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JJ van Zyl · CC BY-SA 3.0
Landmark Africa archaeological

Mapungubwe

900 CE – 1300 CE · 400 years

Iron Age hilltop kingdom in South Africa that predated Great Zimbabwe, famous for its golden rhinoceros figurine

See it on the timeline

Wikipedia

The opening of the article, and a way into the rest of it without leaving the site.

Kingdom of Mapungubwe on Wikipedia.

Read the article

Who held this ground

Borders from dated snapshots, up to a century apart; precision varies.

Reconstruction

  1. Before it was built (3000 BCE–800 CE)
  2. Khoisan (900 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  3. Great Zimbabwe (1000 CE–1400 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  4. Mwenemutapa (1492 CE–1500 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  5. No border recorded here in this snapshot (1530 CE–1815 CE)
  6. Transvaal (1880 CE–1900 CE) Border precision: Defined
  7. Rhodesia (1914 CE) Border precision: Defined
  8. Southern Rhodesia (1920 CE–1960 CE) Border precision: Defined
  9. Zimbabwe (1994 CE–2026 CE) Border precision: Defined
Border precision
  • Defined
  • Approximate

Elsewhere in Africa at the time

Records whose own span overlaps this one, found by the same test the canvas draws with. The bar under each card is where it sits inside this one.

See the whole view

Landmark · Africa

Volubilis

300 BCE – 1200 CE

Polity · Africa

Empire of Ghana

100 CE – 1200 CE

Conflict · Africa

Ghana–Almoravid Conflict

1054 CE – 1083 CE

Trade route · Africa

Indian Ocean Trade

900 CE

Landmark · Africa

Great Zimbabwe

1100 CE – still standing

Polity · Africa

Fatimid Caliphate

909 CE – 1200 CE

Conflict · Africa

Great Zimbabwe & Mutapa Wars

1100 CE – 1629 CE

Trade route · Africa

East African Coastal Trade

900 CE – 1505 CE

Dated moments inside this span

Events the timeline places between 900 CE and 1300 CE.

900 CE Zanzibar 900 CE Mombasa 900 CE Kilwa Kisiwani 900 CE Sofala 900 CE Mogadishu 1075 CE Mapungubwe

And in the rest of the world

Records running through the same years, on the other side of the map.

Gyeongju Historic Areas Landmark · East Asia 57 BCE – 935 CE Tibet Polity · South Asia 1000 CE – 1960 CE Varangian Trade Route Trade route · Europe 800 CE – 1100 CE Byzantine–Arab Wars Conflict · Europe 629 CE – 1180 CE Al-Razi Figure · Rayy / Baghdad / Persia 854 CE – 925 CE Rila Monastery Landmark · Europe 927 CE – still standing
Image credits 5 pictures from Wikimedia Commons