wanga Education

DISCUSS THE NATURE AND EFFECTS OF THE RELATIONS OF THE BETWEEN THE
PORTUGUESE AND THE MUTAPA STATE DURING 16TH AND 17TH CENTURIES. (NOV
2009)
Mutapa-Portuguese relations were also characterized by intrigue and conspiracies that ultimately
led to conflict within the Mutapa and with outsiders. Portuguese attempts to Christianise the locals
in the 1560s sparked conflict within the state as they opposed by traditional religious authorities
who feared the loss of their own influence over the rulers and subjects in general. They also bred a
rivalry with Swahili traders based at the court. The latter feared that this would result in the loss of
their privileged trading position in the state. The Swahili then conspired with the traditional
religious authorities to have the Portuguese priest Father Goncalo da Silveira assassinated in 1561.
The murder only aggravated tensions in the Mutapa state. It fuelled Portuguese demands for the
expulsion of all the Swahili traders from the state and the surrender of Mutapa gold mines to the
king of Portugal. The Portuguese had clearly found a pretext to conquer the state. Between 1569
and 1575 they organised three abortive expeditions to conquer the Mutapa State and to control the
gold.
In 1561 Gonçalo da Silveira, a Portuguese Jesuit missionary, visited Mutapa, where he quickly
made converts, including the Mutapa Negomo Mupuzangutu murdered. The presence of the
Portuguese had a serious impact that left the empire so weakened that it entered the 17th century
in serious decline. By the mid-17th century the Portuguese controlled Munhumutapa Empire.
Another significant aspect of the Mutapa-Portuguese relations was the persistence of violence.
Even the Portuguese documents mention a terrible wave of violence generated by the Portuguese
prazo holders and their Chikunda armies from the Zambezi against the various Mutapas who were
politically and militarily weak. There are references to attacks made on the people of Mukaranga,
some of whom were enslaved and forced to work in the gold mines by the Portuguese. They fled
leaving the core of the state largely depopulated. Some prazo holders seized areas of the land that
belonged to the Mutapa and tried to convert them into prazos. Some local rulers joined them, for
example, the Nyachuru dynasty of the upper Mazowe. Clearly the Mutapa State lost control of the
plateau area around this time.
In 1561 Gonçalo da Silveira, a Portuguese Jesuit missionary, visited Mutapa, where he quickly
made converts, including King Negomo Mupuzangutu. However, the Swahili traders who lived
there, fearing for their commercial position, persuaded Negomo to have Silveira murdered. The
presence of the Portuguese had a serious impact that affected some of its trade and there had been
a series of wars which left the empire so weakened that it entered the 17th century in serious
decline. By the mid-17th century the Portuguese controlled Munhumutapa Empire.
Another aspect of Mutapa-Portuguese relations was the military co-operation between the two. In
c.1599, the Mutapa sought and received Portuguese assistance to fight Chikunda who led rebels in
attacking villages under Mutapa control. In 1607, Gatsi Rusere also sought Portuguese help to deal
with threats to his rule. That war dragged on for some years despite Portuguese assistance. Mutapa
Gatsi Rusere was eventually deposed from his throne and his capital taken over. In a desperate
situation, he surrendered all his mines to the Portuguese Crown so as to receive some assistance.
Bocarro dates this event to August 1607. A joint Mutapa Portuguese army then engaged the rebel
Anconhe forcing him to flee to Chizinga where he joined another rebel called Gurapaza. Bocarro
reports that some of the villages in Chizinga were attacked and razed but the Mutapa and the
Portuguese forces were eventually forced to retreat to the Mazowe River.
Portuguese military assistance was however obtained at the heavy cost of Mutapa submission and
this turned them into vassals or puppets of the Portuguese. Mutapa rebels like Mavura were forced
to sign treaties of vassalage to the Portuguese thus tying the Mutapa state to the Portuguese crown.
The Portuguese took this opportunity to advance their imperial interests by using slave labour to
work on the land they acquired under these treaties. This resulted in many armed conflicts in the
area, causing many Shona to flee to the south where Rozvi rule was being established. The
Portuguese at Massapa entered into a secret agreement with the Mutapa rebels of Chizinga. That
led to a combined attack on the Mutapa’s garrison at Massapa. The Portuguese were after the
mines, particularly those of silver reportedly located somewhere in Chikova in the Zambezi
Valley. They had realised the weakness of Mutapa Gatsi Rusere and even prepared a conquest of
the whole state. The building of the forts such as St. Estevaõ (by Dom Estevaõ) and St. Miguel (by
Madeira) on the Zambezi between 1612 and 1614 must be understood in this context. They even
rejected some of the gestures of peace made by Mutapa Gatsi Rusere.
Their relations were also characterized by trade. The Mutapa state was also rich in gold and ivory
which attracted first the Swahili, and then the Portuguese, from the Indian Ocean coastal ports.
The Portuguese, who came to know about the lucrative gold trade from the Swahili, started to
collect information relating to the location of gold mines, the quantity of gold produced, the nature
of exchange, the African rulers in charge of the gold mines as well as the nature and extent of their
political systems (Smith, 1983; Beach, 1980). The Portuguese built up Sofala as part of the grand
strategy to tap all the gold and ivory coming from the Mutapa state. Following their failure to
establish a monopoly, the Portuguese decided to penetrate the Zimbabwe Plateau interior.
There was also a cultural exchange that involved Portuguese attempts to Christianise the Mutapa.
The Portuguese had quickly realised that there was the close link between politics and religion of
the Mutapa state, they sought to penetrate it through religion. When father Gonzalo da Silveira
arrived in December 1560, he worked on converting the royal family to Christianity. He was
largely successful in this because the vast empire had become heavily riddled with conspiracies,
coup plots, succession disputes and civil wars to the extent that the reigning Mutapa probably
wanted Portuguese help to hold on to power. Apart from religion, there was intermarriage or at
least sexual relations between the two. Shona oral traditions and Portuguese documents have all
testified to Portuguese men obtaining Shona women as wives and concubines.
The nature of their interaction also resulted in the introduction of new crops among the Mutapa.
Wills (1985) argues that the maize crop was introduced by the Portuguese among the Shona from
about the 16th century. It spread rapidly into areas formally dominated by traditional food crops
such as finger millet (rapoko or rukweza), bulrush millet (mhunga), and sorghum (mapfunde). To
this day, maize remains the staple food for the Shona.
The Mutapa also lost much land to the Portuguese after the introduction of the prazo system. The
Portuguese settlement in lower Zambezi resulted in the prazo system and forced some population
movements into the adjacent plateau areas. The worst affected in the Zambezi region were the
Budya and Sena-speaking Tonga who moved into Plateau areas vacated by the Mutapa State and
built hilltop fortifications. The movement of the Mutapa State into the Chidema lowlands was
accompanied by a military transformation meant to counter the Portuguese prazo holders. The
Prazo system contributed to further violence perpetrated by the Nyai, who emerged during the late
17th century and kept the Portuguese at bay until the state declined in the late 19th century.
The trade interaction also led to the introduction of firearms and these increased armed conflicts
and made them deadlier in the Mutapa state. The Portuguese traded guns for Mutapa goods such
as gold, ivory and agricultural produce during the second half of the 16th century. This changed
the nature of warfare in the region where the bow and arrow and spears had been the main
weapons. Theses had been less deadly and destructive. Even settlement patterns began to change
as communities abandoned open low-lying dwellings in favour of stone buildings sited on hilltops
that were difficult to access. Firearms generated considerable violence in northern Zimbabwe as
seen by the civil wars between the Mutapa State and the rebel groups fighting to secede, and the
Portuguese interference in the internal politics of these states.
Prepared the way for the subsequent rise of the Rozvi by the weakening the Mutapa. The wars and
infighting that bedeviled the Mutapa state after the arrival of the Portuguese weakened the state.
The Mutapa dynasties fractured into autonomous states, many of which later formed the Rozvi
Empire. The Mutapa palace were taken over by the Rozvi whose Changamire (king) extended his
control over the mining areas. The Rozvi Empire did not however succeed in controlling an area
as vast as the Mutapa had done.
DISCUSS THE VIEW THAT, “TRADE AND RELIGION WERE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE
FOR THE RISE AND EXPANSION OF THE ROZVI STATE.” (NOV 2008)
Religion was not the only factor but it was significant to the rise and expansion of the Rozvi State.
The cause of the Rozvi rulers was helped by the fact that they shared the same religious values
with other Shona people who they incorporated and extended their rule over. The Rozvi believed
in the worship of a high god they called Mwari. They worshipped him through ancestral spirits.
There were national spirits (mhondoro) and family spirits (mudzimu). It was also accepted that the
spirits of dead ancestors possessed and spoke through living people who were called spirit
mediums. Religion was a component of the ideology of statecraft and it played an important role
in reinforcing and maintaining political power. Parallels can be drawn from contemporary
European political systems that were bound together by a shared religion. In these states, the
political power of the rulers was reinforced by religious doctrines that claimed that kings had a
divine right to rule and was therefore not accountable to their subjects and should not be forcibly
removed from their positions.
Trade was carried out with other Shona groups and Europeans and it also contributed significantly
to the rise of the Rozvi. They traded their cattle for the Europeans guns and ammunitions. There
was an internal trade where they traded among themselves exchanging iron implements, animal
skins and pottery for the grain and other agricultural produce. Hunting activities also contributed
to the external trade conducted with the Swahili Arabs and Portuguese. Top of the list of the
hunted animals were elephants that were highly prized for the tusks, and meat. Other trade items
included gold, beads, mirrors and ceramics. Trade goods obtained from far away places were also
used in further developing and building up a strong political power base. That was achieved by
redistributing them among people who may not have participated in long distance trade on a large
scale. This fits in well with the contention that 'luxury goods from a distant source are often
distributed to reproduce a system of rank status or offices within a polity' (Kipp and Schortman,
1989).
The Rozvi were also pastoralists and cattle were important for political, social and economic
purposes. As with the Mutapa, there is a general consensus among historians that cattle ownership
also played a significant role in the rise of the Rozvi State. They took advantage of the dry
grasslands, low trees and excellent pastureland of Guruuswa to raise large heads of cattle, goats
and sheep. The national herd was owned or controlled by the king and he distributed them in a
manner that enhanced his position as head of state. Some he distributed to chiefs as an
acknowledgement of their loyalty or as a reward for services rendered. Cattle were also important
for the payment of the bride-price and for trade. They were exchanged for European goods such as
guns and ammunition and as well as agricultural produce, iron wares and pottery
Like other Iron Age states, agricultural activities were significant to the rise and expansion of the
Rozvi State. Iron mining and smelting was followed by the manufacture of iron tools such as hoes
and axes. These were far stronger than any of the tools that had been made during the Stone Age
and they enabled people to clear forests and cultivate the land much more easily. Archaeologists
have dug up carbonized seeds that clearly indicate the growing of grains such as sorghum, millet,
various beans and cowpeas. Farming was a seasonal and labour intensive involving family on
individual plots of land. Agriculture ensured much greater food security than could be achieved
through a reliance on the environment to provide wild vegetables and fruits.
The hunting of big game such as elephants, kudu and buffalo also contributed a great deal to the
economy of the Rozvi State. Iron-smiths manufactured much more powerful iron tools like axes,
spear and arrow points and knives that enabled them to kill the larger animals. The big game
augmented meat supplies and also provided hides. Of these the elephants were probably the most
important because their tusks stimulated the growth of ivory trade. For the Rozvi just like the
other Iron Age states like Great Zimbabwe, Mutapa, and the Torwa, the ivory trade was an
important source of wealth so much that men often risked the danger to hunt down elephants to
trade with the Swahili-Arab merchants and later the Portuguese who came into central and
southern Africa via the East African coast.
Tribute collected from subject Shona/Kalanga societies also contributed to the Rozvi economy.
Tribute was usually in the form of grain, animal skins and cattle. Tribute was highly significant on
two fronts. On one hand it demonstrated the loyalty of the Rozvi subjects and helped to cement the
Changamire’s political authority. Secondly it gave the Changamire rulers the economic resources
like gold and ivory they needed for external trade.
Pottery, blacksmithing, weaving and basketry were also important economic activities while the
specialized iron industry produced tools and weapons. Surplus products were for trading. Gold
mining and game hunting were however low key activities.
ASSESS THE IMPACT OF THE NGUNI INCURSIONS ON THE ROZVI STATE. (NOV 2007)
The Nguni incursions definitely increased violence within the Rozvi state. There is much truth to
the claim that the Ndebele economy relied heavily on raiding and the various Rozvi communities
especially those close to the Ndebele suffered as a consequence. From the arrival of the Ndebele in
present day Matabeleland up to the imposition of colonial rule in the 1890's, there was never a
decade without Ndebele raids into Rozvi territory. Mzilikazi and Lobengula pursued a consistent
policy of raiding against one or the other Shona communities. Apart from attacking the declining
Rozvi, D. N. Beach cites Ndebele raiding activities which greatly affected the Chirimuhanzu
dynasty in the 1850's. These were repeated during the 1860's when they raided the Kalanga during
the 1860 - 1 drought. These were Rozvi tributaries in the west. That same decade (1868) the north-
western Ngezi dynasty of Rimuka was also raided resulting in the flight of the Mashayamombe
and Chivero rulers further north-east. In the 1870 the Ndebele raided across a 70km radius from
the western Duma on the confluence of the Mutirikwi and the Popoteke rivers to the upper
Popoteke. Finally the Ndebele raided from the Chivi to Gutu in1892 and from Mupfure to
Chishawasha in 1893. These examples paint a picture of a consistent policy of raiding and
therefore suggesting its central significance to the Ndebele way of life.
Among other things, the Nguni incursions definitely weakened the state. According to D. N.
Beach (1986. p.51), the southern Shona became regular tributaries of the Ndebele. These included
the Chirimuhanzu on the Shashe River as well as the other Rozvi groups in the modern Shurugwi
and Zvishavane districts. Nguni groups like the Ndebele began to collect tribute from the Rozvi
and that was evidence of the weakening of the latter. Tribute was usually in the form of grain,
animal skins, cattle and even young me and women who were incorporated into the Ndebele state.
As overlord of the Rozvi clans such as Svabasvi, Lukiluba and Rozani, Mzilikazi exacted tribute.
During Lobengula's tenure, Nemakonde and Chivi were some of the Rozvi chiefs paying tribute to
the Ndebele. Those who paid tribute were not subjected to raids. Raids were more of punitive
measures rather than the norm as evidenced by the 1893 raiding expeditions sent to punish
Gomala in Masvingo for using Ndebele cattle to pay a fine imposed by the European settler
administration.
Another significant albeit negative aspect of the Nguni incursions was that they fomented and
worsened the rivalries among the Rozvi groups. The Ndebele did not fight all the Shona at once
and they actually allied with some Shona groups while fighting others. The generic term Shona is
misleading as it is implies a single, united and homogenous political entity which certainly did not
exist in the nineteenth century. There were many scattered and independent Shona groups which
were as likely to fight each other as much as they could fight the Ndebele. This explains why the
Ndebele could fight against Chirisamhuru and Tohwechipi in the early 1850s and then became
Tohwechipi’s allies before the decade was up. Chizema was also assisted by the Ndebele in his
attempts to conquer southern Buhera. This also explains why Mzilikazi had the Chaminuka
medium killed while maintaining good relations with other Shona mediums such as Nyamuswa,
Wanewawa and Chikono. According to D.N. Beach, Mzilikazi even paid tribute to these mediums.
The Nguni incursions broke the Rozvi state into much smaller and fragmented polities. Like the
Mutapa state before it, the Rozvi state collapsed under the weight of its vastness which could not
be sustained by its ‘feudal’ structures in the face of growing pressures from the Mfecane groups
advancing from the south. From about 1826, Rozvi were subjected to severe pressure from
migrants fleeing from the Mfecane disturbances south of the Limpopo. By 1838, as many as five
Nguni groups had passed through or settled in the region, each bombarding the Rozvi state and
transforming the way of life of the local people. Two of these groups, the Ndebele and the Gaza,
however eventually settled permanently in Zimbabwe and subjected several Shona groups to their
rule. The new settlers introduced a system of tributary control premised on the threat of military
use. These newcomers not only dismantled the core of the Rozvi ruling elite, but also scattered its
varying factions in all directions. Mzilikazi’s Ndebele state thus subjugated and or incorporated
into Ndebele society some Rozvi houses. By the 1850s, Ndebele rule stretched over the Zambezi,
the Mafungavutsi plateau and Gokwe, with the Shona chiefs there paying tribute to the Ndebele.
The Nguni incursions resulted in fundamental changes to Rozvi settlement patterns during the
nineteenth century. Many of the Rozvi communities abandoned the more open lowlands in favour
of hilltops that could be better defended from Nguni attacks. Archaeologists came to use "Refuge
Period" to refer to archaeological sites and artifacts loosely conceived as representing a
widespread movement of population to walled hilltop sites and hidden refuges as a result of the
Mfecane and other disturbances in the 19th century (e.g. Huffman 1971, 1974; Izzett 1980;
Pikirayi 1993). Thus Huffman (1971) referred to the Refuge Period as a wider phenomenon in
northern Mashonaland with characteristic pottery, while Izzett (1980) also refers to Refuge Period
and "Refuge type pottery". Pikirayi (2001) used "Refuge Tradition", "Refuge Culture" and
"Refuge period" interchangeably
The Nguni incursions also resulted in the cultural and linguistic assimilation of the Rozvi by the
Gaza. Different Nguni groups raided the southern Rozvi groups in the 1820s and 1830s. These
included the Nguni led by Ngwana Masesenyane and Mpanga. They raided the Great Zimbabwe
region and incorporated some Rozvi groups before continuing with their northward advance (D.
Beach p.50). In the early 1860s, another Gaza Nguni group established its authority east of the
Save River and exacted tribute from the Rozvi in the area including the Duma. Their power also
extended down to the Mwenezi and Bubi areas. This enabled them to become masters of the
Hlengwe and Tsonga who had been Rozvi subjects in the past and led to their incorporation into
the Gaza state as Shangaans.
The Nguni incursions also resulted in the cultural and linguistic assimilation of the Rozvi by the
Ndebele. The Ndebele assimilated or incorporated Rozvi people into their society to the extent that
the amaHole caste became the largest within the Ndebele caste system. Although prejudice existed
it was not a totally bleak scenario as this caste could also provide chiefs and also enjoyed the same
state protection accorded the Zansi and Enhla. If assimilation was forced on amaHole, it certainly
was not forced on the Mutevaidzi of Mberengwa who voluntarily adopted the Ndebele language,
forged alliances with the Ndebele and even copied Nguni practices such as ear piercing. For their
part, the Ndebele adopted some of the Shona religious practices including the shrine at Matopos
(Njelele). Historians such as Ranger have asserted that the cult priests of Njelele had sufficient
authority among the Ndebele to organize resistance to European rule in 1896.
The Nguni incursions also fostered innovation among the Rozvi especially in the area of weapons
manufacture. The Njanja have been cited as an example of how some of the Rozvi -Shona
responded to the Nguni menace through perfecting their skills in gun manufacture and repair. They
also perfected their technology of forging bullets and manufacturing gunpowder from the
droppings of rock rabbits (Mackenzie 1975: 218). The Madzivire branch of the Rozvi also
improved the weapons-making skills. According to Burke it took them only a night to forge bullets
at short notice of the news of the approach of the Matabele (Burke 1969: 170). These and other
weapons obtained from the Venda and Portuguese were useful in sustaining the long sieges of the
Ndebele. The defeat of the Matabele at Nyaningwe in 1879 according to Beach had much to do
with the rapid accumulation in the Mhari armoury of such locally manufactured and Venda guns
(Beach 1994: 164). The Mhari themselves had come to forge different types of guns, common
among them being kororo, and hlabakude (G. Marufu, M Matumbure pers.comm.). Ellert
(1984:57) elaborates the development of this gun industry arguing that the 19th century Shona
made copies of most of the imported guns which became known by their onomatopoeic names as
zvigidi and most of them were extensively and effectively used in the 1896-7 Chimurenga.
There is little doubt that the nineteenth century was a turbulent period on the Zimbabwean plateau
region owing to the various developments that took place. This situation was the end-product of
the Nguni incursions on Rozvi territory