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Civilizations & Empires

Mapungubwe

c. 1050 – 1300 CE (capital on Mapungubwe Hill c. 1220 – 1290/1300)

Limpopo–Shashe confluence, South Africa (bordering Botswana and Zimbabwe)

Mapungubwe, at the Limpopo–Shashe confluence, became southern Africa's first known state society, trading gold and ivory toward the Indian Ocean; its elite hilltop graves held the famous golden rhinoceros.

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Mapungubwe Hill, the hilltop capital of the Mapungubwe kingdom near the Limpopo River, South Africa
Credit: JJ van Zyl, via World History Encyclopedia (originally Wikipedia: File:MapungubweHill.jpg). License: CC BY-SA 4.0.

Content pending: verified research needed.

Related entries

Sources

  1. UNESCO World Heritage Centre, "Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape" (Primary source)
  2. Alice Apley, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Heilbrunn Timeline, "Mapungubwe (ca. 1050–1270)" (Scholarly)
  3. University of Pretoria Museums, "The one and only gold rhino in the world" (Primary source)

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