There are 48 confirmed Zimbabwe culture sites in northern Zimbabwe’s three Mashonaland provinces (Central, West, and East), with 23 described in this chapter. These sites are found in both the Highveld Plateau and the Zambezi Valley, regions that differ in altitude, vegetation, climate, and historical accessibility. Archaeological evidence links these sites to the Mutapa state, whose origins are preserved in oral traditions about Prince Mutota’s migration from Great Zimbabwe to Dande. Portuguese records from the early sixteenth century describe stone-built royal residences and shifting capitals, reflecting a dynamic political landscape. The Mutapa kingdom engaged with Arab, Swahili, and later Portuguese traders via the Zambezi corridor, integrating into regional trade networks. Sources include oral traditions, Portuguese chronicles, and modern archaeological studies by Pikirayi, Pwiti, and Soper. Mutapa’s territorial control was contested by powerful rivals, such as Changamire’s Rozvi and the Torwa of Butua. Despite shifting boundaries, the kingdom’s political and cultural core remained in northern Zimbabwe from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries The area’s granite-rich geology in the Plateau contrasts with the sediment-filled valley floor. Both the Plateau and the lowlands supported cattle rearing despite challenges posed by the tsetse fly.