Munhumutapa Empire

Mhunhumutapa or Monomotapa Empire was a medieval kingdom (reaching a peak around the 1440s) located in Southern Africa covering mainly the modern states of Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Its capital city was the Great Zimbabwe. Gold from Monomotapa reached the port of Sofala south of the Zambezi delta, where Arab traders waited. The Portuguese brought force to bear as early as 1505 to place the trade in Portuguese control, and the trade was well in hand, Fernand Braudel asserts, by 1513. The fabrics of Gujerat drew the gold to the coast. Pressures of trade with outsiders were transformed, Monotapa was driven by rival factions, and the gold panned from the rivers thinned out and disappeared. The trade in gold was replaced by a trade in slaves. Arabs regained the upper hand in Zanzibar and Kilwa, where the slave markets provided slaves for Arabia, Persia and India. The Portuguese were soon confined to a minor presence in Mozambique (Braudel p 430)

Related Topics:
1440s - Southern Africa - Zimbabwe - Mozambique - Great Zimbabwe - Zambezi - Fernand Braudel - Gujerat - Slaves - Zanzibar

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The rulers were:

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Nyatsimba Mutota c. 1430-c. 1450

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• Matope Nyanhehwe Nebedza c. 1450-c. 1480
• Mavura Maobwe 1480
• Mukombero Nyahuma 1480-c. 1490
• Changamire 1490-1494
• Kakuyo Komunyaka 1494-c. 1530
• Neshangwe Munembire.............c. 1530-c. 1550
• Chivere Nyasoro...........c. 1550- 1560
• Chisamharu Negomo Mupuzangutu... 1560-1589
• Gatsi Rusere...1589-1623
• Nyambo Kapararidze............................1623-1629
 
Munhumutapa Empire: Reference ►