A great city existed here from the 11th century on, with over 10.000 inhabitants. Great Zimbabwe (“stone houses”) was a main regional trading center, its wealth associated with (Arab) gold trading. There were also trade links with East Africa (Kilwa), and fragments of Persian and Chinese pottery has been found at the site. Arab and European travellers in the 16th century sent marveling reports home about this place and its impressive stone walls. The site was abandoned in the 15th century (for Khami) because of a lack of food and firewood.

The ruins nowadays are spread out over three main areas: the Hill Ruins, the Great Enclosure and the Valley Ruins. Great Zimbabwe has been adopted as a national monument by the government, with the modern state being named after it. The word "Great" distinguishes the site from the many hundreds of small ruins, known as Zimbabwe’s, spread across the Zimbabwe Highveld. There are 200 such sites in southern Africa, such as Bumbusi in Zimbabwe and Manyikeni in Mozambique, with monumental, mortar less walls and Great Zimbabwe is the largest.

Lake Mutirikwe, formerly known as Lake Kyle, lies in south eastern Zimbabwe, south east of Masvingo. It covers about 90 km² and was created in 1960 with the construction of the Kyle Dam on the Mutirikwe River. The dam was built to provide irrigation water to the farming estates on the lowveld to the southwest, around the town of Triangle, where the main crop has been sugar cane. Lake Kyle Recreational Park lies on the reservoir's northern shore, while there is a small recreational park on the southern shore. Great Zimbabwe national monument lies close by.Rivers which feed the lake include the Mbebvi River, Matare River, Pokoteke River, Umpopinyani River, Makurumidzi River and Shagashe River. In the 1980s, drought drastically lowered the water level in the lake, but during the 1990s it recovered. The level fluctuates widely due to irrigation demands and the seasonal rainfall. .