4 ms·

Africa is full of so many great civilization stories, that they highlighted this relatively recent one from 1200 to 1550: in its prime, from around 1200 to 155

Africa is full of so many great civilization stories, that they highlighted this relatively recent one from 1200 to 1550: in its prime, from around 1200 to 1550, Great Zimbabwe was home to about 10,000 people. The state covered 1,779 acres, more than twice the area of New York’s Central Park. ----- From Ancient Egypt to Carthage to the Malian Empire (with wealthy cities like Timbuktu) there are so many remarkable parts in Africa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbuktu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbuktu

rory 5y ago
> Great Zimbabwe was home to about 10,000 people. The state covered 1,779 acres That seems... absolutely tiny? 7km^2, so a reasonably fit person could run around the entire country in an hour. Population of 10k at a time when the total population of Africa was in the tens of millions. Not a value judgement, but I'm honestly shocked how small those numbers are.
- woodruffw 5y ago
  Is it tiny! But not relative to other pre-modern cities: Ancient Rome was only about 15km^2, counting the area within the Aurelian Walls[1] (which includes the massive Campus Martius in addition to the famous hills). Rome was significantly more densely populated, but that can also be explained by geographic and economic factors (seafaring economies, &c.). Edit: the area within the inner Servian Walls was ~1/3rd that of Great Zimbabwe (~2.5km^2). [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurelian_Walls#/media/File:Map_of_ancient_Rome.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurelian_Walls#/media/File:Map...
  - rory 5y ago
    Ah it appears I was confused by the word "state"-- according to Wikipedia, the thinking is it was more of a capital and/or the seat of a ruler and territory controlled could have been a lot bigger, although we don't know for sure.
  - ciphol 5y ago
    Ancient Rome had a population of 800k though, compared to 10k in Great Zimbabwe.

rory 5y ago

> Great Zimbabwe was home to about 10,000 people. The state covered 1,779 acres That seems... absolutely tiny? 7km^2, so a reasonably fit person could run around the entire country in an hour. Population of 10k at a time when the total population of Africa was in the tens of millions. Not a value judgement, but I'm honestly shocked how small those numbers are.

woodruffw 5y ago
Is it tiny! But not relative to other pre-modern cities: Ancient Rome was only about 15km^2, counting the area within the Aurelian Walls[1] (which includes the massive Campus Martius in addition to the famous hills). Rome was significantly more densely populated, but that can also be explained by geographic and economic factors (seafaring economies, &c.). Edit: the area within the inner Servian Walls was ~1/3rd that of Great Zimbabwe (~2.5km^2). [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurelian_Walls#/media/File:Map_of_ancient_Rome.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurelian_Walls#/media/File:Map...
- rory 5y ago
  Ah it appears I was confused by the word "state"-- according to Wikipedia, the thinking is it was more of a capital and/or the seat of a ruler and territory controlled could have been a lot bigger, although we don't know for sure.
- ciphol 5y ago
  Ancient Rome had a population of 800k though, compared to 10k in Great Zimbabwe.