Video Lesson

Lesson Objectives

After learning this lesson, you will be able to:

• pinpoint the evidences about the history of Great Zimbabwe;
• identify the economic bases of the kingdom;
• explain briefly the causes for the end of Great Zimbabwe.
• distinguish between the Bantu, San and Khoi Khoi people;
• identify the economic bases of the San and the Khoi Khoi.

Brainstorming Questions

• What comes into your mind when you hear the name Great Zimbabwe?
• What does Zimbabwe mean in the Bantu language?
• What kind of term is derogatory or pejorative? What pejorative terms do you know that are attached to the San and Khoi Khoi people?

Key Terms

Great Zimbabwe

Archaeological excavations in what is today South-central Africa revealed looming stone built walls, large palaces, and cone-shaped towers that were once part of a powerful and prosperous capital of an advanced inland empire. This is the site where the civilization of Great Zimbabwe once thrived. The word Zimbabwe comes from a Bantu-based word that means “stone house.” In fact, Great Zimbabwe was built by a succession of Bantu-speaking peoples, apparently by the Shona, who settled in the region between 900-1500 A.D. These new comers brought iron, mining methods, and improved farming skills. Early settlers raised cattle and built stone enclosures to protect their livestock. With the passage of time, these settlers improved their building methods and erected impressive large walls and palaces. The capital reached its height by the dawn of the 14th century, probably about 1300 A.D. By then, it had tapped nearby gold resources and cultivated profitable commercial links
with coastal cities such as Sofala and Kilwa. Archaeologists have found beads from the India and porcelain from China, showing that Great Zimbabwe was part of a trade network that reached across Indian Ocean. Moreover, they have found artifacts that indicate the presence of artisans in Great Zimbabwe skilled at making jewelry and weaving cotton cloth.

Very little is known about the kind of government established in Great Zimbabwe and its
inner workings. By about 1500 A.D., Great Zimbabwe was in decline. Some of the assumptions given for her decline and final fall include overpopulation that over exploited the environment, civil-war, and declining trade. By then, Portuguese traders were pushing inland
to find the regions’ source of gold. But its stone ruins remain to this day leaving behind its former importance. Finally the place of Great Zimbabwe was taken over by the kingdom of Monopotapa.

The Khoi Khoi and San

The southern part of Africa was occupied by three major ethnic and linguistic groups. The dominant people of the region were the Bantu. The other two groups were the Khoi-Khoi and San peoples. The languages of the two peoples are grouped under the Khoisan language super family. In this sub-section, we will focus on the Khoi Khoi and the San. By the time Southern and Western South Africa was colonized by European settlers in the
17th century, the Khoi Khoi were economically pastoral. The white settlers called them “Hottentos,” which is now derogatory (offensive). The majority of the remaining Khoi Khoi people live in the southern part of Namibia, and the term has been extended to include the culturally mixed descendants of the original Khoi Khoi, who are now scattered throughout the south-western part of South Africa.

The Khoi Khoi were related to two neighboring peoples, the San (Bushmen, European version of the San, which is now a pejorative of insult) and the Bantu. Originally, the Khoi Khoi were hunters. Gradually, they abandoned hunting and started cattle herding. Beginning from c. 1300, the Khoi Khoi expanded from what is now Botswana and by the 15th century, they were already well-established in Southern Africa. However, the Khoi Khoi had been under strong pressure from both the Dutch settlers and the Bantu people. Consequently, they became a minority group in the most inhospitable part of the Kalahari Desert.

The San have lived in Southern Africa for thousands of years. Their territory, once extensive, was restricted by white settlers after the early 1700s. By the time the San lived as hunter gatherers, they were organized into small groups, or bands, of about ten families. At this stage, women gathered wild plants and fruits while men killed animals with light bows and poison-tipped arrows. The San sometimes lived in caves or thatched shelters and wore short aprons and sandals made of skin. The San are distinguished by their short height, yellow and copper skin colour and kinky hair.