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The origins of the ruling dynasty at Mutapa go back to some time in the first half of the 15th

century.[4] 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.[4] Prince Mutota found his salt among the Tavara, a Shona subdivision, who were

prominent elephant hunters. They were conquered,[5] a capital was established 350 km north

of Great Zimbabwe at Zvongombe by the Zambezi.[6]

Expansion

Mutota's successor, Mwenemutapa Matope, extended this new kingdom into an empire

encompassing most of the lands between Tavara and the Indian Ocean.[5] 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.[5] Matope's armies overran the kingdom of the Manyika as

well as the coastal kingdoms of Kiteve and Madanda.[5] By the time the Portuguese arrived on

the coast of Mozambique, the Mutapa Kingdom was the premier Shona state in the region.
[5]
He raised a strong army which conquered the Dande area that is Tonga and Tavara.

Religion

The religion of the Mutapa kingdom revolved around ritual consultation of spirits and a cult

of royal ancestors. Shrines were maintained within the capital by spirit mediums known as

"mhondoros". The mhondoros also served as oral historians recording the names and deeds of

past kings.[7]
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Early European documenters of the culture were shocked that some men, known as chibadi,

took on the social status of women. The Jesuit João dos Santos was quoted in a 1625

publication, "certayne Chibadi, which are men attired like Women, and behave themselves

womanly, ashamed to be called men; are also married to men, and esteeme that unnatural

damnation an honor."[8] The priests António Sequeira and Gaspar Azevedo similarly recorded

men who dressed, sat and spoke as women, and who married men "to unite in wrongful male

lust with them."[8]

Portuguese Contact

Arms granted to the Mwenemutapa in 1569 by the King of Portugal

The Portuguese dominated much of southeast Africa's coast, laying waste to Sofala and

Kilwa, by 1515.[9] Their main goal was to dominate the trade with India; however, they

unwittingly became mere carriers for luxury goods between Mutapa's sub-kingdoms and

India. As the Portuguese settled along the coast, they made their way into the hinterland as

sertanejos (backwoodsmen). These sertanejos lived alongside Swahili traders and even took

up service among Shona kings as interpreters and political advisors. One such sertanejo

managed to travel through almost all the Shona kingdoms, including Mutapa's metropolitican

district, between 1512 and 1516.[10]

The Portuguese finally entered into direct relations with the Mwenemutapa in the 1560s.[4]

They recorded a wealth of information about the Mutapa kingdom as well as its predecessor,

Great Zimbabwe. According to Swahili traders whose accounts were recorded by the

Portuguese historian João de Barros, Great Zimbabwe was an ancient capital city built of
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stones of marvellous size without the use of mortar. And while the site was not within

Mutapa's borders, the Mwenemutapa kept noblemen and some of his wives there.[5]

In 1569, Sebastian of Portugal made a grant of arms to the Mwenemutapa. These were

blazoned: Gules between two arrows Argent an African hoe barwise bladed Or handled

Argent – The shield surmounted by a Crown Oriental. This was probably the first grant of

arms to a native of southern Africa; however it is unlikely that these arms were ever actually

used by the Mwenemutapa.[11]

The Accidental Crusade

In 1561, Gonçalo da Silveira, a Portuguese Jesuit missionary managed to make his way into

the Mwenemutapa's court and convert him to Christianity.[3] This did not go well with the

Muslim merchants in the capital, and they persuaded the king to kill the Jesuit only a few

days after the former's baptism. This was all the excuse the Portuguese needed to penetrate

the interior and take control of the gold mines and ivory routes. After a lengthy preparation,

an expedition of 1,000 men under Francisco Barreto was launched in 1568. They managed to

get as far as the upper Zambezi, but local disease decimated the force. The Portuguese

returned to their base in 1572 and took their frustrations out on the Swahili traders, whom

they massacred. They replaced them with Portuguese and their half-African progeny who

became prazeiros (estate holders) of the lower Zambezi. Mutapa maintained a position of

strength exacting a subsidy from each captain of Portuguese Mozambique that took the

office. The mwenemutapa also levied a duty of 50 percent on all trade goods imported.[12]

Decline and Collapse

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Mutapa proved invulnerable to attack and even economic manipulation due to the

mwenemutapa's strong control over gold production.[12] What posed the greatest threat was

infighting among different factions which led to opposing sides calling on the Portuguese for

military aid.

Portuguese Control

In 1629 the mwenemutapa attempted to throw out the Portuguese. He failed and was

overthrown, leading to the Portuguese installation of Mavura Mhande Felipe on the throne.[13]

Mutapa signed treaties making it a Portuguese vassal and ceding gold mines, but none of

these concessions were ever put into effect.[12] Mutapa remained nominally independent,

though practically a client state. All the while, Portugal increased control over much of

southeast Africa with the beginnings of a colonial system.

Loss of Prestige

Another problem for Mutapa was that its tributaries such as Kiteve, Madanda and Manyika

ceased paying tribute. At the same time, a new kingdom under a Rozwi dynasty near Barwe

was on the rise. All of this was hastened by Portugal retaining a presence on the coast and in

the capital.[12] At least one part of the 1629 treaty that was acted on was the provision

allowing Portuguese settlement within Mutapa. It also allowed the praezeros to establish

fortified settlements across the kingdom. In 1663, the praezeros were able to depose

mwenemutapa Siti Kazurukamusapa and put their own nominee, Kamharapasu Mukombwe

on the throne.[14]
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Butwa Invasion

By the 17th century, a dynasty of Rozwi pastoralists under the leadership of a changamire

(king/general) began transforming the Butwa kingdom into new regional power. The Rozwi

not only originated from the Great Zimbabwe area, but still continued to build their towns in

stone. They were also importing goods from the Portuguese without any regard for the

mwenemutapa.[12]

By the late 17th century, Changamire Dombo was actively challenging Mutapa. In 1684 his

forces encountered and decisively defeated those of Mwenemutapa Kamharapasu

Mukombwe just south of Mutapa's metro district at the Battle of Mahungwe. When

Mukombwe died in 1692, a succession crisis erupted. The Portuguese backed one successor

and Dombo another. In support of his candidate, Changamire razed the Portuguese fair-town

of Dembarare next to the Mutapa capital and slaughtered the Portuguese traders and their

entire following. From 1692 until 1694, Mwenemutapa Nyakambira rules Mutapa

independently. Nyakambira was later killed in battle with the Portuguese who then placed

Nyamaende Mhande on the throne as their puppet.

In 1695, Changamire Dombo overran the gold-producing kingdom of Manyika and took his

army east and destroyed the Portuguese fair-town of Masikwesi. This allowed him complete

control of all gold-producing territory from Butwa to Manyika, supplanting Mutapa as the

premier Shona kingdom in the region.[15]

Shifting Rulers
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It appears neither the Rozwi nor the Portuguese could maintain control of the Mutapa state

for very long, and it moved back and forth between the two throughout the 17th century. Far

from a victim of conquest, the Mutapa rulers actually invited in foreign powers to bolster

their rule. This included vassalage to Portuguese East Africa from 1629 to 1663 and

vassalage to the Rozwi Empire from 1663 until the Portuguese return in 1694. Portuguese

control of Mutapa was maintained or at least represented by an armed garrison at the capital.

In 1712, yet another coveter of the throne invited the Rozwi back to put him on the throne

and kick out the Portuguese. This they did, and Mutapa again came under the control of the

Rozwi Empire. The new mwenemutapa Samatambira Nyamhandu I become their vassal,

while the outgoing king was forced to retreat to Chidama in what is now Mozambique.

Independence and Move from Zimbabwe

The Rozwi quickly lost interest in Mutapa, as they sought to consolidate their position in the

south. Mutapa regained its independence around 1720. By this time, the kingdom of Mutapa

had lost nearly all of the Zimbabwe plateau to the Rozwi Empire. In 1723, Nyamhandi

moved his capital into the valley near the Portuguese trading settlement of Tete, under

Mwmenemutapa Nyatsusu. Upon his death in 1740, the young Dehwe Mapunzagutu took

power. He sought Portuguese support and invited them back to Mutapa along with their

garrison of armed men, but Mutapa remained independent.

Collapse

The mwenemutapa died in 1759, sparking yet another civil war for the throne. This one was

more destructive than its predecessors and Mutapa never recovered. The "winners" ended up
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governing an even more reduced land from Chidima. They used the title Mambo a Chidima

and ruled independently of Portugal until 1917 when Mambo Chioko, the last king of the

dynasty, was killed in battle against the Portuguese.

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 Mwenemutapa held the legendary mines of King

Solomon, referred to in the Bible as Ophir.[16]

The belief that the mines were inside the Mwenemutapa kingdom in southern Africa was one

of the factors that led to the Portuguese exploration of the hinterland of Sofala in the 16th

century, and this contributed to early development of Mozambique, as the legend was widely

used among the less educated populace to recruit colonists. Some documents suggest that

most of the early colonists dreamed of finding the legendary city of gold in southern Africa, a

belief mirroring the early South American colonial 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 deterioration

of the Mutapa state eliminated the financial and political support for further developing

sources of gold.