World Heritage Identification Number: 1099
World Heritage since: 2003
Category: Cultural Heritage
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇿🇦 South Africa
Continent: Africa
UNESCO World Region: Africa
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Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape: An Ancient Kingdom at the Confluence of Rivers
The Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003, is a significant historical and archaeological site situated in the northernmost part of South Africa. This expansive savannah landscape lies at the meeting point of the Limpopo and Shashe rivers, sharing borders with Zimbabwe and Botswana.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
Mapungubwe is set hard against the northern border of South Africa, joining Zimbabwe and Botswana. It is an open, expansive savannah landscape at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe rivers. Mapungubwe developed into the largest kingdom in the sub-continent before it was abandoned in the 14th century. What survives are the almost untouched remains of the palace sites and also the entire settlement area dependent upon them, as well as two earlier capital sites, the whole presenting an unrivalled picture of the development of social and political structures over some 400 years.
UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site
Criterion (ii): The Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape contains evidence for an important interchange of human values that led to far-reaching cultural and social changes in Southern Africa between AD 900 and 1300.
Criterion (iii): The remains in the Mapungubwe cultural landscape are a remarkably complete testimony to the growth and subsequent decline of the Mapungubwe state which at its height was the largest kingdom in the African sub-continent.
Criterion (iv): The establishment of Mapungubwe as a powerful state trading through the East African ports with Arabia and India was a significant stage in the history of the African sub-continent.
Criterion (v) : The remains in the Mapungubwe cultural landscape graphically illustrate the impact of climate change and record the growth and then decline of the kingdom of Mapungubwe as a clear record of a culture that became vulnerable to irreversible change.
Encyclopedia Record: Kingdom of Mapungubwe
The Kingdom of Mapungubwe was an ancient state located at the confluence of the Shashe and Limpopo rivers in present day South Africa, south of Great Zimbabwe. The capital's population was 5,000 by 1250, and the state likely covered 30,000 km2 (12,000 sq mi).Additional Site Details
Area: 28,168.66 hectares
(iii) — Unique or exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition
(iv) — Outstanding example of a type of building or landscape
(v) — Outstanding example of traditional human settlement
Coordinates: -22.1925 , 29.23889
