The Great Zimbabwe

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The Great Zimbabwe
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The Great Enclosure, Great Zimbabwe Monument
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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.

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

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• The Great Zimbabwe was built by Bantu Shonas from
  Central Africa

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

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Conical Tower, Great Zimbabwes National Monument
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• The city of Great Zimbabwe is located in the
  present day country of Zimbabwe.

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

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

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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

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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?

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

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• 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?