handout 3 the mystery of mapungubwe

South Africa’s first big town

Check on your map for Mapungubwe. Underline it. At around 1270AD, it was the biggest town in Southern Africa. 0

Mapungubwe lay on a hill near where the borders of Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe meet. It began as a small town in the valley below the hill, occupied by poor people and their chief. The name means “Place of the Jackals”

Trading posts were set up by the Arabs. But the chief was a clever man. He gained control of the gold and ivory trade. People brought gold and ivory down the Shashe River to Mapungubwe. Local traders took the gold and ivory further down and sold them to foreign traders whose ships landed at Inhambane on the coast.

The village became very rich and life for the inhabitants of the town began to change.

The town became a very well organised society.

There was a ruler and smaller chiefs in the kingdom. The smaller chiefs would hunt and mine for gold. The ruler would be given these as a tribute. He sold these goods on the coast. He would reward his small chiefs with imported luxury goods that they wanted.

The ruler’s homes were surrounded by stone walls at the top of the hill. The small chiefs and people of the kingdom lived further down the hill. The more powerful you were, the higher the mountain, you lived. It was believed that the chiefs had to be closest to the spirits of the community’s ancestors.

The poorer people would make their homes from thatch and clay.

People must have carried hundreds of tons of rock and soil up the hill to build these houses.

Beautiful artifacts have been found at the sites of the rulers homes. There were many imported beads and pieces of china found. This was also found at the sites where the chiefs’ homes would have been, but nowhere else.

The mysteries of Mapungubwe

We know that the ruler owned large herds of cattle, but today there is no evidence of this. So what happened to the cattle?

Well, we can only guess. But historians think that young men from nearby villages would protect the royal herds, moving them over long distances to prevent over – grazing.

The kingdom of Mapungubwe “disappeared “around 1300AD. why?

Again, we can only surmise (guess) but it is believed that there could have been a drought, or a tsetse fly invasion. The gold trade had become weak because less gold was found in the Shashe river. A new kingdom, Great Zimbabwe arose, in the north, at round the same time as Mapungubwe died. Co incidence?

Mapungubwe was re discovered in 1933. Until then nothing was known about this very important part of our history.

Watch the PowerPoint show and answer the questions that follow, on a blank page.

Task 2:

1)  Work with your partner, and discuss the following questions.

Write down your own answers.

a)  Why did the rulers live separately from their people?

b)  How did the rulers show that they were rich and powerful?

c)  How did smaller chiefs show their loyalty to the ruler at Mapungubwe? What did the ruler do in return?

d)  In what ways were the lives of the rulers different from the lives of the people down below?

e)  Which people in the society were given the luxury imported goods? How do you know this?

f)  How did smaller chiefs benefit from the belonging to a powerful state?

g)  What evidence is there that the rulers of Mapungubwe traded with other parts of the world?

2)  Add to your timeline:

a)  When the first houses were built on Mapungubwe hill.

b)  When the power of Mapungubwe ended.

3)  You are someone who lived in Mapungubwe in 1200 AD. Write a story about your daily life. You can choose to be a craftsperson, an ivory hunter, a goldsmith, a potter, a cattle herder, or even a king.

Illustrate your story and place in your file. ( about 250 words)

Page 1 of 3