The ruins of Great Zimbabwe, often called Great Zimbabwe, was the capital of Queen of Sheba. It’s a nice evidence of Bantu civilization of the Shona. The old city that was spread on almost 80 ha, depicts the civilization of the Shona people existed between 11th to 15th centuries. Great Zimbabwe is the most important and largest stones ruins of Sub-Sahara Africa. Due to its nice structure it was chosen as World Heritage Site in 1989. The whole structure is made up of millions of stones and each stone is nicely balanced with another stone. The most interesting face is Zimbabwe got its name as well as symbol from Great Zimbabwe.
Trading in Great Zimbabwe
It is believed that ‘Great Zimbabwe’ had started improving during 11th century due to its trading. Great Zimbabwe people were used to sell gold and ivory to the Arabs, Portugese and Swahili in return of cloth, porcelain and glass. As soon as the Great Zimbabwe People started thriving they started to build an empire. The whole empire was widely spread over 200 square miles and was used to house over 18000 people during its prime days.
Plummet of Grea Zimbabwe
In 15 century, Great Zimbabwe was started to decline due to it’s over population, diseases and political failure. Meanwhile, Portuguese came there and started influencing on Great Zimbabwe.
Rumors about GreatZimbabwe
When Whites were governing the region, during colonial period, it was believed that the Great Zimbabwe was built by Whites and Blacks couldn’t possibly do that. Then there was a wave of rumors, according to which, Great Zimbabwe could had been built by Phoenician or Arabs and some believed white settlers made it. However, in 1929 the famous archaeologist Gertrude Caton-Thomson has proved that the Black Africans are the real builder of Great Zimbabwe. Now various tribes in Zimbabwe claim their ancestors to be the real builder of Great Zimbabwe. Archaeologists, however, consider Lemba tribe the real responsible.
Rhodesia renamed as Zimbabwe
Great Zimbabwe was an important symbol of Blacks power that’s why colonial administration continuously denied the fact; the Black Africans were the creator of Great Zimbabwe. By accepting the fact, it had strengthened the fighters who were fighting against the colonial administration. In 1980 colonial administration was forced to leave the territory and at the time of independence, Rhodesia was named Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is a word in Shone language which means ‘house of stone’.
Great Zimbabwe Ruins Today
Today the Great Zimbabwe Ruins has become the major attractions for international tourist; it is appropriate to call, a major reason of Zimbabwe flights. By visiting it you can feel the greatness of African Blacks, they had. Each stone has been laid down on another stone in a most perfect fashion. The Great Enclosure and walls of almost 820 feet are really worth to see. The Hill Complex and The Museum, holds artifacts, are two major reasons of visiting Great Zimbabwe ruins.
How to visit Great Zimbabwe ruins
The Great Zimbabwe Ruins are located just 18 miles away from Masvingo. To get to the Masvingo you need to have 5 hours drive from Harare. Masvingo houses a hotel so you can stay there for one or 2 days. So get your cheap flights to Harare as soon as possible and get to know the real history of The Great Zimbabwe.
From Cairo to Aswan, it is the only port that can take us to Sudan. Cairo-Aswan distance 926 km. Out of Bawwabah Two, where there was road toll toward Ain Sukhnah. This road is monitored by radar so that the car’s speed should not exceed 120 km / hour. If more than this limit, we will be fined 150 pounds or more if you do not have money and our driver’s license will be arrested. This regulation is totally serious.