Study History notes on Great Zimbabwe for Secondary. Useful for revision, homework, and exam preparation in Zimbabwe.
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AFRICAN HISTORY:
GREAT ZIMBABWE
✓ This was an example of a late Iron Age state.
✓ Bantu people who migrated from the Congo basin founded the State.
✓ The Bantu people passed through many places and in the 4th century A.D they arrived in Zambia.
✓ It is believed that in the $10^{\text {th }}$ century, a man called Munembire led them.
✓ Those who settled in Masvingo founded the Great Zimbabwe State.
✓ The people of Leopard's kopje culture at Mapungubwe built it.
✓ At its peak it had a population of about 10000 people
✓ It was one of the biggest and best sites in Africa.
ECONOMY, mining, trade tribute payments, craftwork, Tool making, hunting \& agriculture. The economy was mainly dependent on agriculture. They grew crops such as millet, rapoko, cowpeas and animals were reared i.e. cattle, sheep and goats. The G.Z. traded with the Swahili \& Arabs. They got cloth, necklaces, mirrors, and beer.
POLITICS, the king was the head of state. He also had a number of responsibilities e.g. judicial leader, supreme judge, land distributor, military leader and also the religious leader. There was a hierarchy of authority in the state, at the top there was a king, below him there were chiefs and at the bottom there were ordinary people.
The king ruled with the help of a dare. There were doorkeepers on entrances. Communication was through drumbeats. Kingships were inherited from father to son. The king ruled with the help of a council. Walls protected the people from enemies. The king lived at the hilltop so that he could identify enemies. The king's wives and members of the council lived in the great enclosure.
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION, the state was led by a man. Polygamy was allowed in the state. Usually the rich married many
wives. Lobola had to be paid in many forms for example labor, grain, animals, and tools for example hoes \& axes. There was division of labor based on sex. The people of Great Zimbabwe had a number of social customs i.e. rainmaking ceremonies, burial ceremonies, ritual ceremonies \& lobola paying.
DECLINE OF THE STATE
Overpopulation. The land at GZ could no longer support the huge population that had grown. At its height GZ had a population of about 10000 people.
Shortage of resources that is pastures for livestock, salt, animals to hunt were exhausted
Succession disputes. Oral traditions suggest that around 1450 there was a succession dispute in Great Zimbabwe. One claimant to the throne was Nyatsimba Mutota supported by Chingowo. The other …