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Kilwa
Kilwa, an island located off the coast of East Africa in modern-day southern Tanzania, was the most southern of the major Swahili Coast trading cities that dominated goods coming into and out of Africa from and to Arabia, Persia, and India...

Video
Great Zimbabwe National Monument - Journey in Africa - Travel & Discover
The ruins of Great Zimbabwe – the capital of the Queen of Sheba, according to an age-old legend – are a unique testimony to the Bantu civilization of the Shona between the 11th and 15th centuries. The city, which covers an area of nearly...

Video
Great Zimbabwe National Monument (UNESCO/NHK)
The ruins of Great Zimbabwe "the capital of the Queen of Sheba, according to an age-old legend" are a unique testimony to the Bantu civilization of the Shona between the 11th and 15th centuries AD. The city, which covers an area of nearly...

Definition
Civilization
Civilization (from the Latin civis=citizen and civitas=city) is a term applied to any society which has developed a writing system, government, production of surplus food, division of labor, and urbanization. The term is difficult to define...

Definition
Swahili Coast
The Swahili Coast on the shores of East Africa was a region where Africans and Arabs mixed to create a unique identity from the 8th century called Swahili Culture. Swahili is the name of their language and means 'people of the coast.' The...

Definition
Bantu Migration
The Bantu migration from their origins in southern West Africa saw a gradual population movement sweep through the central, eastern, and southern parts of the continent starting in the mid-2nd millennium BCE and finally ending before 1500...

Image
Shona Wooden Headrest
A carved wooden headrest of the Shona tribe. The Shona created such southern African kingdoms as Great Zimbabwe and Mutapa between the 12th and 17th century CE. Zimbabwe, 19th century CE, height: 17 cm. (British Museum, London)

3D Image
Painted panel, Mashonaland, Zimbabwe
This 80 foot long panel is from Zombapata Cave, atop a large granite hill in Mashonaland, Zimbabwe. It includes paintings of elephants, zebra, sheep, sable antelope, kudu, lions, a large troupe of baboons and animal footprints. Zimbabwe...

Definition
The Ancient City
In the study of the ancient world a City is generally defined as a large populated urban center of commerce and administration with a system of laws and, usually, regulated means of sanitation. This is only one definition, however, and the...

Definition
Kingdom of Luba
The Kingdom of Luba, located in central Africa, thrived from the 15th to 19th century CE and was the first such state in the Congo basin. Skills in ironworking and trade along the Lualaba river in such metals as copper permitted the Luba...