great Zimbabwe preacticed a religion similar to the Shona religion.