Kingdom of Zimbabwe

Kingdom of Zimbabwe Zimbabwe
13th century–16th/17th century
Zimbabwe Bird
Capital	Great Zimbabwe
Religion	Belief in Mwari
Government	Monarchy
Mambo
History
• Established	13th century
• Fall of Mapungubwe, rise of Great Zimbabwe	c. 1300
• Nyatsimba Mutota leaves to establish the Kingdom of Mutapa	c. 1450
• Abandonment of Great Zimbabwe	16th/17th century
Area
• Total	50,000 km2 (19,000 sq mi)
ISO 3166 code	ZW
Preceded by Succeeded by Gumanye Kingdom of Mapungubwe Mutapa Empire Kingdom of Butua
Today part of	Zimbabwe, Mozambique

Part of a series on the
History of Zimbabwe
Ancient history Leopard's Kopje c. 650 – c. 1075 Mapungubwe Kingdom c. 1220 – c. 1300 Zimbabwe Kingdom c. 1300 – c. 1450 Mutapa Kingdom c. 1430–1760 Butua Kingdom c. 1450–1683
White settlement pre-1923 Rozvi Empire c. 1660–1866 Mthwakazi 1840–1893 Rudd Concession 1888 BSA Company rule 1890–1923 First Matabele War 1893–1894 Second Matabele War 1896–1897 World War I involvement 1914–1918 Colony of Southern Rhodesia 1923–1965 World War II involvement 1939–1945 Malayan Emergency involvement 1948–1960 Federation with Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland 1953–1963 Rhodesian Bush War 1964–1979 Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) 1965 Rhodesia 1965–1979 Zimbabwe-Rhodesia June–December 1979 Lancaster House Agreement December 1979 British Dependency 1979–1980 Zimbabwe 1980–present Gukurahundi 1982–1987 Second Congo War 1998–2003 Coup d'état 2017
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The Kingdom of 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 to the Indian Ocean trade via Swahili city-states. 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 from the 15th century, however land depletion or a depletion of critical resources, a decline in global trade, and increased regional competition 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.