Kingdom of Great Zimbabwe

The Kingdom of Great Zimbabwe was a Shona kingdom located in modern-day Zimbabwe. Its capital was Great Zimbabwe, the largest stone structure in precolonial Southern Africa, which had a population of 10,000. Around 1300, Great Zimbabwe replaced Mapungubwe as the most important trading centre in the interior, exporting gold via Swahili city-states into the Indian Ocean trade. At Great Zimbabwe's centre was the Great Enclosure which is thought to have housed royalty and had demarcated spaces for rituals, while commoners surrounded them within the second perimeter wall. The Zimbabwe state was composed of over 150 smaller zimbabwes and likely covered 50,000 km² (19,000 square miles).

It is unknown what caused Great Zimbabwe's decline and migration of the Shona to other places from the 15th century, however land depletion or a depletion of critical resources, increased regional competition, shifting trade routes, and overpopulation likely played a role. By the 16th century, the Mutapa Empire and the Kingdom of Butua centred on Khami had replaced Great Zimbabwe as the major powers in the region. Great Zimbabwe likely continued to be inhabited into the 17th century, before it was eventually abandoned.