Houses of Stone

When I crossed the border into Zimbabwe, I was told that I was now going to see “Real Africa.” I’m not sure what I’m meant to take from this assessment but I noticed that the nicely paved roads of South Africa changed dramatically.

I also noticed lots of baobab trees along the side of the road – a tree that is quintessentially Africa in my mind!

The country yielded plenty of “typical” African images. . .

But it takes more than just images to be “real” Africa and, in many ways, Zimbabwe fits the mold.

In size, Zimbabwe is slightly larger than Germany. At the time of the last census (1986) there were 14 million people living in Zimbabwe. (Today, it is estimated that at least one-third of that population has fled the country in a massive diaspora.) To me, this begs the question, “why has there not been a census for 26 years?” The answer lies with their current leader, Robert Mugabe, the "Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defense Forces." (Put that on a business card!)

Mugabe has been the leader of Zimbabwe since their independence (from Britain) in March 1980 when he won the democratic elections to become the first Prime Minister. It’s debatable how “democratic” the elections have been since then, but that’s beside the point.

Upon gaining their independence, the former Southern Rhodesia chose the name “Zimbabwe” in honor of the greatest medieval city in sub-Saharan Africa, Great Zimbabwe.

The city of Great Zimbabwe was once the capital of an empire that stretched across eastern Zimbabwe and modern Botswana, Mozambique, and parts of South Africa. In the 11^th century, the city became wealthy by trading gold and ivory for glass, porcelain and cloth from Asian and Swahili traders.

Although there are several theories about the origin of the name, Great Zimbabwe, the most common is that it comes from the Shona words “dzimba” and “mabwe” for “houses of stone.”

The use of the word “Great” distinguishes the site from the hundreds of small stone ruins spread across the country.

The city itself (1784 acres) had a population between 10,000-20,000 people from 1100-1400 AD when overpopulation, overgrazing, and political uprisings caused the empire to collapse. By the time the Portuguese arrived in the 16^th century, the city was virtually deserted.

The ancient city, believed to be both a religious and political capital of an ancient empire, was divided into three distinct sections:

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• The Hill Complex: built on a hill overlooking the vast valley below and consisting of royal and ritual structures.

• The Valley Complex: stone walls and platforms for traditional round houses.

• The Great Enclosure: believed to be the royal compound.

The Great Enclosure is the second largest ancient structure in Africa (after the Great Pyramids of Egypt). Architecturally, the Great Enclosure was impressive, surrounded by 820 feet of walls made of large stones, without the use of mortar.

The wall surrounding the Great Enclosure is 36 feet high and 20 feet thick at the base tapering to 13 feet thick at the top.

Inside the walls, is a 230 foot long parallel passage. The use of this narrow passageway is unknown.

Also unknown, is the use for the 30 foot high solid conical tower inside the Great Enclosure.

Regardless, the size of the site, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is impressive and proved that ancient Africa reached a level of civilization not previously suspected by early scholars.

Sadly, when Great Zimbabwe was first “discovered” by Europeans, it caused quite a controversy over their origin. Early scholars believed that the city was built by either the Phoenicians or the Arabs. Reasons for these theories abounded, but everyone agreed that it could not have been built by sub-Saharan Africans. As further evidence pointed to the Shona people as architects, the British government of Rhodesia put pressure on archaeologists to deny its construction by black people, to the point that the government censored any archeologists that credited black people with Great Zimbabwe’s construction.

It was the desire to showcase African accomplishments that led to the selection of the name “Zimbabwe” for the modern state in honor of this impressive site.

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