THE AFRICAN RENAISSANCE - GREAT ZIMBABWE

THE AFRICAN RENAISSANCE – GREAT ZIMBABWE

Great Zimbabwe is a medieval city in the south-eastern hills of Zimbabwe near Lake Mutirikwe and the town of Masvingo. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe during the country's Late Iron Age.

The ancient Zimbabwe city was built and occupied between the 12th and 15th centuries. At the peak of its power and prosperity in the 13th and 14th centuries, the town was the largest settlement in southern Africa. The builders of Great Zimbabwe were the Karanga, from which descend the Shona, who constitute a majority of the population of Zimbabwe today. The town’s landscape was dominated by imposing dry stonewalls forming enclosures and in certain areas terraces and platforms.

The stonewalls in some cases filled up gaps between boulders to form semi-natural enclosures. The entrances either had stone (dolerite) lintels or wooden (tambooti) crossbeams.

Within these enclosures and on the terrace platforms numerous earthen (daka) houses were built. Outside the stonewalls were situated closely spaced houses of the ordinary townsfolk. The settlement complex covered at least 720 hectares

The architecture of Great Zimbabwe reflected a complex socio-economic system. The monumental stonewalls were constructed to express wealth, power and pomp of those living within them, an elite population either closely related to or serving a powerful monarchy. This culture was a civilisation comparable to the Roman and Egyptian civilisations.

When Rhodesia became independent in 1980, the country took the name of the monument and the nation itself was called Zimbabwe. A collection of soapstone birds found at the great Zimbabwe site, have become the nation’s emblem and a central feature of the country’s flag.

The structures at great Zimbabwe are the largest and the second-oldest in sub-Saharan Africa. Lead only by the Egyptian pyramids. They have captured the imaginations of locals and explorers for centuries. In 1531, the Portuguese army captain; Vicente Pegado at the Mozambique trading port described the area as follows;

“Among the gold mines of the Ireland plains between the Limpopo and zambezi rivers there is a fortress built of marvelous size, and there appears to be no mortar joining them…. This edifice is almost surrounded by hills, upon which are others resembling it in the fashioning of stone and the absence of mortar, and one of them is a tower more than 22m high. The natives of the country call these edifices symbaoe, which according to their language signifies court”.

Archaeologist; David Randall-maclver claimed in 1905 that the monument was unquestionably African in every detail”. But the colonial government quickly banned him and other archaeologists. Both the British and Rhodesian colonial power holders had too much to risk if they admitted that the local people had built such a formidable center of trade. Because twenty years later in 1929, another archaeologist Gertrude caton-thompson also came to the same conclusion.

Archaeological excavations have revealed beads and porcelain from china and Persia, gold and arab coins from kilwa which are standing proofs of the lomg standing trade this kingdom had with the outside world. Other evidences like the potsherds and ironware, give further insight to the kingdom’s socio-economic complexity. A monumental granite cross, located at a traditionally revered and sacred spiritual site, also illustrates community contact with missionaries.

Great Zimbabwe was given UNESCO world heritage list status in 1986, due to the following criteria;

1.  A unique artistic achievement, this great city has struck the imagination of African and European travelers since the middle ages, as evidenced by the persistent legends which attribute it to a biblical origin.

2.  The ruins of the great Zimbabwe bear a unique heritage to the lost civilization of the Shona between the 11^th and 15^th centuries.

3.  The entire Zimbabwe nation has identified with this historically symbolic ensemble and has adopted as it emblem the steatite bird, whicbh may have been a royal totem.

In size and grandeur, the stonewalls of the early Zimbabwe city are unparalleled. However this is just one of the many great Zimbabwean monuments. There are well over 250 similar but smaller zimbabwes within Zimbabwe. A few more zimbabwes are found in neighbouring countries of Botswana, South Africa and Mozambique.

This was built by your ancestors in ancient times when Europe was still a Savage place. And you will allow someone to come and intimidate you with innovation and civilization that exists in your DNA.

If we did it before, we can still do it again. U need to be reminded how powerful of a people you are..

KULENGA AFRICA RENAISSANCE SERIES