THE MUTAPA STATE

-The founder of the Mutapa state was Nyatsimba Mutota.

-According to oral history who is said to have left the Great Zimbabwe in search of salt or
perhaps after a succession dispute.

-Mutota went to the Zambezi Valley where he defeated the weak communities who were
already settled there such as the Tavara or the Dzivaguru people.

-Mutota as a result earned the title Munhu-mutapa, a praise name which means “Lord of
Conquering”.

-Initially the king had sent his servant Nyakatondo who had returned with salt and reported
on the abundance of elephants in the area.

-Prince Mutota traveled north leading a large army.

-He built his capital as father had ordered Zimbabwe on the slope of Chikato hill near the
Utete River.

-Part of this Zimbabwe remains to this day at the bottom of the escapement north of Guruve.

-Mutota formed an alliance with the Tavara High Priest, Dzivaguru.

-Upon the death of Mutota, his son, Nyanhehwe Matope took over and co-ruled with his half-
sister Nyamhita who occupied the district of Handa hence she is often referred to as
Nyamhita Nehanda.

-The two ruled the Mutapa Empire stretching from the Angwa and Manyame Rivers, north to
the Zambezi and west to the Musengezi and Mukumbura Rivers.

The Mutapa Language Eschatology and Customs

-The people had the same Shona language, customs and culture similar to the peoples of the
Great Zimbabwe state.

-The term on the slope of ChiShona was not used until the 19th century.

-The Ndebele people described the Karanga, that is, the Mutapa language and area of control
as “entshona langa” which means a place where the sun sets or a place to the west.

-Nowadays the term Shona is representative of a number of related dialects (in Zimbabwe)
one of which is Karanga.

-They believed in a god whom they called Mwari who is claimed to have spoken through the
spirits of the ancestors and they listened carefully to spirit mediums i.e. the Mhondoros.
-Religious ceremonies were held to honor the spirit mediums where music dancing and
feasting (Bira) occurred. The senior spirit mediums were Dzivaguru in the north east,
Nehanda in the central and Chaminuka in the west.

-At the cultural level the society was closely knit with the family being the nucleus of society
as well as being the foundation of the nation.

-The basis of this arrangement was a high degree of morality with crime, starvation,
delinquency, prostitution, divorce and almost all known present day social ills being
unknown. The law was highly developed to deal with cultural issues and less defined in terms
of commerce.

-Criminals even murderers were rehabilitated with the law seeking to reconcile the injured
and the culprit and compensate the victim or his relatives in the case of murder.

-When a person was murdered life had to be paid with life and invariably a young woman
from the murderers family had to be given to the victim family had to be his family.

-Inevitably, this created a bond between the two considering that at birth or death there are
things that no one could or can do except the relatives of a woman. This is in stark contrast
to equivalent European law which was and remains punitive and divisive.

The Mutapa Economy

-The state existed for almost 500 years in one form or the other.

-During its peak it was the heart of a powerful empire which controlled the Zambezi River
trade route and received taxes from foreigners.

-Not only was the economy based on trade and taxation, tribute was also part of their
economy.

-The people paid tribute to the Mutapa tax collectors and elephant hunters paid tribute in the
form of tusks.

-The people of the Mutapa provided a variety of goods for trade. Trade made the Mutapa
ruling class wealthy and the state became strong.

-The Mutapa encouraged the gold miners to do the dangerous mine work in return the miners
had to sell the gold to the Mutapa.

-He taxed all imports and exports, every trader paid tribute, every visitor gifts, people brought
disputes and complains to the Mutapa and paid fees for his judgment.

The Mutapa Political Structures

-They had many advisors and ministers to govern the state.

-Some of the emperor’s family, especially wives were also officials, greeting visitors and
handling their business and as members of his royal court they became very powerful.

-Munhumutapa’s wives and officials wore expensive jewelry and clothes made from cotton
and silk. Most people wore skin aprons.

-A large army was maintained which traveled long distances, patrolling and collecting taxes
and cattle and brought new communities into the empire.

The Portuguese Factor in the Mutapa State

-When Matope died, succession disputes arose.

-In 1494 Chikuyo Chisamarengu became king and was the first to receive a Portuguese
visitor named Fernandes who brought rice, cloth and guns as gifts.

-The acquisition of more guns increased Mutapa’s wives and also power such that he was in a
position to assist his ally Makombe of Barwe to take control of Manyika.

-In 1530 Neshangwe became the new king after Chisamarengu had died. He took over Mbire
province earning the praise name Munembire.

-He introduced the old custom of chiefs sending their ambassador to rekindle fires at the
king’s palace.

-In 1550 Chivero Nyasoro succeeded Neshangwe and after him Nzou or Ntemba an
unmarried youth, took over and ruled with his mother Chiuya.

-Negomo and his mother Chiuya received a Catholic priest named Father Goncalo da Silveira
to the palace.

-In 1550 Silveira wanted to convert them to Christianity.

-Muslim traders at the king’s court (vamwenyi) did not like this and plotted to kill Silveira.
They subsequently strangled him and dumped him in a pond.

-Goncalo Silveira’s death angered the Portuguese and when they sent an army to revenge his
death, it was defeated.

-In 1607 Gatsi Rusere asked the Portuguese for assistance to fight his rival for the leadership
and in return they were given mines.

-The people of Mutapa refused to tell them where the mines were because of earlier
experience with Portuguese Prazeros (land/ prazo holders) (this is where the name purazi
comes from) who took their land.
-More Portuguese arrived and forced them to work in the fields. The Portuguese formed
private armies and became wild and lawless.

The Decline or Collapse of the Mutapa State

-The decline was precipitated by the Portuguese private armies and this led the Mutapa
Nyambo Kapararidze to try to expel them.

-He was unsuccessful in this and was overpowered and in his place a puppet Mamvura
Mhande was installed.

-After Kapararidze, the Portuguese chose other Munhumutapas who would obey them.

-An 18th century Munhumutapa moved his people to Mozambique where new chiefs were
appointed to restore order.

-Chioko was the last ruler to use the title Munhumutapa. He led a revolt against the
Portuguese but was however crashed in 1817 and so ended the legacy of the Mutapa state.