Golden Rhinoceros of Mapungubwe
A tiny gold figure that became a symbol of South Africa
A rhino of thin gold foil over a wooden core was laid in a royal grave on Mapungubwe Hill in the 13th century. Found in the 1930s, it was long downplayed under apartheid; today South Africa's highest honour is named after its kingdom.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 13th century
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1237–1240 Mongol invasion of Rus' — 13 years earlier
- 1240 Batu Khan takes Kiev — 10 years earlier
- c. 1242 The Golden Horde is founded — 8 years earlier
Middle East
- 1258 Mongol sack of Baghdad — 8 years later
Asia
- c. 1251 The Tripitaka Koreana — 1 year later
- 1257 Samalas eruption — 7 years later
- 1271 Kublai Khan founds the Yuan dynasty — 21 years later
- 1271–1295 Travels of Marco Polo — 21 years later
Oceania
- c. 1250 The moai of Easter Island — same year
Alive at the time
- Kublai Khan (aged 35)
- Alexander Nevsky (aged 29)
- Frederick II (aged 56)
- Rumi (aged 43)
- Saint Louis (Louis IX) (aged 36)
- Sundiata Keita (aged 33)
- Rudolf I (aged 32)
- Thomas Aquinas (aged 25)
- Edward I Longshanks (aged 11)
- Fibonacci (aged 80)