Mwenemutapa Empire
| Kingdom of Mutapa | ||||||||||
| Mwene Mutapa | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
 Arms granted to the Mwenemutapa in 1569 by the King of Portugal
|
||||||||||
 Map by Willem Janszoon Blaeu showing Monomotapa (Mutapa), dated 1635.
|
||||||||||
| Capital | Zvongombe | |||||||||
| Languages | Shona, Ikalanga | |||||||||
| Religion | Belief in Mwari (God) | |||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | |||||||||
|
Mwenemutapa/
Munhumutapa || |
||||||||||
| • | c. 1430 – c. 1450 | Nyatsimba Mutota (first) | ||||||||
| • | 1740–1759 | Dehwe Mupunzagutu (last) | ||||||||
| History | ||||||||||
| • | Established by Nyatsimba Mutota | 1430 | ||||||||
| • | Portuguese protectorate | 1629 | ||||||||
| • | Mutapa dynasty schism | 1712 | ||||||||
| • | Disintegrates under Civil war | 1760 | ||||||||
| Area | ||||||||||
| • | 16th century | 700,000 km2 (270,000 sq mi) | ||||||||
|
||||||||||
| Today part of |
 Lesotho Mozambique South Africa Swaziland Zambia Zimbabwe
|
|||||||||
Munhumutapa ||
The Kingdom of Mutapa - sometimes referred to as the Mutapa Empire, Mwenemutara, (Shona: Mwene we Mutapa or more commonly and modern "Munhumutapa"; Portuguese: Monomotapa) - was a Kalanga kingdom which stretched from the Zambezi through the Limpopo rivers to the Indian Ocean in southern Africa, in what are the modern states of Zimbabwe, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique and parts of Namibia and Botswana; stretching well into modern Zambia. Its founders are descendants of the builders who constructed Great Zimbabwe.
The Portuguese term Monomotapa is a direct transliteration of the African royal title Mwenemutapa meaning prince of the realm. It is derived from a combination of two words Mwene meaning Prince, and Mutapa meaning Realm. Over time the monarch's royal title came to be applied to the kingdom as a whole, and was used to denote the kingdom's territory on maps from the period.
The origins of the ruling dynasty at Mutapa go back to some time in the first half of the 15th century. According to oral tradition, the first "Mwene" was a warrior prince named Nyatsimba Mutota from the Kingdom of Zimbabwe sent to find new sources of salt in the north. That's the first legend Prince Mutota found his salt among the Tavara, a Shona subdivision, who were prominent elephant hunters. The second says that there was hunger at the Kingdom of Zimbabwe. Mutota then escaped the hunger then found land. They were conquered, a capital was established 350 km north of Great Zimbabwe at Zvongombe by the Zambezi.
Mutota's successor, Mwenemutapa Matope, extended this new kingdom into an empire encompassing most of the lands between Tavara and the Indian Ocean. This empire had achieved uniting a number of different peoples in Southern Africa by building strong, well-trained armies and encouraging states to join voluntarily, offering membership in the Great council of the Empire to any who joined without resistance. The Mwenemutapa became very wealthy by exploiting copper from Chidzurgwe and ivory from the middle Zambezi. This expansion weakened the Torwa kingdom, the southern Shona state from which Mutota and his dynasty originated. Matope's armies overran the kingdom of the Manyika as well as the coastal kingdoms of Kiteve and Madanda. By the time the Portuguese arrived on the coast of Mozambique, the Mutapa Kingdom was the premier Shona state in the region. He raised a strong army which conquered the Dande area that is Tonga and Tavara. The empire had reached its full extent by the year 1480 a mere 50 years following its creation.
...
Wikipedia