Naletale (or Nalatale) are ruins located about 25 kilometres east of Shangani in

Matabeleland South Matabeleland South is a province in southwestern Zimbabwe. With a population of 683,893 as of the 2012 Zimbabwean census. It is the country's least populated province after Matabeleland North.Matabeleland South and Matabeleland North were est ...

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

and east of the

Danangombe Danamombe is a Zimbabwean archaeological site, about eighty kilometres from Gweru, in the direction of Bulawayo 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 si ...

ruins. The ruins are attributed to the

Kalanga Kalanga may refer to: * Kalanga people * Kalanga language Kalanga, or TjiKalanga (in Zimbabwe), is a Bantu language spoken by the Kalanga people in Botswana and Zimbabwe which belongs to the Shonic(Shona-Nyai) group of Language. It has an ext ...

Torwa State and are thought to date from the seventeenth century, and were occupied through the eighteenth to nineteenth centuries during

Rozvi The Rozvi Empire (1490–?, 17th century–1866) was a Shona state established on the Zimbabwean Plateau. The term "Rozvi" refers to their legacy as a warrior nation, taken from the Shona term ''kurozva'', "to plunder". They became the most ...

rule. The ruins are the remains of the capital of the

Butua kingdom The Kingdom of Butua or Butwa (–1683) was a Bakalanga (western Shona) kingdom located in what is now southwestern Zimbabwe. Butua was renowned as the source of gold for Arab and Portuguese traders. The first written record of the kingdom cam ...

Torwa dynasty The Kingdom of Butua or Butwa (–1683) was a Bakalanga (western Shona) kingdom located in what is now southwestern Zimbabwe. Butua was renowned as the source of gold for Arab and Portuguese traders. The first written record of the kingdom cam ...

. In 1960, it was declared a national monument.

History

Established following the decline of Great Zimbabwe, the Torwa dynasty founded Khami in the 15th century and Dhlo Dhlo in the 16th century, later relocating their capital to Nalatale in the 17th century. Following nearly two centuries of Torwa rule, the Rozwi people took control of the area. European treasure hunters desecrated the site in the 1800s, and it was designated a national monument in the 1960s. Conservation efforts slowed in the 1980s due to financial constraints, and by 2012, the ruins faced severe risks of collapsing. In 2013, a grant from the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation enabled the restoration of Nalatale's stone walls, site access improvements, and the addition of interpretative facilities. The project was completed in 2014.

Design

Six decorations have been recorded on this

drystone Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. A certain amount of binding is obtained through the use of carefully ...

walled site, including chevrons, herringbone, cord, checkers and the use of alternating colored stone inserts.

References

{{Reflist Archaeological sites in Zimbabwe Former populated places in Zimbabwe Buildings and structures in Matabeleland North Province Tourist attractions in Matabeleland North Province Archaeological sites of Eastern Africa