Evidence is presented relating to the tectonic evolution of the Limpopo Belt of southern Africa. It is demonstrated that this evolution was protracted, lasting at least 700 m.y. between ca. 2.7 and ca. 2.04 Ga, and comprised the complex assembly of terranes along shear zones through processes involving compression, extension, and strike-slip strain (transpression and transtension). It is argued that this evolution is more akin to Turkic-type craton building than to Himalayan- or Alpine-type collision between the Kaapvaal and Zimbabwe cratons at either ca. 2.7 Ga or ca. 2.04 Ga, to which most earlier workers have subscribed. The steeply dipping...