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The Great Zimbabwe Period

The Post-Classical and Medieval World

The Great Zimbabwe period was the era of the Kingdom of Great Zimbabwe's rise as the capital of a powerful trading state in south-eastern Africa, marked by the construction of the massive dry-stone enclosures that give the site its name and by trade networks reaching the Indian Ocean coast.

Facts
Disputed
Start Year
1220 1
Sources date the rise to capital status only to the century, the 13th; 1220 is used as a representative year within it.
End Year
1450 1
Major stone construction ran from the 11th to 15th centuries and the site was not fully abandoned until the 16th or 17th century; 1450 marks the end of the kingdom's major building and imperial power rather than final abandonment.
Geographic Scope
South-eastern Africa, in the hills of what is now south-eastern Zimbabwe near Masvingo. 1
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Sources
1. Wikipedia: Great Zimbabwe
Wikipedia
  • Lead section
    Great Zimbabwe was a city in the south-eastern hills of the modern country of Zimbabwe, near Masvingo.
  • Construction section
    Major construction on the city began in the 11th century and continued until the 15th century. The city was abandoned in the 16th or 17th century.
  • In Group: Eras Beginning from 960 to 1250 CE, Lead paragraph
    It was settled from around 1000 AD
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