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Mapungubwe
The Kingdom of Mapungubwe (pronounced ) was an ancient state located at the confluence of the Shashe River, Shashe and Limpopo River, Limpopo rivers in South Africa, south of Great Zimbabwe. The capital's population was 5,000 by 1250, and the state likely covered 30,000 km² (12,000 square miles). The Mapungubwe elite further institutionalised Rainmaking (ritual), rainmaking into the development of sacral kingship, and the kingdom exported gold and ivory into the Indian Ocean trade via Zanj, Swahili city-states on the East African coast. Although traditionally assumed to have been the first kingdom in Southern Africa, excavations in the same region at Mapela, Zimbabwe, Mapela Hill show evidence for sacral kingship nearly 200 years earlier. Following unknown events and shifting trade routes north around 1300, Mapungubwe's population scattered. In the present day they are often associated with the Kalanga people, Kalanga (Shona people, Shona), Tshivhula, and Venda people, Venda p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mapungubwe National Park
Mapungubwe National Park is a national park in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. It forms part of the UNESCO Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape and the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area, abutting on the border with Botswana and Zimbabwe. It contains the historical site of Mapungubwe Hill, which was the site of a community dating back to the Iron Age and the capital of the Kingdom of Mapungubwe. Evidence has shown that it was a prosperous community. Archaeologists also uncovered the famous Golden Rhinoceros of Mapungubwe figurine from the site. History The history of the Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape dates back 210 million years ago when one of the earliest plant-eating dinosaurs, ''Plateosauravus'' (Euskelosaurus), was known to have lived in the area. The Mapungubwe area became a focus of agricultural research in the 1920s through the efforts of the botanist Illtyd Buller Pole-Evans. Pole-Evans was instrumental in the creation of the Botanical Survey Advisory Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mapungubwe Museum
The Mapungubwe Collection, held by the University of Pretoria museums in its Old Arts Building, consists of archaeological materials excavated by the former University of Gauteng from the Mapungubwe archaeological site since its discovery in 1933. The collection includes ceramics, metals, trade glass beads, indigenous beads, clay figurines, and artifacts made from bone and ivory, alongside a research collection of potsherds, faunal remains, and other fragmentary materials. In June 2000, the University of Gauteng inaugurated the permanent museum. The collection is maintained on site, serving both educational and tourism purposes. Mapungubwe archaeological site The Mapungubwe archaeological site (pronounced ) is located at the confluence of the Shashe and Limpopo Rivers, on the borders of Zimbabwe and Botswana in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. At this site, the development of complex Iron Age societies started with the Schroda site, a Zhizo/Leokwe community, around AD 900 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Venda People
The Venḓa (VhaVenḓa or Vhangona) are a Bantu people native to Southern Africa living mostly near the South African-Zimbabwean border. The Venda language arose from interactions with Sotho-Tswana and Kalanga groups from 1400. The Venda are closely associated with the 13th century Kingdom of Mapungubwe where oral tradition holds King Shiriyadenga as the first king of Venda and Mapungubwe. The Mapungubwe Kingdom stretched from the Soutpansberg in the south, across the Limpopo River to the Matopos in the north. The Kingdom rapidly declined around 1300 due to climatic change and the population scattered, as power moved north to the Great Zimbabwe Kingdom. The first Venda settlement in the Soutpansberg was that of the legendary chief Thoho-ya-Ndou (Head of the Elephant). His royal kraal was called D’zata; its remains have been declared a National Monument. The Mapungubwe Collection is a museum collection of artefacts found at the archaeological site and is housed in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Ocean; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini; and it encloses Lesotho. Covering an area of , the country has Demographics of South Africa, a population of over 64 million people. Pretoria is the administrative capital, while Cape Town, as the seat of Parliament of South Africa, Parliament, is the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein is regarded as the judicial capital. The largest, most populous city is Johannesburg, followed by Cape Town and Durban. Cradle of Humankind, Archaeological findings suggest that various hominid species existed in South Africa about 2.5 million years ago, and modern humans inhabited the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Zimbabwe
Great Zimbabwe was a city in the south-eastern hills of the modern country of Zimbabwe, near Masvingo. It was settled from 1000 AD, and served as the capital of the Kingdom of Great Zimbabwe from the 13th century. It is the largest stone structure in precolonial Southern Africa. Major construction on the city began in the 11th century until the 15th century, and it was abandoned in the 16th or 17th century. The edifices were erected by ancestors of the Shona people, currently located in Zimbabwe and nearby countries. The stone city spans an area of and could have housed up to 18,000 people at its peak, giving it a population density of approximately . The Zimbabwe state centred on it likely covered 50,000 km² (19,000 sq mi). It is recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The site of Great Zimbabwe is composed of the Hill Complex, the Valley Complex, and the Great Enclosure (constructed at different times), and contained area for commoner housing within the per ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Limpopo
Limpopo () is the northernmost Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The term Limpopo is derived from Rivombo (Livombo/Lebombo), a group of Tsonga language, Tsonga settlers led by Hosi Rivombo who settled in the mountainous vicinity and named the area after their leader. The Lebombo mountains are also named after them. The river has been called the Vhembe by local Venda communities of the area. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is situated in Lebowakgomo. The province is made up of three former Bantustan, Bantustans of Lebowa, Gazankulu and Venda and part of the former Transvaal (province), Transvaal province. The Limpopo province was established as one of nine provinces after the 1994 South African general election. The province's name was first "Northern Transvaal", later changed to "Northern Province" on 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leopard's Kopje
Leopard's Kopje is an archaeological site, the type site of the associated region or culture that marked the Middle Iron Age in Zimbabwe. The ceramics from the Leopard's Kopje type site have been classified as part of phase II of the Leopard's Kopje culture. For information on the region of Leopard's Kopje, see the "Associated sites" section of this article. Location The site is located 2 kilometers north-east of the Khami World Heritage Site and 24 kilometers west of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Bordered by small hills, or koppies, on two sides and sharp ravines on the other two sides. The site is relatively small, measuring 150 by 200 yards in area. History K. R. Robinson conducted several excavations in the area, beginning in 1961. Thomas Huffman, who first excavated Leopard's Kopje in August 1969, is also an important archaeologist of the site. Huffman's excavations found three different phases of occupation, Zhizo, Mambo, and Refuge. Refuge phase The occupation from the 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zimbabwe
file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia to the north, and Mozambique to the east. The capital and largest city is Harare, and the second largest is Bulawayo. A country of roughly 16.6 million people as per 2024 census, Zimbabwe's largest ethnic group are the Shona people, Shona, who make up 80% of the population, followed by the Northern Ndebele people, Northern Ndebele and other #Demographics, smaller minorities. Zimbabwe has 16 official languages, with English, Shona language, Shona, and Northern Ndebele language, Ndebele the most common. Zimbabwe is a member of the United Nations, the Southern African Development Community, the African Union, and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa. The region was long inhabited by the San people, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kalanga People
The Kalanga or BaKalanga are a southern Bantu peoples, Bantu ethnic group mainly inhabiting Matebeleland in Zimbabwe, northern Botswana, and parts of the Limpopo Province in South Africa. The BaKalanga of Botswana are the second largest ethnic group in the country, and their Bakalanga Languages of the Botswana, language being the second most spoken in the country (most prevalent in the North). The TjiKalanga language of Zimbabwe is the third most spoken language in the country, however, being recognized as a Western Shona branch of the Shona group of languages. It is likewise used in mass media. Clans The most notable Kalanga clans are the boSungwasha, boMndambeli, boNeswimbo, boNtombo, boKumbudzi, boKadzasha, and boPhizha na boNebukhwa. * Bo-Sungwasha: The largest of these clans are the Sungwasha clan as they are found in each Kalanga village, district and town in both Botswana and Zimbabwe. They are also known as BaWumbe/Tjibelu. BaWumbe tribe are found as far as Zambia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San People
The San peoples (also Saan), or Bushmen, are the members of any of the indigenous hunter-gatherer cultures of southern Africa, and the oldest surviving cultures of the region. They are thought to have diverged from other humans 100,000 to 200,000 years ago. Their recent ancestral territories span Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, and South Africa. The San speak, or their ancestors spoke, languages of the Khoe, Tuu, and Kxʼa language families, and can be defined as a people only in contrast to neighboring pastoralists such as the Khoekhoe and descendants of more recent waves of immigration such as the Bantu, Europeans, and South Asians. In 2017, Botswana was home to approximately 63,500 San, making it the country with the highest proportion of San people at 2.8%. 71,201 San people were enumerated in Namibia in 2023, making it the country with the second highest proportion of San people at 2.4%. Definition The term "San" comes from the Khoekhoe la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mapela, Zimbabwe
Mapela Hill is an archaeological site located in southwestern Zimbabwe, 90km northwest of Mapungubwe. Description The town flourished between 1055 and 1400. The site was likely chosen for settlement due to the association of hills with rainmaking. The site is strong evidence for the multidirectional evolution of socio-political complexity in the Zambezi culture, contradicting the traditional assumption of linear evolution where Leopard's Kopje led directly and solely to Great Zimbabwe. Excavations at Mapela Hill discovered large stone walls dating from the 11th century, organised in a structure known as ''dzimbahwe'' in Shona, in which elites were enclosed with commoners outside. This embedded class distinction and sacral kingship, with the site nearly 200 years earlier than Mapungubwe The Kingdom of Mapungubwe (pronounced ) was an ancient state located at the confluence of the Shashe River, Shashe and Limpopo River, Limpopo rivers in South Africa, south of Great Zimbabwe. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
