Khami is located along the Khami river 22 km west of Bulawayo in modern-day Zimbabwe. It was established as the capital of the Torwa Dynasty which ruled the Kingdom of Butua, from around 1450 AD until the late 17th century when it was sacked by the Rozvi Dynasty. The Butua kingdom was founded by the legendary Dlembeu, and was a successor state of the kingdom of Zimbabwe, as well as being ancestral to the Bakalanga/Shona people.
Khami features a wealth of drystone ruins, especially retaining walls and platforms with distinctive checkerboard, herringbone or a cord patterns reminiscent of Great Zimbabwe and other stone sites of the region. Khami was an important trade center, evidenced by finds of Spanish porcelain, Rhineland stoneware and Ming Chinese porcelain, which were exchanged for gold and ivory with Swahili, Arab and Portuguese traders. Cattle and agriculture, especially millet and sorghum, as well as iron and bronze were also important to the local economy.
At Khami, there are 7 artificial platforms rising between 2 to 7 meters in height, some terraced, encased by drystone walls. These were home to the resident royals. The residences of the common people and their cattle kraals were located in the surrounding valley. They lived in round huts known as “dhaka huts”, built of clay, poles and thatch. The most impressive remains, including the Main Platform, or Hill Ruin, are located on the western side of the Khami river, but ruins are found on the eastern side of the river as well. In all, this royal capital with an estimated peak population of 7,000 people, stretched approximately 2 kilometers along the river, though parts of the site are now submerged by the lake that was formed by the Khami dam in 1928.
