Kingdom of Zimbabwe

This article is about the pre-colonial African kingdom. For the modern-day Republic of Zimbabwe, see Zimbabwe.

Kingdom of Zimbabwe Zimbabwe
Kingdom
← 1220–1450 →   →
Zimbabwe Bird
Capital	Great Zimbabwe
Religion	Cult of Mwari
Political structure	Kingdom
Mambo	Rusvingo (first)
	Unknown (last)
History
- Abandonment of Mupungubwe for Zimbabwe	1220
- Zimbabwe conquest of Mutapa	1430
- Abandonment of Zimbabwe for Mutapa	1450

The Kingdom of Zimbabwe (1220–1450) was a kingdom located in the territory of modern-day Zimbabwe. It is famous for its capital, Great Zimbabwe, the largest stone structure in Southern Africa until recent times.

Name

Main article: Name of Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is the modern name issued to the most prominent pre-colonial civilization in southern Africa. The name is derived from one of two possible terms: the Shona (dzimba dza mabwe or "great stone houses") or iKalanga (Nzi we mabwe or "Home stead of Stone"). The latter is more likely to be the source because its emphasis is on the entire stone territory and not the actual dwellings which are mud huts. The Shona reference to stone houses is highly unlikely as an etymological source for the modern term Zimbabwe because the houses found there are mud huts rather than stone houses. The Shona term is of recent derivation and refers to present-day inhabitants of Eastern and Northern Zimbabwe. It is also used as a collective name for Zezuru, Karanga, Manyika and other similar dialects. The term's use is traced by some researchers to Mzilikazi.

Origin

The creators of the Zimbabwe kingdom immigrated to the Zimbabwe plateau from the Kingdom of Mapungubwe in southern Africa in the early 13th century. This was likely as a result of changes on the Swahili Coast, regarding the demand for gold (which the Zimbabwe hills had) over ivory (Mapungubwe's chief export).

Culture & Expansion

Towers of Great Zimbabwe.

The rulers of Zimbabwe brought artistic and stonemasonry traditions from Mapungubwe. The construction of elaborate Stone buildings and walls reached its apex in the kingdom. The institution of mambo was also used at Zimbabwe, along with an increasingly rigid three-tiered class structure. The kingdom taxed other rulers throughout the region. The kingdom was composed of over 150 tributaries headquartered in their own minor zimbabwes. They established rule over a wider area than Mapungubwe, Butua or Mutapa.

Economy

The kingdom of Zimbabwe controlled the ivory and gold trade from the interior to the southeastern coast of Africa. Asian and Arabic goods could be found in abundance in the kingdom. Cattle domestication, which had been crucial to the earlier proto-Shona states, was also practiced.

Mutapa Conquest and Decline

Around 1430, a prince from Zimbabwe traveled north in search of salt among the Shona-Tavara. The prince was Nyatsimba Mutota, and the land he conquered would become the kingdom of Mutapa. Within a generation, Mutapa eclipsed Zimbabwe as the economic and political power in southern Africa. By 1450, the capital and most of the kingdom had been abandoned.

Aftermath

The end of the kingdom resulted in a fragmenting of proto-Shona power. Two bases emerged along a north-south axis. In the north, the kingdom of Mutapa carried on and even improved upon Zimbabwe's administrative structure. It did not carry on the stonemasonry tradition to the extent of its predecessor.

In the south, the Kingdom of Butua was established as a smaller but nearly identical version of Zimbabwe. Both states were eventually absorbed into the largest and most powerful of the Kalanga states, the Rozwi Empire.

See also

• Great Zimbabwe
• Kingdom of Mapungubwe
• History of Zimbabwe
• Kingdom of Butua
• Kingdom of Mutapa
• Khami Ruins
• Dlodlo Ruins

Sources

• Oliver, Roland & Anthony Atmore (1975). Medieval Africa 1250–1800. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 738. ISBN 0-52120-413-5. 

• Owomoyela, Oyekan (2002). Culture and customs of Zimbabwe. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 163. ISBN 0-31331-583-3. 

• Stewart, John (1989). African States and Rulers. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc.. pp. 395. ISBN 0-89950-390-X. 

• Wieschhoff, H. A. (2006). The Zimbabwe-Monomotapa Culture in Southeast Africa. Whitefish: Kessinger Publishing. pp. 116. ISBN 1-42865-488-7.