Latest / Great Zimbabwe: The Lost African Kingdom of Stone — Fexingo History
Great Zimbabwe's Iron Empire: Forging Power
We have spent episodes exploring the stone walls, the trade routes to Kilwa, and the sacred soapstone birds of Great Zimbabwe. But beneath the limestone and granite lay a different kind of power: iron. In this episode, we turn our attention to the vaShona smiths, the mfisi, who transformed raw ore into the tools and weapons that built an empire. We explore how metallurgy was not just an economic activity but a spiritual practice, controlled by guilds known as vavaki. Lucas walks us through the archaeological evidence from sites like Khami and Mapungubwe, showing how high-carbon steel…
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