In the heart of southern Africa stands the remains of a once mighty city, Great Zimbabwe. For hundreds of years a mysterious civilization reigned supreme here in the Zimbabwe plateau. Then suddenly in the 16th century it crumbled, leaving behind only a riddle: who had built these massive walls? Obsessed with legends of a lost white civilization, a German explorer stumbled upon the ruins. Was this the legendary city of Sheba, he thought, whose queen captured the heart of King Solomon? Fifty years later, an archeologist in her quest for the truth unearthed an even more remarkable past.

Had Great Zimbabwe been the center of a powerful black culture, one of the greatest cities of its time? This idea sparked furious debate and threatened to overturn centuries of bias about Africans and their history. 1871. The German explorer Karl Mauch searches for a legendary city he's convinced lies hidden in wildest Africa. Mauch has spent six years in Africa overcoming poverty, sickness and numerous scrapes with death in pursuit of his obsession.