The stone-carvedZimbabwe Bird is the national emblem ofZimbabwe, appearing on the national flags and coats of arms of both Zimbabwe and formerRhodesia, as well as onbanknotes and coins (first on theRhodesian pound and then on theRhodesian dollar). It probably represents thebateleur eagle (Terathopius ecaudatus) or theAfrican fish eagle (Haliaeetus vocifer).[1][2] The bird's design is derived from a number ofsoapstone sculptures found in the ruins of the medieval city ofGreat Zimbabwe.
It is now the definitive icon of independentZimbabwe, with archaeologistEdward Matenga listing over 100 organizations which now incorporate the bird in their logo.[3]
The original carved birds are from the ruined city ofGreat Zimbabwe, which was built by the ancestors of theShona, starting in the 11th century and inhabited for over 300 years.[4] The ruins, after which modern Zimbabwe was named, cover some 730 hectares (1,800 acres) and are the largest ancient stone construction in sub-Saharan Africa. Among its notable elements are thesoapstone bird sculptures, about 40 centimetres (16 inches) tall and standing on columns more than 90 cm (3 ft) tall, which were originally installed on walls and monoliths within the city.[4] They are unique to Great Zimbabwe; nothing like them has been discovered elsewhere.[5]
Various explanations have been advanced to explain the symbolic meaning of the birds. One suggestion is that each bird was erected in turn to represent a new king, but this would have required improbably long reigns.[6] More probably, the Zimbabwe birds represent sacred ortotemic animals of the Shona – thebateleur eagle (Shona:chapungu), which was held to be a messenger fromMwari (God) and the ancestors, or the fish eagle (hungwe) which it has been suggested was the original totem of the Shona.[7]
In 1889 a European hunter, Willi Posselt, travelled to Great Zimbabwe after hearing about it from another European explorer, Karl Mauch. He climbed to the highest point of the ruins despite being told that it was a sacred site where he should not trespass, and found the birds positioned in the centre of an enclosure around an apparent altar. He later wrote:
Each one, including its plinth, had been hewn out of a solid block of stone and measured 4 feet 6 inches in height; and each was set firmly into the ground. There was also a stone shaped like a millstone and about 18 inches in diameter, with a number of figures carved in the border.
I selected the best specimen of the bird stones, the beaks of the remainder being damaged, and decided to dig it out. But while doing so, Andizibi [a local tribesman] and his followers became very excited and rushed around with their guns andassegais. I fully expected them to attack us. However, I went on with my work but told Klass, who had loaded two rifles, to shoot the first man he saw aiming at either of us.[8]
Posselt compensated Andizibi with a payment of blankets and "some other articles". As the bird on its pedestal was too heavy for him to carry, he hacked it off and hid the pedestal with the intention of returning later to retrieve it.[8] He subsequently sold his bird toCecil Rhodes, who mounted it in the library of hisCape Town house,Groote Schuur, and decorated the house's stairway with wooden replicas. Rhodes also had stone replicas made, three times the size of the original, to decorate the gates of his house in England nearCambridge.[9] A German missionary came to own the pedestal of one bird, which he sold to the Ethnological Museum in Berlin in 1907.[10]
Rhodes' acquisition of Posselt's bird prompted him to commission an investigation of the Great Zimbabwe ruins byJames Theodore Bent, which took place in 1891 following theBritish South Africa Company's invasion of Mashonaland.[11] Bent recorded that there were eight birds, six large and two small, and that there had probably originally been more as there were several additional stone pedestals of which the tops had been broken off.[12]
The colonists erroneously attributed Great Zimbabwe to ancient Mediterranean builders, believing native Africans to be incapable of constructing such a complex structure; thus in Rhodes' mind, as a 1932 guidebook put it, it was "a favourite symbol of the link between the order civilisation derived from the North or the East and the savage barbarism of Southern and Central Africa before the advent of the European."[13] Bent attributed the birds, wholly erroneously, to thePhoenicians.[14]
In 1981, a year after the attainment of independence in Zimbabwe, the South African government returned four of the sculptures to the country in exchange for a world-renowned collection ofHymenoptera (bees, wasps and ants) housed in Harare; the fifth remains at Groote Schuur.[6]
The pedestal kept in Berlin was reunited with the upper part of the statue for an exhibition,Legacies of Stone, in Belgium in 1997.[15] On account of pressure following this, the German museum returned this portion of the bird's pedestal to Zimbabwe in 2003.[10] The birds were displayed for a while in theNatural History Museum inBulawayo and the Museum of Human Sciences in Harare,[16] but are now housed in a small museum on the Great Zimbabwe site.[6]
The Zimbabwe bird has been a symbol of Zimbabwe and its predecessor states since 1924. The crest of Southern Rhodesia's coat of arms incorporated the Zimbabwe bird, and over time the bird became a widespread symbol of the colony. The paper money and coins of theFederation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, issued by theBank of Rhodesia and Nyasaland also displayed the bird, as did theFlag of Rhodesia. The flag and state symbols of modern Zimbabwe continue to feature the Zimbabwe Bird.[17]It is now the definitive icon of independentZimbabwe with Matenga (2001)[3] listing over 100 state, corporate and sporting organisations which incorporate the Bird in their emblems and logos.
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.jpg)
