Great Zimbabwe is an extensive stone ruin of an African Iron Age city. Situated in the southeast of the country, the central area of ruins extends about 200 acres, and it is estimated that the area and its surrounding valleys supported a Shona population of 10,000 to 20,000. Great Zimbabwe was the heart of a thriving trading empire from the 11th to the 15th centuries, and the word Zimbabwe, is actually derived from a Shona word, meaning ‘stone houses’.