Mapungubwe Hill

마풍구브웨 언덕

Mapungubwe was an ancient kingdom at the meeting of the Shashe and Limpopo rivers in what is now South Africa, near the borders with Zimbabwe and Botswana. Its capital grew to about 5,000 people by 1250, and the kingdom may have covered about 30,000 square kilometres. Its main site is a flat-topped sandstone hill.

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At a glance

Country: South Africa
Location: Limpopo, South Africa
Built: 1220
Height: 30 m
Type: Ancient site

Quick answers

Where is Mapungubwe Hill?

Mapungubwe Hill is in Limpopo, South Africa.

When was Mapungubwe Hill built?

Mapungubwe Hill was built in 1220.

A flat-topped sandstone hill, capital of southern Africa's first kingdom, where the famous golden rhino was found.

The name is said to mean 'a place of jackals'. The hill is now in Mapungubwe National Park and is a UNESCO-listed site. A small gold rhinoceros found here is a national treasure of South Africa. The area is dry today, but between about 1000 and 1200 CE it had more rain, which helped farming and herding.

Rise of a kingdom

People had lived in the region for about 100,000 years. Around 900 the Zhizo people settled at Schroda by the Limpopo, attracted by the ivory trade. Around 1000 people moved to nearby K2, growing sorghum and millet and herding cattle. They traded ivory, gold and other goods with Swahili city-states on the coast of the Indian Ocean for glass beads and cloth. Around 1220, in a dry period, the elite moved to the top of Mapungubwe Hill, and the people lived on the land below. Hills were often places to make rain, and this hill became the only rain-making site, which helped create a sacred kingship.

The end and the rediscovery

Around 1300, after unknown events and shifts in trade routes to the north, the people moved away. Today they are often linked to the Venda and Kalanga peoples. Local people always knew the sacred place, but scientists and the colonial government only rediscovered it in 1933. The treasures found there are kept in the Mapungubwe Museum in Pretoria.

A debated first

Mapungubwe is traditionally called the first state in Southern Africa, but excavations at Mapela Hill show signs of sacred kingship about 200 years earlier. Scholars also disagree about what made Mapungubwe rich: some stress trade across the Indian Ocean, others point to farming, cattle, and the ritual power of its rulers.

Fun facts

A small golden rhinoceros found here is one of South Africa's national treasures.
Mapungubwe may mean 'a place of jackals'.
Its capital had about 5,000 people by 1250.
Scientists only rediscovered it in 1933, though local people always knew it.
Elite families lived on top of the hill while most people lived below.