Gaza Empire

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The Gaza empire was located in southeastern Africa in the area of southern Mozambique and southeastern Zimbabwe from the early 1820s up until its demise in 1895 with the capture and imprisonment of Gungunyana by the Portuguese.

In the later 1810s there arose many skirmishes among the Zulu clans. The chief rivals were Shaka, of the Zulu clan, and Zwide of the Ndwandwe clan. One of Zwide's top generals was Soshangane. In 1818 the Ndwandwe and Zulu fought at the Mhlatuze River and the Zulu were victorious. Soshangane, along with other Ndwandwe generals fled northward toward what is present-day Mozambique. As Soshangane moved northward into Mozambique he subjugated the Tsonga people and made them pay tribute to him. Eventually Soshangane established his capital in an area near the Save River in what is now Zimbabwe. Soshangane named his empire "Gaza" after his grandfather.

Soshangane died in 1858 and there was a bitter struggle for power between his sons Mawewe and Mzila. With help from the Portuguese, Mzila eventually gained power in 1861 and ruled until 1884. Gungunyana took over from his father Mzila and moved the capital southward to Manjakazi, putting him in closer proximity with the Portuguese.

At the Conference of Berlin in 1885, where Africa was carved up by the European States, the territory of the Gaza Empire was designated as Portuguese territory. Gungunyana fiercely resisted the encroachment of the Portuguese but was eventually defeated. Gungunyana was exiled to the Azores where he died in 1906.