African History 3: Great Zimbabwe
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Today we'll learn about Great Zimbabwe and the sleeping sickness. And before you get worried, no, getting tired in class doesn't mean you have the plague...though you probably could get to bed a little earlier.
Language | English Language |
World History | African History |
Transcript
Why did africans tend to dodge southern africa like the
plague Well maybe because there was a plague a deadly
disease called sleeping sickness which is carried by the tsetse
fly While it may sound like a good excuse if
you get caught napping in calculus sleeping sickness is no
joke And it's still killed several thousand people every year
To make matters worse especially for cows the sleeping sickness
parasite carried by the tsetse fly also kills livestock Oh
and on top of all that a lot of southern
africa is rocky and a hot making growing crops a
serious challenge This place makes tough mudder look easy Put
all that together and we've got a place where the
threat of death from disease and starvation was well more
than just a threat It was downright likely so it's
Pretty easy to see why southern africa wasn't the most
Sought after real estate even if the real estate brokers
did have free cookies at open house Still despite all
these challenges some medieval africans managed to carve really deal
kingdoms out of some of the toughest real estate around
Like how about a little place called great zimbabwe Okay
well maybe not so little by medieval standards it was
actually midsize with around eighteen thousand people Back then when
people saw great zimbabwe they were like look at that
big city with its eighteen thousand people We wonder if
it has a chinese restaurant Makita great zimbabwe's success was
location location and yes location His world city was built
way up high so the people in their animals were
safe from those pesky seats he flies proving once again
that it's easier to get things done when you're not
worried about sleeping death great zimbabwe had it all gold
mines soldiers gold markets gold and a big government Did
we mention gold had a lot of gold by the
fifteenth century great zimbabwe was actually one of the world's
major producers of gold And unlike some other cultures out
there they didn't squander it all on personal bling Nope
These guys used it for trade Archaeologists poking around in
the ruins of great zimbabwe have found stuff from all
over the world including persian bowls and chinese dishes And
what can we say They weren't into the bling but
they did like to dine in style Nobody knows exactly
why great zimbabwe eventually fell The biggest theory is that
the population just grew too big for the area But
even though the great city was eventually abandoned around fourteen
fifty eighty the ruins of its walls lasted through the
centuries When the english eventually colonized zimbabwe re dubbing it
rhodesia they didn't know what to make of the ruins
Evidence of sophisticated african civilizations blew all kinds of holes
in their theory that africans were primitive people who are
better off being colonized instead of going uh well maybe
because people are so primitive English made up stuff you
know like saying that the city was built by arabs
or phoenicians Zimbabweans didn't buy this hogwash which is good
because hogwash is gross The ruins were a major symbol
of national pride throughout the years and they still are
today great zimbabwe proves that zimbabweans have the ability to
build great nations in their genes which sounds a little 00:03:27.75 --> [endTime] uncomfortable We're surprised more zimbabweans don't wear baggy jeans