Munhumutapa Empire

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Monomotapa is also a genus of jumping spiders.

The Empire of Great Zimbabwe also called Munhu mu tapa or Mwene Mutapa or Manhumutapa or Monomotapa or Mutapa was a medieval kingdom (c.1450-1629) located in Southern Africa covering mainly the modern states of Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Its capital city was the Great Zimbabwe.

The empire was established by the Rozvi who are the ancestors of the modern day Shona people. Great Zimbabwe reached its zenith around the 1440s) via the Gold trade. Gold was exported from the empire to the port of Sofala south of the Zambezi delta, where Arab traders waited. The fabrics of Gujarat were traded for gold along the coast. Soon the pressures from European and Arab traders began to change the balance of power in the region.

The Portuguese began their attempts to subdue the Shona state as early as 1505 but were confined to the coast for many years, according to Fernand Braudel until 1513.

The Monomotapa Empire was being torn apart by rival factions, and the gold from the rivers they controlled was exhausted. The trade in gold was replaced by a trade in slaves. Around this time the Arab states of Zanzibar and Kilwa became prominent powers by providing slaves for Arabia, Persia and India. (Braudel p. 430)

The empire was finally conquered in 1629 by the Portuguese and never recovered. Remnants of the government established another Mutapa kingdom in Mozambique sometimes called Karanga. The Karanga kings were called Mambos (plural version) and reigned in the region until 1902.

The Mwenes or Monomatapas of the first Mutapa state:

Nyatsimba Mutota (c. 1430–c. 1450)
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)
chimbganda matombo (1634-1698)

The Mwenes or Monomatapas of the second Mutapa state:

Cangara II (1803 - 1804)
Mutiwapangome (1804 - 1806)
Mutiwaora (1806)
Cipfumba (1806 - 1807)
Nyasoro (1807 - 1828)
Cimininyambo or Kandeya II (1828 - 1830)
Dzeka (1830 - 1849)
Kataruza (1849 - 1868)
Kandeya III (1868-1870)
Dzuda (1870-1887)
Cioko Dambamupute (1887-1902)

The empire had another indirect side effect on the history of Southern Africa. Gold from the empire inspired in Europeans a belief that Munhumutapa held the legendary mines of King Solomon as referenced in the Bible. The belief that the mines were inside the Munhumutapa kingdom in Southern Africa was one of the factors that led to the Dutch East India Company founding the Cape colony, which would eventually lead to the creation of the country of South Africa.

This is not to suggest that the legends were the primary cause for founding the colony (its purpose was to be a half-way stop where ships could pick up supplies to and from India), but it was widely used among the less educated populace to recruit early colonists. Some recordings suggest that most of the early colonists dreamed of finding the legendary city of gold in Southern Africa, a belief mirroring early South American colonists search for El Dorado and quite possibly inspired by it.

Ironically South Africa did have the greatest known gold reserves on earth in what is now Johannesburg, but it would take well over two hundred years before it was discovered and the city founded. In other words Southern Africa's legendary city of gold didn't exist, but the descendants of those colonists would end up building one. Johannesburg is still often referred to as the "city of gold" and in fact its name in nearly all indigenous languages translates as exactly that (compare Gauteng in Sotho and Egoli in Zulu).