The Kingdom of Mapungubwe
Southern Africa's first state and its golden rhinoceros
Around 1075 the capital of southern Africa's first state rose on a hill where the Limpopo and Shashe rivers meet. Its rulers lived on the summit, apart from their subjects, while ivory and gold went out through Swahili ports to the Indian Ocean. In 1933 a rhinoceros of gold foil was found in a royal grave. After Mapungubwe declined, power shifted to Great Zimbabwe.
Wikipedia (English) · 11th century
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Europe
- 1066 Battle of Hastings — 9 years earlier
- 1066 Halley's Comet over England — 9 years earlier
- 1077 Walk to Canossa — 2 years later
- c. 1088 University of Bologna — 13 years later
Middle East
- 1054 East–West Schism — 21 years earlier
- 1099 Crusaders capture Jerusalem — 24 years later
Asia
- 1054 Supernova SN 1054 — 21 years earlier
Alive at the time
- William the Conqueror (aged 47)
- Omar Khayyam (aged 27)
- Henry IV (aged 25)
- Vladimir II Monomakh (aged 22)
- Iziaslav I (aged 51)
- Vsevolod I (aged 45)
- Shen Kuo (aged 44)
- Sviatopolk II (aged 25)
- Philip I (aged 23)
- Nestor the Chronicler (aged 19)