to what extent can the decline of Great zimbabwe be attributed to ecological changes in the area
Answers
If ecological factors were on the forefront in the rise of Great Zimbabwe state, it is no surprise that they played the same role in its decline. Exhaustion of soils due to continuous farming, scarcity of important resources like firewood and pasture and drought are some of the ecological factors implicated in the decline of Great Zimbabwe. However, the lesser role was also played by civil wars, ambitious leaders and poor decisions from the rulers of the time.
The plateau environment was overwhelmed by the growing human and animal population. According to D.Beach, the most convincing reason for the collapse of Great Zimbabwe was that the state simply grew to big to be supported by its environment. The mere presence of so many people at one spot would have seriously affected the ability of the site territory to supply crops, firewood, game, grazing and all other necessities of life. Since the Great Zimbabwe people did not have the technology to transport sufficient supplies over long distances, the only alternative would have been to disperse the people. Of Great Zimbabwe had about 11000 people at the centre alone who all depended on farming and so as the nearby fields got exhausted or lost fertility, women who did most of the crop production had to move to distant areas to farm crops in better soils. Therefore, in Beach’s opinion, the seeds of the ultimate decline of Great Zimbabwe may have lain in the reluctance of its own women to walk increasingly long distances to find fertile fields. Also with the growth of their livestock herds, pastures became scarce due to overgrazing forcing them to compete for the scarce grazing lands. Thus, exhaustion of soils and shortage of pastures against the rising human and animal population was on the forefront in the decline of Great Zimbabwe.
Oral tradition has also pointed to drought as another cause of the collapse of Great Zimbabwe. According to D.Beach, southern plateau states including Great Zimbabwe were often affected by droughts which usually occurred in the fifth year after four good farming seasons. With the exhaustion of pastures, it meant the Great Zimbabwe people no longer rely on livestock rearing which was usually their escape route during times of crop failure. Even if they may have had the livestock, it was difficult to transport grain in large numbers over long distances realising their lack of transport technology.
The exhaustion of ivory and gold fields also played an important part in the collapse of Great Zimbabwe. Since gold and ivory were the major trade items, their exhaustion seriously affected external trade thus making the common trade route on the East African coast to lose its position to the new trade route which had been opened in the Zambezi valley were ivory and gold were abundant. D.N.Beach argued that, gold production was certainly linked to the rise of the state and several centuries later it was the decline in gold mining which led to the collapse of the whole Zimbabwe-Khami building culture. Therefore, it is highly probable that the Great Zimbabwe people moved away to be in a position to benefit from this new trade route.
Ecological factors were also at the centre of the civil wars that devastated Great Zimbabwe in the 15th century. As the state continued to grow, pressure over resources needed such as game, firewood, grazing and farming land led to the competition between the branches of the ruling class over the control of the available resources. As a result, civil wars arose between the members of the ruling class and their supporters over the control of the available diminishing resources. Civil wars led to divisions which made it difficult for the state to continue thus forcing some groups to move away.
Climatic changes in the area have also been implicated in the collapse of the Great Zimbabwe state. Around the 15th century there were unbearable climatic changes at Great Zimbabwe associated with high temperatures and poor rainfall patterns.
Apart from ecological reasons, the decline of Great Zimbabwe was also a result of ambitious leaders. It is possible that ambitious leaders like Nyatsimba Mutota took advantage of the division between members of the ruling class and stopped paying tribute and established independence from the Great Zimbabwe ruler thus worsening the disintegration of the state. It is thought that Nyatsimba Mutota was an unsuccessful claimant to the throne in a royal family with many would be successors to the Great Zimbabwe throne. Thus after failing to succeed his father he moved to the North to fulfil his ambition.
In addition, poor administration is also to blame for the collapse of Great Zimbabwe. According to I.Pikirayi at a time when all conditions were favourable in Great Zimbabwe, rulers decided to take advantage of that time and expand their state in order to control gold mining outside the centre.