18,000 BP Stone Age settlements in region related to cave painting in the Matopos Hills.
500s Bantu speaking people migrate south into the region, displacing earlier iron-working communities.
c.1100 Great Zimbabwe, the center of a state based on cattle and gold is founded by the Karanga people.
c.1200 Origins of Monomotapa, a cattle and gold state neighboring, and eventually encompassing, Great Zimbabwe.
1400s Great Zimbabwe at its zenith because of gold mining and cattle. An estimated 18,000 people in vicinity of the city. Trade routes opened to the coast.
1450 Great Zimbabwe abandoned.