By Dr Michelina Andreucci

FREQUENTLY, ‘civilisation’ is defined as ‘living in cities’ with complex social hierarchies, political structures and organised, institutional forms of governments.
Similar to many other nations, Zimbabwe has in recent years been witnessing an increasing drift of rural populations, from their lands of birth, to towns and cities.
History has shown, however, that a country’s security is more firmly assured by a stable population on the land than by its absorption in urban conurbations.
This attests to the importance of the Government’s Command Agriculture Programme initiated in 2016, and for its success.
Like Munhumutapa in Central Africa, Rome was the largest, most important and richest city in Europe for almost 1 000 years.
The Romans, similar to the BaTonga of the Zambezi Valley (and other early civilisations), had understood and practised two-field agricultural methods, with a crop grown in one field and the other left fallow and ploughed under to eliminate the growth and spread of weeds.
Ancient Roman agriculture was established on techniques first pioneered in Sumer, transmitted to them by subsequent cultures, with a specific emphasis on the cultivation of crops for trade and export.
The Romans operated four systems of farm management:
– Direct work by owner and his family;
– Tenant farming or sharecropping whereby the owner and tenant divided the produce;
– Farms were leased to a tenant and slaves working on farms under slave managers’ supervision;
– The Ancient Romans set the foundation of manorial economic systems that involved serfdom, which later flourished during the Middle-Ages.
With the gradual reduction of the Roman Empire, wealthy landowners were unable to stop farmworkers from leaving the land.
Efficient farming eventually broke down and consequently agricultural yields declined to subsistence level; much as the decline recorded during the era of Munhumutapa in the 15th Century AD.
As a result of the decline in agricultural and economic activity, the Roman Empire’s taxable income reduced, thus affecting its ability to maintain a professional army to defend them from external threats; since the central Government required a stable agricultural base for taxation to pay for salaries, its constant training, equipment and food.
Rome’s population of about 450 000 (circa 100AD), declined to a mere 20 000 during the early Middle-Ages; reducing the sprawling city to groups of people interspersed among large areas of ruins.
Was history repeated at Great Zimbabwe?
Archaeological evidence shows that concurrently with the growth of Munhumutapa’s Empire, conditions in Western Europe also began to improve.
In the Roman Empire, the ‘Farmer’s Law’ ushered the renewal of agriculture through technologies.
Iron tools could be found in the villages and water mills dotted the landscape; with bean-sown fields providing a rich protein diet for the population during the period 700–850AD.
Europe experienced an agricultural boom that continued until approximately 1100 AD; almost parallel to the rise of Munhumutapa.
Evidence suggest both empires rose through agriculture and industry, for example, mining, smelting iron ore, the fabrication of tools for hunting and agriculture, thereby increasing agricultural production.
The story of Great Zimbabwe (as we know it today), began when Iron Age farmers settled on the vast central plateau in south-central Zimbabwe; in the middle of Shashe-Limpopo Valley.
The central plateau where they settled contained rich iron, copper and gold deposits which were exploited, and together with ivory, animal skins, were used to barter trade cloth and glass beads with traders on the Indian Ocean coast from North Africa, Asia (India) and the Far East (China).
The highveld area, particularly in the north-central and north-eastern part of the country and the Eastern Highlands generally had sufficient rainfall and the land was fertile enough to support large-scale production of crops.
The high and middle veld areas in the south and western part of the country were more suitable for cattle ranching.
The vegetation around Great Zimbabwe was mostly miombo woodland, with munhondo (julbernardia) and musasa (brachystegia), growing in the moist higher altitudes while mopane/musaru (colophosphermum mopane), grew in the lower and drier basins.
The soils that ranged from iron-rich ferric soils to sandy loams were cultivated for sorghum, finger millet, cowpeas and groundnuts.
The environment teemed with wild animals such as elephant and a variety of antelopes and also provided grazing for their livestock.
Cattle played a significant role in the economy and by 1000AD, those with the capacity to rear large herds and those skillful in their crafts (mhizha), attained social and political advantage.
By about 1270 AD, a wealthy elite emerged which laid the foundations of the centre of a state with an elaborate urban complex and a population estimated to be between 18 000-20 000.
This growth was achieved through the control of key resources such as salt, cattle, ivory, gold and grain.
The state was sustained not only through the domination of trade networks over a large portion of the plateau as an adjunct to its connection with the Swahili towns on the Indian Ocean coast, but by livestock management and subsistence agriculture.
The forests were the sacred providers; supplying meat, skins and other products for direct use and trade by way of skins.
At its zenith, maDzimbahwe was the largest metropolis south of the Sahara.
Covering over 700 hectares, it encompassed elite residences, ritual centres, public forums, housing and markets; as well as skilled artisans, farmers and commoners.
In time, maDzimbahwe became centres of wealth and power so that by the 16th Century, it had become synonymous with growth, strength and sovereignty.
For the next 150 years, maDzimbahwe became the most dominant political authority south of the Zambezi; reaching its acme during the 14th and 15th centuries AD.
Despite all the advantages, however, the major constraining factor must have been the uneven rainfall distribution, with lower altitude regions receiving less than 400mm per annum, compared to over 1 500mm at higher altitudes; droughts appeared to be a recurring phenomenon.
This is attested to by the numerous national traditional rain-asking ceremonies that supplicate for rain.
Dr Michelina Rudo Andreucci is a Zimbabwean-Italian researcher, industrial design consultant lecturer and specialist hospitality interior decorator. She is a published author in her field.
For views and comments, email: linamanucci@gmail.com