Kingdom of Mapungubwe

Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape

UNESCO World Heritage Site
Location	South Africa
Criteria	ii, iii, iv, v
Reference	1099
Coordinates	22°11′33″S 29°14′20″E / 22.1925°S 29.2389°E / -22.1925; 29.2389
Inscription	2003 (27th Session)
Location of Kingdom of Mapungubwe
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The Kingdom of Mapungubwe (1075–1220) was a pre-colonial state in Southern Africa located at the confluence of the Shashe and Limpopo rivers , south of Great Zimbabwe. The kingdom was the first stage in a development that would culminate in the creation of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe in the 13th century, and with gold trading links to Rhapta and Kilwa Kisiwani on the African east coast. The Kingdom of Mapungubwe lasted about 80 years, and at its height its population was about 5000 people. The Mapungubwe Collection is a museum collection of artifacts found at the archaeological site and is housed in the Mapungubwe Museum in Pretoria.

This archaeological site can be attributed to the Bukalanga Kingdom, which comprises the Bakalanga people from northeast Botswana, the Karanga from Western Zimbabwe, the Vha Venda in the northeast of South Africa. They were the first Bantu to cross the Limpopo River to the south, and established their kingdom where the Shashe and Limpopo conjoined (Sha-limpo).

The largest settlement from what has been dubbed the Leopard's Kopje culture is known as K2 culture and was the immediate predecessor to the settlement of Mapungubwe. The people from K2 culture, probably derived from the ancestral Khoi culture, were attracted to the Shashi-Limpopo area, likely because it provided mixed agricultural possibilities. The area was also prime elephant country, providing access to valuable ivory. The control of the gold and ivory trade greatly decreased the political power of the K2 culture. By 1075, the population of K2 had outgrown the area and relocated to Mapungubwe Hill.

Spatial organisation in the kingdom of Mapungubwe involved the use of stone walls to demarcate important areas for the first time. There was a stone-walled residence likely occupied by the principal councillor. Stone and wood were used together. There would have also been a wooden palisade surrounding Mapungubwe Hill. Most of the capital's population would have lived inside the western wall.

The capital of the kingdom was called Mapungubwe, which is where the kingdom gets its name. The site of the city is now a World Heritage Site, South African National Heritage Site,national park, and archaeological site. There is controversy regarding the origin and meaning of the name Mapungubwe. Conventional wisdom has it that Mapungubwe means "place of Jackals," or alternatively, "place where Jackals eat" or, according to Fouché—one of the earliest excavators of Mapungubwe—"hill of the jackals" (Fouché, 1937 p. 1). It also means "place of wisdom" and "the place where the rock turns into liquid"—from various ethnicities in the region including the Pedi, Sotho and Shona.