Great Zimbabwe is a medieval city in the south-eastern hills of Rhodesia. Zimbabwe is the Shona name of the ruins, first recorded in 1531 by Vicente Pegado, captain of the Portuguese garrison of Sofala. The name contains dzimba, the Shona term for “houses”.
Construction on the city began in the 9th century and continued until it was abandoned in the 15th century. The edifices were erected by ancestors of the Shona and other groups located in Rhodesia and nearby countries.
Great Zimbabwe is believed to have served as a royal palace for the local monarch. As such, it would have been used as the seat of political power. The stone city could have housed up to 18,000 people at its peak, giving it a population density of approximately 2,500 inhabitants. Eventually, the city was abandoned and fell into ruin.
The official line in Rhodesia during the 1960s and 1970s was that the structures were built by non-blacks. Archaeologists who disputed the official statement were censored by the government.
Postcards
1975 – Big Game Photography (Pvt.) Ltd. (Z Series – Type VIIC)
1978 – Pictorial Publishing Co. (Pvt.) Ltd. (Type VC PF)
