ABSTRACT
The engagement between archaeology and tourism in Zimbabwe began even before the initial colonization of the country by the British in 1890. The stories and speculations about Great Zimbabwe and its builders began in the 16th century when Portuguese traders visited the site and wrote about it (McCall-Theal 1900). These accounts led renowned explorers such as Karl Mauch to come to southern Africa to search for the sites (Bernhard 1971; Burke 1969). The controversies that surrounded Great Zimbabwe meant that archaeological sites in the country were centers of research early on during colonialism. The country was colonized in 1890, but by early 1900 there were already several books and other writings produced about the archaeological sites in the country, mainly on the stone-walled buildings of the Zimbabwe culture (e.g., Bent 1802, 1892; Buckland 1891; du Toit 1897; Geare 1906; Randall-MacIver 1906a, 1906b). From this time onward, the archaeological exploration became more rigorous and systematic, and by the 1930s, several archaeological expeditions and resultant publications had been published (e.g., Caton-Tompson 1931; Jones N. 1926). By the early 1900s, archaeological sites, and especially Great Zimbabwe, were attracting such significant numbers of visitors that the colonial government started initiating their development as tourist attractions (Collett 1990:3). However, sustained visits to archaeological sites came later, with active promotion of archaeological sites beginning in the 1940s.
