Great Zimbabwe Ruins - 1100 AD


Great Zimbabwe is a ruined city in the southeastern hills of Zimbabwe near Lake Mutirikwe and the town of Masvingo. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe during the country's Late Iron Age. Construction on the monument by ancestors of the Shona people began in the 11th century and continued until the 15th century,[1][2] spanning an area of 722 hectares (1,780 acres) which, at its peak, could have housed up to 18,000 people. It is recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Great Zimbabwe served as a royal palace for the Zimbabwean monarch and would have been used as the seat of political power. One of its most prominent features were the walls, some of which were over five metres high and which were constructed without mortar.









Ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani (Tanzania) 800 AD

Kilwa Kisiwani is an archaeological city-state site located along the Swahili Coast on the Kilwa archipelago. It was occupied from at least the 8th century AD and became one of the most powerful settlements along the coast.

Kilwa Kisiwani reached its highest point in wealth and commerce between 13th and 15th centuries AD








Replica of a Chief's House in Ancient Benin Nigeria





The Walls of Benin, Nigeria: 800 AD

Man-made wonders of the world such as the Taj Mahal in India, the Cairo Citadel in Egypt and the Colosseum in Rome attract millions of visitors each year and lay claim to represent the architectural brilliance of our past. But the Benin Moat, also known as the Walls of Benin, lays fallow, crumbling away in Nigeria, a pale imitation of its resplendent former self. At stake is not just the structure itself, but the memory of a once-great empire and a site of colonial resistance.

A benign development?

The Benin Empire (1440–1897) was a pre-colonial African state, which at its height stretched from the western Igbo tribes on the shores of the Niger River, through parts of the south-west including present day Ondo State, and the isolated islands of Lagos. The empire was famed for nurturing of artistic creativity and using advanced techniques in its bronze and ivory sculptures (especially its life-sized bronze heads) that predate similar works in the Western world.

Construction started on the Walls of Benin in 800 AD, now situated in modern day Benin City, capital of Edo State, and continued into the mid-1400s. Stretching seemingly endlessly across the land, the Benin Moat is the world’s second longest man-made construction, falling short of only the Great Wall of China. The Walls of Benin, built as a city fortification against neighbouring rivals such as the Oyo Kingdom to the south and the Sokoto Caliphate in the north, is estimated to be 10,000 miles in length and 2,000 square miles in area. Excavations by British archaeologist Graham Connah in 1960 uncovered a rural network of earthen walls that, he estimated, if spread out over five dry seasons, would have required a workforce of 1,000 labourers working ten hours a day, for seven days a week to construct – a rough total of 150 million man hours.


Kano City Walls Nigeria 1100 AD






Ancient Kano Houses





Loropeni Ruins Burkina Faso





The 11,130m2 property, the first to be inscribed in the country, with its imposing stone walls is the best preserved of ten fortresses in the Lobi area and is part of a larger group of 100 stone enclosures that bear testimony to the power of the trans-Saharan gold trade. Situated near the borders of Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo, the ruins have recently been shown to be at least 1,000 years old. The settlement was occupied by the Lohron or Koulango peoples, who controlled the extraction and transformation of gold in the region when it reached its apogee from the 14th to the 17th century. Much mystery surrounds this site large parts of which have yet to be excavated. The settlement seems to have been abandoned during some periods during its long history. The property which was finally deserted in the early 19th century is expected to yield much more information.


Brief Synthesis

The dramatic and memorable Ruins of Loropéni consist of imposing, tall, laterite stone perimeter walls, up to six metres in height, surrounding a large abandoned settlement. As the best preserved of ten similar fortresses in the Lobi area, part of a larger group of around a hundred stone-built enclosures, they are part of a network of settlements that flourished at the same time as the trans-Saharan gold trade and appear to reflect the power and influence of that trade and its links with the Atlantic coast. Recent excavations have provided radio-carbon dates suggesting the walled enclosure at Loropéni dates back at least to the 11th century AD and flourished between the 14th and 17th centuries, thus establishing it as an important part of a network of settlements.



Ancient Ghana Empire Ruins (Kumbi Saleh) 900 AD












Old Oyo Kingdom Ruins, Nigeria 1100 AD





Onitsha Nigeria


These houses are from titled men of Onicha and may have Benin influence.




Upstairs balcony.


Temple of Soleb, Sudan 1400 BC





Ruins of Meroe, and Nubian Pyramids Sudan 1200 BC



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[img]http://www.peron4.pl/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/sudan_swiatynia.jpg[/img]



Timbuktu, Mali Empire 1100 AD

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[img]http://ader.eu/francais/mali/mali3-maison_quartier_bamak.jpg[/img]



Gedi Kenya 1200 AD





Ancient Temple Burkina Faso






Ruins of Ethiopia (Dated: PRE-HISTORY)








Lalibela Church Ethiopia - Entirely carved from one rock





Obelisk of Axum Ethiopia





Songhai Empire 1400

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Ashanti Empire




Palace of the chief of Foumban Cameroun











Ancient Benin - British soldiers sitting inside the Oba's palace after burning and looting the complex (1897)



"Ivory Found in City." Courtyard of the Oba's palace, Benin City, February 1897, photographed by a Captain Walker. The object in the center of the courtyard, lying on a large brass cylinder, is a brass serpent head from the palace roof. R. K. Granville Archive Album 64.5, Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford.



A house in Benin city occupied by the British soldiers as a temporary residence.




"The king's wall in Benin City. Benin, Nigeria. Silver gelatin print, 10.2cm x 13.9cm (4" x 5.5"Click the image to open in full size.. Photograph by J. H. Swainson, 1892. Macdonald Niger Coast Protectorate Album, A1996-190138."



The Great Sphinx Egypt (Dated PRE-HISTORY)

[img]http://www.studentsoftheworld.info/infopays/photos/EGY/orig/Sphinx.jpg[/img]



[img]http://bolstablog.files./2010/03/sphinx-riddle.jpg[/img]

Pyramids of Giza Egypt

Nice one Rossik!

Can we get to see more pictures on the Benin Empire before and after it was burned and looted?

bigfrancis21:
Nice one Rossik!

Can we get to see more pictures on the Benin Empire before and after it was burned and looted?

Pls unhide the post and unban the poster.

Amazing architectural infrastructures.....Wonderfully made.

n

How about egypt?

We must begin to define ourselves as Africans. Enough of westernization

they feared what Africa would become if we were left to develop on our own. Africa has a glorious past.... kudos to our forbearers.

Amazing

Europeans are wicked!

Archmage:
they feared what Africa would become if we were left to develop on our own. Africa has a glorious past.... kudos to our forbearers.

very true , but a pretty shïtty present .... no thanks to our current African leaders.
Can we stop blaming others for our problems and take ownership?

vfactor:
Europeans are wicked!

More wicked are Africans to each other ...

This is wonderful...

O

....Hmmmmm!

[size=18pt]SWEAT TOO MUCH
Visit us[/size]

Civilization started in Africa.

Dark continent my foot.

awesome

Amazingly wonderful

Why will that of Onitsha have Benin influence?

Nice architectural works. Europeans are wicked and Africans are foolish.

lomomike:

Pls unhide the post and unban the poster.

Do you need XXL spectacles to see that it has already been done and the page moved to the front page?

kennygee:
Civilization started in Africa.

Dark continent my foot.

Of course civilization started in Africa, Egypt precisely but the Europeans don't want to hear that and that's why they make Africans and African discoveries look like watered versions of the reality.

Glorious Past#
Nobi today this oyibo people begin Loot us, Na our Resources and manpower them take establish to the modern day beautiful cities#

I Believe in the Dark Continent, the Soil of our ancestors.

this onitsha people and upstairs mata no be today e start.but wait oo if onitsha had an upstairs in precolonial days then how come they told us the first up stairs was one christian missionary building in badagry.

Wow

Africa, my Africa.. Any one remembered that poem?

Wow absolutely amazing so wonderful,I love my continent Africa!!!!!!!

kuuljay:
this onitsha people and upstairs mata no be today e start.but wait oo if onitsha had an upstairs in precolonial days then how come they told us the first up stairs was one christian missionary building in badagry.

Lagos was already a renowned port and vastly exposed before and after the annexation! Every other place comes secondary..

cool

What about Igbo Ukwu?

PROUDLY AFRICAN

Death to the brit.


08:15:06
Sat, Mar 21, 2015