Great Zimbabwe is a medieval city in the south-eastern hills of the modern country of Zimbabwe, near Lake Mutirikwe and the town of Masvingo. It is thought to have been the capital of a great kingdom during the Late Iron Age, about which little is known. Construction on the city began in the 9th century and continued until it was abandoned in the 15th century. The edifices were erected by ancestors of the Shona and other groups located in Zimbabwe and nearby countries. The stone city spans an area of 7.22 square kilometres (2.79 sq mi) and could have housed up to 18,000 people at its peak, giving it a population density of approximately 2,500 inhabitants per square kilometre (6,500/sq mi). It is recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Durrington Walls is the site of a large Neolithic settlement and later henge enclosure located in the Stonehenge World Heritage Site in England. It lies 2 miles (3.2 km) north-east of Stonehenge in the parish of Durrington, just north of Amesbury in Wiltshire. The henge is the second-largest Late Neolithic palisaded enclosure known in the United Kingdom, after Hindwell in Wales.
Khami is a ruined city located 22 kilometres (14 mi) west of Bulawayo, in Zimbabwe. It was once the capital of the Kingdom of Butua of the Torwa dynasty. It is now a national monument and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986.
The Suba (Abasuba) are a heterogeneous Bantu group of people in Kenya with an amalgamation of clans drawn from their main tribes Ganda people, Luhya people, and Soga who speak the Suba language that is closely similar to the Ganda language spare some lexical items borrowed from [[Luo. Their population is estimated at 157,787, with substantial fluent speakers. They migrated to Kenya from Uganda and settled on the two Lake Victoria islands of Rusinga and Mfangano, others also settled on the mainland areas including Gembe, Gwassi, Kaksingri of Suba South and Migori and are believed to be the last tribe to have settled in Kenya. The immigrants to present-day Subaland trace their ancestry among Ganda people, Luhya people, Soga people, and the Luo people. The evidence supporting this is the fact that some Suba groups speak languages similar to Luganda, Lusoga and the Luhya. The Suba groups tracing ancestry among the Kenyan tribes preceded those groups from Uganda in present-day Subaland and are the numerous and influential ones. Those groups from Uganda are mostly concentrated in Rusinga and Mfangano islands with small pockets of them being found in mainland Kenya. Linguistically, the Suba are highly influenced by the neighbouring Luo, to the point of a language shift having taken place among large portions of the mainland Suba. As a result, their own language has been classified as endangered. Despite this language shift, the Suba have kept a distinct ethnic identity. The Rusinga Festival is held in December of every year as a cultural festival to celebrate and preserve Suba culture and language.
The stone-carved Zimbabwe Bird is the national emblem of Zimbabwe, appearing on the national flags and coats of arms of both Zimbabwe and Rhodesia, as well as on banknotes and coins. It probably represents the bateleur eagle or the African fish eagle. The bird's design is derived from a number of soapstone sculptures found in the ruins of the medieval city of Great Zimbabwe.
Like other aspects of the culture of Africa, the architecture of Africa is exceptionally diverse. Throughout the history of Africa, Africans have developed their own local architectural traditions. In some cases, broader regional styles can be identified, such as the Sudano-Sahelian architecture of West Africa. A common theme in traditional African architecture is the use of fractal scaling: small parts of the structure tend to look similar to larger parts, such as a circular village made of circular houses.
The Kingdom of Mapungubwe was a medieval state in South Africa located at the confluence of the Shashe and Limpopo rivers, south of Great Zimbabwe. The name is derived from either TjiKalanga and Tshivenda. The name might mean "Hill of Jackals" or "stone monuments". 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 the capital's population was about 5000 people.
Ħaġar Qim is a megalithic temple complex found on the Mediterranean island of Malta, dating from the Ġgantija phase (3600–3200 BC). The Megalithic Temples of Malta are among the most ancient religious sites on Earth, described by the World Heritage Sites committee as "unique architectural masterpieces." In 1992 UNESCO recognized Ħaġar Qim and four other Maltese megalithic structures as World Heritage Sites. V. Gordon Childe, Professor of Prehistoric European Archeology and director of the Institute of Archaeology in the University of London from 1946-1957 visited Ħaġar Qim. He wrote, "I have been visiting the prehistoric ruins all round the Mediterranean, from Mesopotamia to Egypt, Greece and Switzerland, but I have nowhere seen a place as old as this one."
The Luo of Kenya and Tanzania are a Nilotic ethnic group native to western Kenya and the Mara Region of northern Tanzania in East Africa. The Luo are the fourth-largest ethnic group (10.65%) in Kenya, after the Kikuyu (17.13%), the Luhya (14.35%) and the Kalenjin (13.37%). The Tanzanian Luo population was estimated at 1.1 million in 2001 and 3.4 million in 2020. They are part of a larger group of related Luo peoples who inhabit an area ranging from South Sudan, southwestern Ethiopia, northern and eastern Uganda, southwestern Kenya, and northern Tanzania.
The National Museums of Kenya (NMK) is a state corporation that manages museums, sites and monuments in Kenya. It carries out heritage research, and has expertise in subjects ranging from palaeontology, archeology, ethnography and biodiversity research and conservation. Its headquarters and the National Museum are located on Museum Hill, near Uhuru Highway between Central Business District and Westlands in Nairobi. The National Museum of Kenya was founded by the East Africa Natural History Society (E.A.N.H.S.) in 1910; the society's main goal has always been to conduct an ongoing critical scientific examination of the natural attributes of the East African habitat. The museum houses collections, and temporary and permanent exhibits. Today the National Museum of Kenya manages over 22 regional museums, many sites, and monuments across the country.
Swahili architecture is a term used to designate a whole range of diverse building traditions practiced or once practiced along the eastern and southeastern coasts of Africa. Rather than simple derivatives of Islamic architecture from the Arabic world, Swahili stone architecture is a distinct local product as a result of evolving social and religious traditions, environmental changes, and urban development.
Migori County is a county in the former Nyanza Province of southwestern Kenya. It borders Homa Bay County to the north, Kisii County to the northeast, Narok County to the southeast, Tanzania to the west and south, and Lake Victoria to the west. The county also borders Uganda via Migingo Island in Lake Victoria. The county is headquartered by Migori, which is also its largest town. At the 2019 census, Migori County had a population of 1,116,436, almost 200,000 more than the 917,170 recorded in 2009.
The Dzata Ruins, an archaeological site in Dzanani in the Makhado municipality, Vhembe district, in the north of South Africa, is one of the national monuments in South Africa.
Manyikeni is a Mozambican archaeological site, around 52 km west of the coastal city of Vilanculos. The archaeological site dates from the twelfth to seventeenth century. It is believed to be part of the Great Zimbabwe tradition of architecture, distinguished by mortarless stone walls, and part of the famous Mwenu Mutapa’s Kingdom. The central stone enclosure complex is built in this tradition, and the find of a Zimbabwe-style iron gong at the site also suggests cultural ties.
The Blaauboschkraal stone ruins are a provincial heritage site in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. Its neighbouring town, Emgweyna, is 10 kilometres away. The site was declared a national monument on 18 April 1975 and is a heritage site recognised by the South African Heritage Resources Agency.
The Archdiocesan Shrine of Patrocinio de Maria Santisima, commonly known as Boljoon Church, is a Roman Catholic Church dedicated to the Our Lady of the Patronage in the municipality of Boljoon, Cebu, Philippines, under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cebu.
The architecture of Zimbabwe is composed of three architectural types: the Hill Complex, the Valley Complex, and the Great Enclosure. Both traditional and colonial architectures have influenced the history and culture of the country. However, post-1954 buildings are mainly inspired by pre-colonial, traditional architecture, especially Great Zimbabwe–inspired structures such as the Kingdom Hotel, Harare international airport, and the National Heroes' Acre.
Kweneng’ ruins are the remains of a pre-colonial Tswana capital occupied from the 15th to the 19th century AD in South Africa. The site is located 30km south of the modern-day city of Johannesburg. Settlement at the site likely began around the 1400s and saw its peak in the 15th century. The Kweneng' ruins are similar to those built by other early civilizations found in the southern Africa region during this period, including the Luba–Lunda kingdom, Kingdom of Mutapa, Bokoni, and many others, as these groups share ancestry. Kweneng' was the largest of several sizable settlements inhabited by Tswana speakers prior to European arrival. Several circular stone walled family compounds are spread out over an area 10km long and 2km wide. It is likely that Kweneng' was abandoned in the 1820s during the period of colonial expansion-related civil wars known as the Mfecane or Difaqane, leading to the dispersal of its inhabitants.
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