Editing Great Zimbabwe (section)

===From Portuguese traders to Karl Mauch===
The first European visit may have been made by the Portuguese traveler António Fernandes in 1513–1515, who crossed twice and reported in detail the region of present-day Zimbabwe (including the Shona kingdoms) and also fortified centers in stone without mortar. However, passing en route a few kilometres north and about {{convert|35|mi|km|order=flip|abbr=on}} south of the site, he did not make a reference to Great Zimbabwe.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.rhodesia.nl/rhodesiana/volume19.pdf |journal=Rhodesiana |date=December 1968 |issue=19 |title=The Pioneer Head}}</ref><ref>Oliver, Roland & Anthony Atmore (1975). Medieval Africa 1250–1800. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 738</ref> Portuguese traders heard about the remains of the medieval city in the early 16th century, and records survive of interviews and notes made by some of them, linking Great Zimbabwe to gold production and long-distance trade.<ref name=Kaarsholm/> Two of those accounts mention an inscription above the entrance to Great Zimbabwe, written in characters not known to the Arab merchants who had seen it.<ref name="Barros">{{cite book |author=McCall-Theal, G. |title=Records of South-eastern Africa |publisher=Cape Colony Printers |year=1900 |volume=VI (book 10) |location=Cape Town |pages=264–273}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=McCall-Theal, G.|title=Records of South-eastern Africa|publisher=Cape Colony Printers|location=Cape Town|year=1900|volume=III|pages=55, 129}}</ref>

In 1506, the explorer Diogo de Alcáçova described the edifices in a letter to [[Manuel I of Portugal]], writing that they were part of the larger kingdom of Ucalanga (presumably Karanga, a dialect of the [[Shona people]] spoken mainly in Masvingo and Midlands provinces of Zimbabwe).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Randles|first1=W. G. L.|title=The Empire of Monomotapa: From the Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Century|date=1981|publisher=Mambo Press|page=5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=68pBAAAAYAAJ|access-date=16 July 2016}}</ref> [[João de Barros]] left another such description of Great Zimbabwe in 1538, as recounted to him by [[Moors|Moorish]] traders who had visited the area and possessed knowledge of the hinterland. He indicates that the edifices were locally known as ''Symbaoe'', which meant "royal court" in the vernacular.<ref name="Pikirayi">{{cite web|last1=Pikirayi|first1=Innocent|title=The Demise of Great Zimbabwe, ad 1420–1550|url=http://www.msu.ac.zw/elearning/material/1299833592Decline%20of%20Great%20Zimbabwe.pdf|publisher=Post-Med Archaeology|access-date=16 June 2016|archive-date=9 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809041616/http://www.msu.ac.zw/elearning/material/1299833592Decline%20of%20Great%20Zimbabwe.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> As to the actual identity of the builders of Great Zimbabwe, de Barros writes:<ref>{{cite book|last1=Böhmer-Bauer|first1=Kunigunde|title=Great Zimbabwe: eine ethnologische Untersuchung|date=2000|publisher=R. Köppe|isbn=389645210X|page=221|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V9EwAQAAIAAJ|access-date=16 June 2016}}</ref>
{{blockquote|When and by whom, these edifices were raised, as the people of the land are ignorant of the art of writing, there is no record, but they say they are the work of the devil,<ref>Note: double translations (local language to Portuguese to English) should be taken cautiously and not literally.</ref> for in comparison with their power and knowledge it does not seem possible to them that they should be the work of man. | João de Barros }}

Additionally, with regard to the purpose of the Great Zimbabwe ruins, de Barros asserted that: "in the opinion of the Moors who saw it [Great Zimbabwe] it is very ancient and was built to keep possessions of the mines, which are very old, and no gold has been extracted from them for years, because of the wars&nbsp;... it would seem that some prince who has possession of these mines ordered it to be built as a sign thereof, which he afterwards lost in the course of time and through their being so remote from his kingdom".<ref name="Pikirayi"/>

De Barros further remarked that ''Symbaoe'' "is guarded by a nobleman, who has charge of it, after the manner of a chief alcaide, and they call this officer Symbacayo&nbsp;... and there are always some of Benomotapa's wives therein of whom Symbacayo takes care." Thus, Great Zimbabwe appears to have still been inhabited as recently as the early 16th century.<ref name="Pikirayi"/>