Origins of the Mutapa Empire

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An investigation on the origins of the Mutapa Empire According to Mukanya the Portuguese arrived on the scene confused the history of the Mutapa Empire. Portuguese document dating from the early 16th century also seem to show that the Mutapa state already existed before the Great Zimbabwe collapsed- thus Mutapa Empire was an offshoot of the Great Zimbabwe state. They further stated that it developed into one of the most powerful and largest states in pre-colonial Zimbabwe. Other Portuguese records also point to the fact that the first Mwenemutapa was a warrior prince called Mutota from the kingdom of Zimbabwe. He was sent to find new sources of salt in the north. He found salt among the Tavara, a shona subdivision who were prominent elephant hunters. They were conquered, and he established a capital 350km north of Great Zimbabwe at Zvongombe by the Zambezi. They went on to argue that Mutota’s successor extended the kingdom into an empire encompassing most of the land between Tavara and the Indian Ocean. They exploited copper from Chidzongwe and ivory from the middle Zambezi. The Portuguese term Monomutapa synonymous to the title Mwenemutapa (prince of the conquered land). Mwene means prince and Mutapa means ‘’territory’’. According to the Portuguese records the presence of Nyatsimba Mutota weakened the Torwa kingdom of the Manyika as well as Kiteve and Madanda. He also raised a strong army which conquered the Tonga and Tavara. However, to the Portuguese records the presence of Nyatsimba Mutota weakened the Torwa kingdom of the Manyika as well as Kiteve and Madanda. He also raised a strong army which conquered the Tonga and Tavara. However, according to Mudenge, this shows the extent the Portuguese distorted Shona history. Though Mutota is looked as the first Mutapa to rule, but Barros, the Portuguese writer, discovered in 1552 that Great Zimbabwe was the seat
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