Everything about Mutapa Empire totally explained
» For a genus of jumping spiders, see Monomotapa (spider)
The
Mutapa Empire, also known as
Mwene Mutapa (Portuguese:
Monomotapa) or the
Empire of Great Zimbabwe was a medieval kingdom (c. 1250-1629) which used to stretch between the
Zambezi and
Limpopo rivers of
Southern Africa in the modern states of
Zimbabwe and
Mozambique. It enjoys great fame for the ruins at its old capital of
Great Zimbabwe.
Etymology
The name
Mutapa means "the conquered lands". The
mwene (bantu term for "lord", specifically a conquering king) was the title giving rise to the state being referred to as Mwene Mutapa. This phrase has been preserved in documents as
Munhu mu tapa,
Manhumutapa and the Portuguese
Monomotapa.
History
The empire is thought to have been established by the
Rozvi whose descendants include the modern-day
Shona people. The founder of the ruling dynasty was
Mbire, a semi-mythical potentate active in the 13th century. Mbire's purported great-great-grandson
Nyatsimba was the first ruler to assume the title of the "owner of the Conquered Lands and Peoples", which became hereditary among his descendants. Great Zimbabwe reached its zenith around 1350 - 1400 by virtue of its brisk trade in gold conducted with
Arabs via the seaport of
Sofala south of the Zambezi delta. Chinaware and fabrics of
Gujarat were traded for gold along the coast. Shortly afterwards, the state collapsed and its capital moved about 350km north to
Mount Fura by the Zambezi.
The
Portuguese began their attempts to subdue the Shona but were confined to the coast for many years, according to
Fernand Braudel . In the meantime, the Monomotapa Empire was torn apart by Portuguese factions, and the gold from the rivers they controlled was exhausted. Around this time the states of
Zanzibar and
Kilwa became prominent powers.
The empire was further weakened by the
Zulus' migration down to their present location in
South Africa from an area north of the
Zambezi river which they'd left because of a plague complicated by a severe drought. It was finally conquered in 1629 by the Portuguese and never recovered. Remnants of the government established another Mutapa kingdom in Mozambique sometimes called
Karanga. The Karanga kings styled themselves
Mambos (singular
Mambo) and reigned in the region until 1902.
Mutapa as Ophir
The empire had another indirect side effect on the history of Southern
Africa. Gold from the empire inspired in Europeans a belief that Munhumutapa held the legendary mines of King
Solomon as referred to in the
Bible. The belief that the mines were inside the Munhumutapa kingdom in Southern Africa was one of the factors that led to the Portuguese exploration of the hinterland of Sofala in the 1500s, and this contributed to early development of Mozambique, as the legend was widely used among the less educated populace to recruit colonists. Some recordings suggest that most of the early colonists dreamt of finding the legendary city of gold in Southern Africa, a belief mirroring early South American colonists search for
El Dorado and quite possibly inspired by it. Early trade in gold came to an end as the mines ran out and the Munhumutapa lacked the knowhow to develop them further or discover new sources.
List of rulers
The Mwenes or Monomatapas of the first Mutapa state:
The Mwenes or Monomatapas of the second Mutapa state:
Cangara II (1803 - 1804)
Mutiwapangome (1804 - 1806)
Mutiwaora (1806)
Cipfumba (1806 - 1807)
Nyasoro (1807 - 1828)
Cimininyambo or Kandeya II (1828 - 1830)
Dzeka (1830 - 1849)
Kataruza (1849 - 1868)
Kandeya III (1868-1870)
Dzuda (1870-1887)
Cioko Dambamupute (1887-1902)Further Information
Get more info on 'Mutapa Empire'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://mutapa_empire.totallyexplained.com">Mutapa Empire Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
