Search For The Lost Kingdom Of Mapungubwe | Secrets Of The Sacred Hill | Timeline

Published 2017-09-30
Between the years 950 AD to 1290 AD, on the Northern border of South Africa, traversing the conference of the Shashi – Limpopo Valley, which today divides Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa, existed an ancient African Kingdom, called Mapungubwe. From the Iron Age to present day this unique one-hour film explores the history and tells the story of this remarkable city.

Governed from an impenetrable hilltop, Mapungubwe became the business centre for all of Africa’s trade which, by this period, had become well integrated into the world economy and thrived on trade with the East Indian Trade Route attracting traders from as far afield as Persia, Arabia, India and China.

Mapungubwe was inhabited by successive groups of people for this 300 year period until it was mysteriously evacuated. No one knows for sure why, but in 1290 Mapungubwes’ inhabitants left taking with them the memories and stories of Mapungubwes' early history. In this film archaeologists and historians take us on a journey through a thousand years of untold African history revealing the controversial discovery of this ancient site and its golden artifacts.

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All Comments (21)
  • @mxolisakwe4222
    I'm Xhosa who's also a Bantu. I have listened to one of the greatest philosophers of our time Mr Credo Vusuzulu Mutwa. He explained how special Southern Africa is, because it is the beginning of the man-kind and civilization. I think these archeologists need to consult with the real people of the area and get the oral history documented.
  • @cantalibre4708
    As an Archaeology student, I spent some time with UP at Mapungubwe. It is the most magical and awesome place in Africa. What a privilege.
  • @macnutz4206
    It is remarkable that an entire continent of people can be viewed with and treated with so little respect. It is disgusting. I am glad to see that contemporary archaeology has become much more scientific in its approach, and less destructive in its methods.
  • what pains me is that the history of Mapungubwe is not taught in south african schools. i am a Venda person from Limpopo but i have never been there .....i shall go and visit my Ancestors at the Great Mapungubwe
  • @h.m.5724
    I hate it when these so called intellectuals continue to disseminate false information. Mapungubwe means stones of the fish eagle. Mapungu meaning fish eagle and -bwe meaning stone. What they try to hide from everyone is the fact that the same people who built Mapungubwe also built Great Zimbabwe. Even the words themselves are closely similar
  • Its sad that our colonizers have to tell us about our own history...that's how much lost we are!!
  • So much hidden history from us and our kids its up too us too learn and teach our kids of our rich past👍😔
  • I find it very odd that a group of people would leave their continent go into another continent and then tell the people who have been there from the beginning that they had nothing to do with the civilizations within it🤦🏾‍♀️.Denial is a disease.
  • @azwiamani8775
    The dance of ladies holding each others elbows is called Domba, I'm a very proud venda
  • @mengistok
    So sad, and shocking. How such great ancestors can be dug up just like that, in the presence of their living children. 😢😢
  • @SandraNelson063
    I took Classical Studies in university. We took a course in archaeology. I never got a chance to do any field work, but I have a deep respect for the folks who do it. And I could cheerfully fling Gardiner and his pals off the edge of the site, along with the wheelbarrows. There is no scholarship, no useful knowledge gained when someone claiming to be doing an archaeological dig is really engaged in government sanctioned looting.
  • Mapungubwe was build by Zimbabwe descents, however it shows how intertwined Africa is. We are one people
  • @jojo5818
    Of course if you worth yourself by putting other people's down, you will feel threatened and intimidated at some point. And this is what we are witnessing today...
  • @intsikayethu495
    We need this history to be talked about more often. We recently launched a channel about African heritage an culture🙆🏿‍♂
  • 25:00 Archeologists, self styled experts, lying about the origin and the race of the people who have created the artefacts they have uncovered. This is why I go to African experts for African History.
  • In the Shona language of ZIMBABWE, "Mapungu" means, "Fish eagles" and "Chapungu" means one fish eagle. Mapungu Bwe, means the stone of the fish eagles, or the rock of fish eagles. It may also mean the fish eagles made of stone or belonging to the stone or rock. It is usually written as one word, MapunguBwe. Just like Zimba Bwe, means a big house of stone. "Zi" means great or bigger. iMba is one normal sized or usual house. ZiMba, prefixed with Z, or Zi is a great or big house. "Bwe" is a rock or stone in the Shona language of Zimbabwe. Zi = big, mba=house, Bwe = rock/stone. If put together, ZiMbaBwe, means, BigHouseofStone. Correctly written, the country of Zimbabwe, should be spelt, ZiMbaBwe. MapunguBwe, is clearly Shona derived, and it means stone or rock of the Big fish eagle, "Chapungu," or many fish eagles, maPungu, "Mapungu, Bwe can be conjoined as is usual in Shona to be a single word, Mapungubwe, just like whats done with Zimbabwe and many other words such as va sekuru becomes vasekuru, va zukuru = vazukuru. Va kuru = vakuru.
  • @mossleoka9279
    Our government - the department of Arts & Culture - should drop its head in shame for allowing non-Africans to present such a distorted picture of our country's history.
  • I am a proud Venda man, yet we are told our ancestors were uncivilized yet they were mining gold and trade it