Dhlodhlo
Dhlodhlo , older name Danangombe , is the youngest of the large stone ruin complexes in Zimbabwe . It is 75 kilometers east of Bulawayo about halfway to Gweru .
Danangobe was founded in the Torwa dynasty , one of the two states in which the power of the Rozvi was concentrated after the abandonment of Greater Zimbabwe (also called Imbahuru). The ruins are disputedly dated to the 17th or 18th century.
In 1650 the Changamire dynasty (Rozwi tribe) took over power in Torwareich and with it Dhlodhlo . For the Changamire, Dhlodhlo was one of their most important places. To secure it, they set up cannons of Portuguese origin. They expanded the stone buildings into the 18th century. The masonry with its partially ornamental stone arrangement represents a further development of that of the older sites. Together with local ceramics, which continued to be part of the Torwa tradition, objects of Dutch origin such as a gin bottle from the early 18th century were found.
Dhlodhlo remained the center of the Changamire realm until it broke up in the 1830s under the onslaught of the Mfekane and the country was subjugated by the Ndebele from 1834–1837 .
literature
- ND Beach: The Shona and Zimbabwe. Mambo Press, Gwelo, and Heinemann, London 1980.
Web links
Coordinates: 19 ° 57 ′ S , 29 ° 20 ′ E