Thick stone walls and a cone-shaped tower are all that remain of a once-mighty empire in southern Africa.
In the twelfth century, Great Zimbabwe was the center of a thriving state built by the Shona people. Its traders exchanged goods with merchants from as far away as Asia. In the 1400s, its rulers grew rich from collecting tribute and taxes on the trade between the local gold fields and cities on the East African coast. Construction of Great Zimbabwe began in the early 1000s and lasted into the 1400s. In the early 1400s, over 10,000 people lived in or around Great Zimbabwe. By 1450, no one did.
