Great Zimbabwe is an ancient city in the south-eastern hills of Zimbabwe near Lake Mutirikwe and the town of Masvingo. It is thought to have been the capital of a great kingdom, although which kingdom is not certain,[1] during the country's Late Iron Age. Construction on the city began in the 11th century and continued until it was abandoned in the 15th century.[2][3] The edifices are believed to have been erected by the ancestral Shona.[4] The stone city spans an area of 7.22 square kilometres (2.79 square miles) which, at its peak, could have housed up to 18,000 people. It is recognised as a World Heritage site by UNESCO.
The Kingdom of Zimbabwe, of which Great Zimbabwe was its capital, was formed by the Shona, a Bantu-speaking people that had first migrated to southern Africa from the 2nd century
