6.3 Empires & Architecture

Great Zimbabwe

Great Zimbabwe (11th–15th c.) was a vast stone city in southern Africa, its mortarless granite walls (the Great Enclosure) marking the power of a trading kingdom.

Trade and wealth

African kingdoms grew rich on trade in gold, salt, and ivory. Art and architecture displayed the wealth and authority of rulers and connected Africa to the wider world.

Continuity

African artistic traditions are diverse and enduring, spanning kingdoms, faiths (including Islam in the Sahel), and materials — resisting any single 'African style.'

Key terms

Great Zimbabwe

vast mortarless granite city, southern Africa

Great Enclosure

its huge fitted-granite walls

Trade wealth

gold, salt, ivory funded African kingdoms

Sahelian architecture

adobe mosques and mud-brick building

Diversity

no single 'African style' — many traditions

Try an AP-style question

Great Zimbabwe is known for…

1. pyramids of brick
2. wooden palaces
3. glass skyscrapers
4. massive dry-stone walls