Danangombe (formerly Dhlo-Dhlo or Ndlo Dlo, alternative spellings Danamombe per National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe, Dananombe and Danan'ombe) is a

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

, about eighty kilometres from

Gweru Gweru is a city in central Zimbabwe. Near the geographical centre of the country. It is on the centre of Midlands Province. Originally an area known to the Ndebele as "The Steep Place" because of the Gweru River's high banks, in 1894 it beca ...

, in the direction of

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council ...

and about 35 kilometres south of the highway. It is not often visited due to the poor quality roads in the area. The remains on the site resemble those of

Khami Khami (also written as ''Khame'', ''Kame'' or ''Kami'') is a ruined city located 22 kilometres west of Bulawayo, in Zimbabwe. It was once the capital of the Kingdom of Butwa of the Torwa dynasty. It is now a national monument, and became a UN ...

. Nearby are the smaller ruins at

Naletale Naletale (or Nalatale) are ruins located about 25 kilometres east of Shangani in Matabeleland north, Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi ...

, that were occupied at the same time. The original name used by the

Kalanga people The Kalanga or Bakalanga are a southern Bantu ethnic group mainly inhabiting Matebeleland in Zimbabwe, northeastern Botswana and Limpopo Province in South Africa. They are historically related to the Nambya, Karanga, Bapedi and Venda. Curren ...

is unknown as Dhlo-Dhlo (the name in Sindebele) was applied to the site later and it is unclear whether the name of Danangombe retains elements of the original name. Danan(g)ombe (together with Khami and Naletale) was one of the centres of the

Rozvi The Rozvi Empire (1684–1866) was a Shona state established on the Zimbabwean Plateau by Changamire Dombo. The term "Rozvi" refers to their legacy as a warrior nation, taken from the Shona term ''kurozva'', "to plunder". They became the mo ...

culture, which had succeeded the

Torwa The Torwa dynasty was the ruling family of the Butua kingdom that arose from the collapse of Great Zimbabwe in the sixteenth and seventeenth century, founded perhaps by the legendary Dlembeu. History The Torwa dynasty of the kalanga people base ...

. It is not to be confused with Danangombe Hill near

Mutare Mutare (formerly Umtali) is the most populous city in the province of Manicaland, and the third most populous city in Zimbabwe, having surpassed Gweru in the 2012 census, with an urban population of 224,802 and approximately 260,567 in the surr ...

.www.geographic.org: another Danangombe
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Layout

The site consists of a ruined town dating from the 17th or 18th century AD, and therefore probably occupied just after the abandonment of the site at Khami. The town plan follows a similar layout to Khami but is on a smaller scale. It is therefore a deliberate attempt to sustain the society and culture that had been established at Khami. The most extensive foundations are on the highest ground and it appears that all the dwellings were constructed using walls of wood-reinforced mud, as all traces of these have been lost. The site was destroyed in the 1830s when the Matabele arrived in the area. See

Mapungubwe The Kingdom of Mapungubwe (or Maphungubgwe) (c. 1075–c. 1220) was a medieval state in South Africa located at the confluence of the Shashe and Limpopo rivers, south of Great Zimbabwe. The name is derived from either TjiKalanga and Tshivenda ...

Great Zimbabwe Great Zimbabwe is a medieval city in the south-eastern hills of Zimbabwe near Lake Mutirikwi and the town of Masvingo. It is thought to have been the capital of a great kingdom during the country's Late Iron Age about which little is known. C ...

, and

Sources and external links

Zimbabwe Khami Ruins
from Bulawayo1872

from Africanet
Zimbabwe Information
from Solomons Guide
K. Chikuse ''Effects of Ndebele raids on Shona power''
(proving the synonymity of Dhlodhlo and Danangombe)

References

Archaeological sites in Zimbabwe Former populated places in Zimbabwe Archaeological sites of Eastern Africa {{Zimbabwe-geo-stub