 What makes the Great Zimbabwe so unique, the walls, the architecture, and also the preservation of it, which makes it in the most original way, makes it so unique. The time is finally here, I'm super excited, it's time to head to Great Zimbabwe, let's go! It's my great pleasure to give you a warm welcome to Great Zimbabwe National Monument. Great Zimbabwe, the astonishing historical testament of the African civilization. This is the undisputed home of the present-day Zimbabwe, the country got its name from here. Welcome to Zimbabwe, the house of stone known as Zimbabwe. It lies in the southeastern part of Zimbabwe, about 30 kilometers southeast of Mazvingo. Being on approximately 722 hectares of land, it is a clear evidence of the architectural progress behind the African civilization dating back to as far as the 11th century. It is estimated that the central ruins and surrounding valleys supported the Shauna population of about 20,000 people with an economy based on cattle keeping, farming and gold trade on the coast of the Indian Ocean. It was the heart of a thriving trading empire from the 11th to the 15th centuries. After mind all those gold, they could sell the gold again to the Arabs, Arabs going with the pieces to the Indian coast, where they could meet the Chinese, the Portuguese. There are a lot of trade routes around the place, so strongly believe now that this could be used as a place for trade. The ruins at Great Zimbabwe are some of the oldest and largest shrunches located in southern Africa and are the second oldest after nearby Mapungubwe in South Africa. Do you know how many tons of stones that were used to build this? Approximately not less than 15,000 tons of stone blocks were used to build the whole thing. Some I say more than 15 million stone blocks were used to build the whole in the whole in some of the enclosures which are inside, especially in the Konigotel. Do you know what I want to know? I don't know. Tell me. Who built this? It's important to note that these magnificent architectural walls were built with no mortar joining them. A reason that might have triggered speculations that Great Zimbabwe was built by Phoenicians or people not of African origin and that it was an African replica of the Queen of Sheba's palace. A fable that was promoted by the German explorer Karl Mock who visited in 1871 and refused to believe that indigenous Africans could have built such an extensive, sophisticated network of monuments. How many of these can be found in Zimbabwe? About 300 of them. Welcome to Zimbabwe, the big house of stones. If I am here, I think you also need to come here. Just come and experience, come and see things for yourself, come and, I mean, like when you come here, I don't think you will ever think that it's impossible to do anything in Africa. I'm inspired, man. It's time to go for my dreams, bro. I'm super excited. The day is finally here. I've been dreaming about this for so long and I can't believe that finally I made it to the Great Zimbabwe. This is where Zimbabwe got its name. I've seen the Great enclosure right in front of me. This was built by our ancestors. This was built by Africans. So after being here, no one can ever tell me that I'm inferior. I am superior because if my ancestors were able to build without mortar, it's a blessing to be from Africa. I can't wait to share all the details with you here because I am super excited, man. This used to be a city. Even the colonizers were trying to disprove that it was not built by Africans. But after research, they realized that, no, you can't take credit, baby. That's the main part of Great Zimbabwe. Like I said, it's the most preserved part of Great Zimbabwe, even in southern Africa or south of the Sahara. That's the Great enclosure, which we call imbauru in our Shona tradition or a Karanga dialect among the Shona. That could be basically be the residence for the queen. So this shows us that we live in polygamous situations that demonstrates the richness as well as the status of the man. So as you can see, that is the largest single-engined building south of the Sahara. The second largest in Africa after the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. The outer wall stretches for 200 meters in circumference when measured from inside and 255 meters when measured from outside. And that's a clear indication that those walls were thick. And these are dry stone walls or motorless buildings. That's the maze of dry stone walls, whereby stones are picked one on top of the other, simply there for interdependency or unity. With no mortar. No mortar during the stone. No cement. Nothing. If we look at our modern situation as far as the economic basis concerns, it's all about, if you look at local and intercontinental trade, each and every nation depends on each other. So that's all about unity. That's all you can see, that Grey Zimbabwe became a peaceful society in the whole kingdom. And if we get in there, there were no roofs on top of those walls. Small ronda walls were built inside, which were built using wooden poles, plastered with mortar and peg roofs were put on top. Round houses were simply there for togetherness or unity. In our tradition, again, a round house can chase away evil spirits, but the main reason for building round houses. So the number of houses could be determined by the size of the apartment. But above all, we're going to see the famous structure inside there, the Konikao Tower and the two trees behind the Konikao Tower, which the background we use it in Zimbabwe to be a national symbol that was adopted in 1987. Do you know what I want to know? I don't know. Tell me. Who built this? The ancestors of the Shona speaking people. All can say they're indigenous Africans. We have the Shona today, but Shona is a combination or a group of dialects. Like I said, in Masingo, we have Karanga, in Arari, we have the Zezuru, in Mutari, in the eastern part of Zimbabwe, we have Manika, we have Chewa, we have Ndau, part of Nambia dialects, which combine to form the Shona. If we talk about the indigenous Africans, we don't talk about who was living where, anyone from central to southern Africa. It's evidenced by some of the red carpet dating which was done where by some pieces of portraits, the layering or the set up of the, or the stratification of the houses was similar to most of the places in central to southern Africa. That's how I say the indigenous Africans. It's only that if we can be brainwashed, we can say probably the Phoenicians built great Zimbabwe because they were the major traders here. If we may be brainwashed, if you can go back to the Bible, you can believe if you talk of the photos of Jericho, with photos of Jordan, et cetera, you can believe that probably this was built before Christ. Though it means to say that we'll be going against our civilization, whereby we started having that kind of civilization or when the Europeans were living in dark ages. Civilizations started in Africa. Yes, it started in Africa. Have you heard of this quote from Kwame Nkruman? A black man is capable of managing his own affairs. I think the great Zimbabwe inspired that quote. If you are telling me that this was built by Africans, because Kwame Nkruman was everywhere in Africa, so he came to great Zimbabwe. I have no idea about that though, but I'm assuming that he came here, he saw the structure and he was like, where is the cement? Where is the mortar? And he kept on asking that who built this? The South Africans. And then he came up with this quote, a black man is capable of managing his own affairs. Ha ha ha ha! Whoa! This great enclosure, like I said, it's a must-see building. It's all about admiring the beauty of the grand tour. Of course, you can see that these structures were built as a matter of security or protection, just like our present town of Masingo. Masingo is plural for Rushingo, meaning fortresses or protective walls. Though we can't even leave an element that these structures were built to show status and prestige. But considering the quality all around, the different qualities of these walls, from here to the valley is even the hill complex. Of course, we have an assumption that probably assuming that quality was improving through time, even if we look on one of these walls when we get inside, we shall see when we look at it from the north-eastern side, it will be improving in height, thickness, as well as quality. So this is the depiction that these people were trying to show their skills in stone masonry by demonstrating development of engineering through time. It's only that gentlemen, these stones are silent. I strongly hope one day they will sing melodies for us, telling us the reasons of them being here. You think that will happen anytime soon? Ha ha ha ha! This is the major restoration which was lastly done in 1995. This kind of wood is called the Tambuti or indigenous African sandalwood. Culturally, it was used to chase our evil spirits. Even now, we use it to chase our evil spirits. But initially, the first restorations were done by a guy called St. Clairwaterless, he was a British, living open gateways, trying to similarize with the palaces of Kun of Sheba. That's why you can see that all those guys were against our African civilization. But now that in some of the universities in America, they are now studying African history. So to some extent, they are trying to know or to be proud of our history, we never know. When we've got the richest history in the entire world, no doubt about that. So that's why I was saying, if you look at this wall from that side, on an anticlockwise direction, you can see a certain improvement, like I was talking about. If you look at the layering of the bricks, the shape of the bricks could be improving. So as I was saying, that quality will be improving through time. Obviously, when this generation comes, the new generation can say, no, this was of poor quality. Only because they were not there during that time. They were going to come today and say, why, they were not using motor, why? It was labor intensive. Putting all these stones, why? It was not necessary. Only because they were having a new technique. You build your house at your village for your kids. If they grow up, they get married. Do you think that they want to live in the same house? Primarily, this was the mansion for the queen. But obviously, she could live with other subjects. It was also a school for girls pre-marital lessons. This is only that they were taught about bedroom gymnastics, sex education, even how people still do that. Sex education, you are saying, bedroom gymnastics? We use legs and hearts. And there are different apartments. Each and every apartment could determine the housing setup, the size especially. In an apartment like this one, there will be about three or four houses. There will be smaller ones. The other one in the corner probably might be a kitchen. The other one probably might be a living room. Maybe the other one is a bedroom. As you can see, there are different entrances there. So this is how our enclosures look like. So they had an enclosure, but at the end of the day, there were buildings in here? Yes. The walls were more like bounded lines, like fence. So each and every wall could be separated from the other. And do you know that polygamy also is a security measure? Culture became more denies. But in a polygamous home state, each and every wife would be having her own house. And the face-wave was the one who determined that our husband is going to be with you overnight. But we were not told during the morning. No, no, you were told after news, after supper that my friend, today our husband will be your guest today. So to some extent, you never know whether the man of the family is in this house or there. We've been talking about the premier toilets for girls. Those were performed there. Only because there are some pieces of phallic objects which were found on that platform. On the other hand, the boys would be taught about various lifestyle or activities we have to perform when they get married. That when the woman satisfies you, you get so excited. You find a way to make you happy. Obviously, you have to work hard. See. Over there, that's the nucleus of Zimbabwe. That's the conical tower. The what? That's the epicenter of our cultural and natural heritage. That's why we can use it now as a national symbol. Okay. That's a master's seat building here. Whenever you see this, you've seen the whole thing. No way. Listen, this is the airport. Right? And for all information, we've been using some Zimbabwe dollar coins. Many years ago, that Zimbabwe dollar, the value which was more than a US dollar. There's that background on those Zimbabwe dollar coins. What does that mean? That was the design which they thought must be on our master's level or not. Because it means a lot to the people. Yes. Some scholars of thought, they might think that that could be used as a spiritual chamber like you were saying about the connection between the society and God. This is a clear indication that these people were not worshiping different gods. They relied on African traditional religion even now. Of course, some are taking African traditional religion as something which is in women, only because they are following Christianity. But this religion is still in existence. Of which, in our African traditional religion, we rely on eagles, especially the African fish eagles, which uses a divine messenger, simply there to pass spiritual messages from earth to heaven through the ancestral spirits. Wow. You see. Right. If we look at the economic base, our primary source of living is agriculture. Okay. Keto farming and crop farming. The shape of it, like a sorghum head or granary, symbolizes good harvest and prosperity. And during that era of the ancient Zimbabwe, people used to grow small grain crops that is finger millet, tul millet, ezo, sorghum. Maze rises something which is foreign. See. So which one do you like? Brown sardar or white sardar? If I have opportunity, I would like brown. On the other hand, if we take our modern political systems, adoption of it as a political symbol in Zimbabwe 1987, we had two revolutionary parties, Zano and Zappu. They united in 1987 on the 22nd of December to form Zano Pia. They adopted that background to be their political symbol. Wow. As a symbol for unity. As you can see, there are two trees on both sides of the tower. The tower might stand as an intermediary between the two. Please don't ask me when those trees were there, but what I can tell you is that in 1901, with the oldest photograph, the background was just like that. The trees were as big as that. Some scholars say, I know, that tower, was it necessary to build that tower? People wasting their time. Some Europeans said there were treasures being hidden inside. You see, it was taller than that. The upper part was destroyed. It was 16 meters. Now it's 9.5. They thought it was hollow. Yet it's solid. So this is incredible. In a conic shape like that, getting back to the social aspect where we love women so much, it would be more like a decoration, representing a male organ. The first wife was not supposed to go up there to see the man. No, no, no, no. It was simply there. It was simply for the lesser wives, because she was more important than anyone. So that would be educational, but she would say, you know, my husband, can you make a certain silhouette? But when I look at it, I can think about you. Just for memories. Bag. I don't buy that one. I don't buy that one. Touch the great enclosure of the great Zimbabwe. Can you guys believe this? Look at the heights. How did they do this? This is mind-blowing, man. I mean, if Africans were able to do this, I mean, knowing that we can interlock stones and build walls, what are we doing different then? I wish I just, I can just run around the entire enclosure. I'm just going to run the entire enclosure and see if I'll be able to make it. I want to run the entire enclosure. Oh my goodness. I'm done. I'm running the entire enclosure. That's the major design which you can see. We call that shaven. So as it shows crocodile teeth, it symbolizes fertility in women. So on the other note, we won't talk about a crocodile. A crocodile is a symbolic feature for ancestral spirits. So there's a link between religion and importance of women. Only because whenever we see women we're considering families. And also to have continuity of generations, we must have ladies who give us children. Now that we have it on a mansion which was meant for the queen, today we can have a lot of significance. We can see the significance of it when we look at the impact of it on the brands we have even nowadays. A lot of things which I've made, you can see the Zimbabwe bed on our national flag. There's that pattern. I was talking about the Robbe Timkab International Airport. There's also those designs. There's another positive impact which you can see about those designs. It's only that you only see one pattern, the Chevron. Otherwise, if you go to Kamiru and Zimbabwe, you're welcome to Kamiru National Monuments which is also a well-tiered site. This is a pre-colonial city. There's a lot of patterning. Some are showed the importance of political successions, unity, et cetera. But that's the most important part we have here. You can also see that pattern on pottery. Importantly making is done by ladies. That's why they can try by all means to show their own identity. Those designs, again, could be put on houses. Ejections were done by ladies. That's why they can try to show that they belong to the families. That's the importance of the Chevron bed. You guys don't know how I feel, yeah? Because I've been seeing this history in books. I've been seeing it on TV. But I never knew that day would come. I'll actually come and experience it and listen to the actual story that happened in here. This is what I feel like a lot of Africans have no idea about. Can you do me a favor? Like this video? Share this video. Let Africans know that you can never feel inferior on your own continent. They can try to discredit us on so many things. But the more you travel, the more you see things, the more you feel like I am an African, not an African. Believe in yourself. You can do it. Into the Great Enclosure and this is part of the valley complex. The Great Enclosure is the dominant in the valley. So the royal family members, the lesser wives of the kings, according to history, they've been living in most of these platforms. And as you can see, existence of all of their plans is one or other indication that ladies were living here. They could use aloe vera for beautification. Remember it was a matter of conversion. Everyone wanted to be the best on top of the rest. Some might say as you can count the number of enclosures, why can't we say that after each and every succession, the new king might want his new setup. It's another theory again, but which you can't say is true or false. But above all, considering the trading networks, because obviously we can live in a society whereby we don't want wealth. People did aloof your mining. God mining from the nearby rivers with the Mchirikwe river shall see the view as we go up the hill. After mine all those gold, they could sell the gold again to the Arabs. Arabs going with the pieces to the Indian coast, where they could meet the Chinese, the Portuguese. There are a lot of trade routes which are found around the place. So strongly believe now that this could be used as a place for trade. Also, this could be used as a place for national gathering, considering a lot or multiple numbers for cattle, teeth and bones which were found here. So people could use this place again for patting. If this was built by Africans, why were the Europeans trying to discredit this? It's all about the development of history and who wants what. So they became the first, probably maybe the most intelligent one to be ahead of us and as far as writing is concerned. Also, these guys remember all of the things which they were doing, they were looking for treasures. That's why most of the writings were European based. Writers were? Writing information about the history. Communication was a barrier. So it was better for them to manipulate us because no one was able to communicate with them. Most of them were not writing the never seen Great Zimbabwe. Only gay rumours about this place. So they wrote what they wanted to market their books. We're now heading to the King's Palace. Where all the political activities, political structures were organized. By the chiefs or the kings. The military men, being the chiefs of the military men and the spiritual leaders. Which means this place was more like a city or a country which had its own government. One thing that I've noticed in here to enter this place you need to bow from the beginning. A sign of respect. When entering a house they have to show respect. They are coming to the King's Palace. This whole place here, this is a place where most art floors were found on this rooftop. Most what? Art floors. Okay. So we can strongly believe that of course as we go up there were houses as we go down. But this was the most important part. As you can see on this side we can see some layers. This can be a depiction that probably new houses were built for new kings. So after gender succession all the houses were destroyed. So when excavations were done in 1915 we can see this one being a floor which was discovered. Now it's maintained. You see it's not that typical but there you can see a bench a round panel there being a fireplace and a port stand. This is a setup of the kitchen. As I was telling you that that's where you can see the evidence that houses were like that. But wherever we are stepping on top of the ancient art floors. And from this point also of all the entrances or gateways that's the only original. This one. That one. It was never timbered around with but as a matter of time you see some of the walls are developing bulges. We gave the sculptures of the Zimbabwe bears which were excavated around this place or from here which were used as symbols of religion. As the real iguzu talk about is the fish igu or the battler igu. And that's where when we talk about the African traditional religion. This is the most important enclosure here in Great Zimbabwe even in Zimbabwe but this was a place for religious ceremonies or ritual ceremonies. The carvings which were found here are eight. One of them had been in Germany. It was retained in Zimbabwe in 2003 then other six had been in South Africa from 1891 up to 1981 and they housed in Cissu Rhodes Museum. It's now a museum. It was his house. It's now a museum called Gruske Museum. So the seven which were found here they were mounted on the platform which you can see on the top that one, this one and that one there. When they were found here they were facing east. The element of facing east was the light and the image of God whenever we see the sun rising. And even if we go to Christianity as well that's why I was telling you that the missionaries tried by all means to put everything in our African setup so that it was going to be easy for us to be manipulated. The outers are on the eastern side of the church. That's also how we do our African traditional religion. We face east. Because those carvings were found here that's why we are forced to believe that this small enclosure was a place for ritual or religious ceremonies but mainly for the elite. Not everyone. And the national gatherings for the realty could be done in the great enclosure but for the most elite that would be very political. Now we have the shape of the Zimbabwe bird which is on our national flag. If you look at this drawing this is how the real sculpture looks like. It has this several pattern. Again, so the lower part is meant for women because for us to have continuity of generations massive ladies would give us children and we talk about economy and social life. Then on the edge of it there's a crocodile symbolizing the spirit of ancestors. For us the upper part is meant for leadership. Leaders house on the top. On our national flag it symbolizes a national heritage. So for us only with the political environment social economy and religious environment our ecosystem is complete. Now let's see the shape. I just want us to look at two natural borders the vertical border and the horizontal one but it's just a coincidence probably one of the artisans was sitting here or maybe playing thumb piano and stuff and looked at the background probably it fascinated him and consider that I have to make a crown for my chief in form of the shape. So if you look at the vertical rock you can see this part. If you go down being the neck that part on our left hand side will be the chest. That horizontal border represents the wing whereas the main part on the vertical rock where the incisions were put. So this is probably where the shape of the Zimbabwe bed was taken from. So this is the most important enclosure on this EU complex. Why did they call it the Zimbabwe bed? It's now because we are now in Zimbabwe but over the monuments of Rhodesia I don't know but probably the quality of the Rhodesian bed you may never know. But does the bed really exist? This one exists in fish iguas you can find it where there's flows of water. Even if you go to Lekim Terikui you can find the fish iguas. If you go to Kariba if you go to Salve River you can find fish iguas. Fish iguas are found where there's water. Don't even know what to say man. Don't even know what to say. Courses for the decline and ultimate abandonment of the site around 1450 have been suggested as due to 1. A decline in trade compared to sites further north 2. The exhaustion of gold mines and mineral resources such as salt 3. Political instability 4. Famine and water shortages induced by climate change Black nationalist groups great Zimbabwe became an important symbol of achievement by Africans. It still is a testimony that proves that African civilization had kicked off long before colonization. It might not have been documented but it is still alive and resides in the heart of the African people. This is the great Zimbabwe the extensive stone ruins of an African iron city. I am an African not an African. I am superior not inferior. As a black man I am capable of managing my own affairs not incapable. And you know how I feel this way because I found myself in great Zimbabwe where my ancestors came together and decided to do something unimaginable something that when the Europeans discovered they tried as much as possible to discredit them for doing something that in years to come they wouldn't be able to achieve. This is why I am on a journey to let Africans know that it's possible to do unimaginable. Don't let anybody deceive you don't let anybody tell you that you cannot do it. All you need to do is to believe because the ancestors who built this ancestors believed in themselves it's been ages centuries decades yet people cannot figure how to manage to put rocks together without mortar. People cannot identify how to be able to put rocks together without cement. If these people are your ancestors you gotta feel proud. It's time for you to work put your shoulders up and say that I am an African.