Mark Meek's Ideas: Zimbabwe

Until 1980 the country that was once known as Rhodesia was ruled by it's white minority. When the black majority of the country overthrew this minority government, they renamed the country as Zimbabwe. This must have had a great effect on nearby South Africa because the movement for majority rule gained momentum throughout the 1980s, until Apartheid was finally ended in 1994.

One of the leaders of the war to overthrow white minority rule in Zimbabwe was named Robert Mugabe, and he became the first leader of the new country. Zimbabwe was in the global news when Robert Mugabe was forcibly removed in 2017.

Zimbabwe is named for the city known as Great Zimbabwe, which was a very important African city for about five hundred years, during the late Middle Ages, and the capital city of a kingdom named Zimbabwe.

Great Zimbabwe has long been the center of many legends from around the world, everything from being the actual home of the Queen of Sheba to being the place where the missing Ark of the Covenant, made by the Israelites during their journey to the Promised Land as a kind of portable shrine, ended up after being taken away for safekeeping when the Babylonians destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem.

The following scenes are of Great Zimbabwe. There is the walled compound, known as the Great Enclosure, and other structures outside of this enclosure. The first six images are from Google Street View.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@-20.2729408,30.9344728,3a,75y,118.73h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNfbNEs9zWSzvj9It6Ub2iVri1d0Tr91akC6YNE!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNfbNEs9zWSzvj9It6Ub2iVri1d0Tr91akC6YNE%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya155.30112-ro0-fo100!7i4352!8i1682

Zimbabwe is also known for Victoria Falls. Like Niagara Falls, these falls are on an international border. Zimbabwe is on one side and Zambia on the other. Victoria Falls is about twice the height of Niagara Falls. The first three images are from Google Street View.