From about 1100 to 1450, the Shona-speaking people built a large stone city on a plateau between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers in what is now Zimbabwe. Great Zimbabwe, with its curved walls of granite blocks up to 11 metres high laid without mortar and its Great Enclosure, housed up to 18,000 people. It controlled trade in gold and ivory with the Swahili coast, and Chinese porcelain and Persian glass found there show links with the Indian Ocean. European colonists denied that Africans had built it. The country took its name from the site when it became independent in 1980.
Before and after
- 11th centuryRise of House of Hohenzollern
- 11th centuryConstruction of Burana Tower
- from 1100 to 1470Chimú culture
- c. 1100sThe magnetic compass is used for navigation at sea
- from c. 1100s to 1450sGreat Zimbabwe rises
- 12th centuryConstruction of Basilica of Saint-Denis
- 12th centuryConstruction of Urnes Stave Church
- from 12th century to 16th centuryConstruction of Reading Abbey
- 12th centuryConstruction of Tournai Cathedral
More in Civilizations & archaeology
- 691 CEConstruction of Dome of the Rock
- 8th centuryConstruction of Borobudur Temple
- 1066Construction of Tower of London
- from 1206 to 1368Mongol Empire
- 1239Construction of Alhambra
- 1473Construction of Sistine Chapel
The era
This moment belongs to the Medieval world (500 CE to 1500 CE), kingdoms, faiths and trade routes. You can also browse everything in the 11th century.