2. The Great Zimbabwe

3. The Great Enclosure, Great Zimbabwe Monument

4. Great Zimbabwe Great Zimbabwe is a mysterious ruin in the African nation formerly known as Rhodesia, which takes its modern name, Zimbabwe, from the site.

5. The huge walls and tower, which are held together without mortar, are the largest structures in Africa south of the Pyramids.

6. The Great Zimbabwe was built by Bantu Shonas from Central Africa

7. The walls, up to 35 feet tall and 18 feet thick at the bottom, were built in the twelfth century.

8. Conical Tower, Great Zimbabwe’s National Monument

9. The city of Great Zimbabwe is located in the present day country of Zimbabwe.

10. Geographically it is located to the east of the Kalahari desert between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers.

11. Map of the Great Zimbabwe

12. The huge plains that surround the city can support agricultural and herding that the people of Great Zimbabwe needed to sustain themselves.

13. One of the most amazing aspects of this great civilization is that they had up to 20,000 people living around the elliptical building in mud huts.

14. The ruling Bantu-speaking elite appears to have controlled wealth through the management of cattle, which were the staple diet at Great Zimbabwe. At its height, Great Zimbabwe is estimated to have had a population greater than 10,000.

16. Great Zimbabwe was built and managed by Africans living in the interior. It was a center of gold and ivory trade. Towards the latter part of the history of Great Zimbabwe, evidence suggests that the people living there were trading with regions as far as China, Persia, and Syria.

17. People living at Great Zimbabwe also practiced agriculture and cattle herding. Too many people living and farming one small area led to environmental degradation.

18. Answer the following questions: 1. What was the “Great Zimbabwe?” 2. What part of Africa was the “Great Zimbabwe” located? 3. Who were the people that built?

19. 4. What did the people do? 5. What cause the degradation of the land? 6. What did they eat?

20. 7. Who were the people that built the “Great Zimbabwe”? 8. Who made the discoveries of “Great Zimbabwe”? 9. What did they believe in? 10. How they conduct business?