17. The Great Zimbabwe is a mighty ruined city in the modern country
Colonial historians would have us believe that Africa was a backward and brutish continent before the arrival of the Europeans (notwithstanding the Egyptians). However, as long ago as 1000 AD Sub-Saharan Africans were building impressive cities out of stone, none more so than the Great Zimbabwe. The Great Zimbabwe was a vast palace and fortress complex, its 200 acres in area surrounded by 11-metre high walls, and formerly home to between 10 and 20, 000 people. The name ‘Zimbabwe’ is a Bantu word meaning ‘stone houses’, and it was this ancient stronghold that gave the modern country its name.
It is churlish to make reference to what the rest of the world was up to at the same time, but it is worth mentioning that there is no comparable contemporary stone structure from England, and that most European settlements of the turn of the first millennium were largely built of wood. But, then, Great Zimbabwe was the beating heart of a great trading empire that took gold to the coast of the Indian Ocean, and was extremely wealthy. Great Zimbabwe was abandoned in the 15th century, possibly when gold supplies were depleted or due to water shortages.