Kingdom of Mutapa

Kingdom of Mutapa
Mwene we Mutapa
1430–1760
Coat of arms granted to the Mwenemutapa in 1569 by the King of Portugal. of Kingdom of Mutapa
Coat of arms granted to the Mwenemutapa in 1569 by the King of Portugal.
Monomotapa and surrounding kingdoms
Monomotapa and surrounding kingdoms
CapitalZvongombe
Common languagesShona
Religion
Shona traditional religion
GovernmentMonarchy
Mwenemutapa/ Munhumutapa 
• c. 1430 – c. 1450
Nyatsimba Mutota (first)
• 1740–1759
Dehwe Mupunzagutu (last)
History 
• Established by Nyatsimba Mutota
circa 1450 1430
• Portuguese protectorate
1629
• Mutapa dynasty schism
1712
• Disintegrated in Civil war
1760
Area
16th century[1]700,000 km2 (270,000 sq mi)
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Kingdom of Zimbabwe
Rozvi Empire
Portuguese Mozambique

The Kingdom of Mutapa – sometimes referred to as the Mutapa Empire, Mwenemutapa, (Shona: Mwene (or Munhu) we Mutapa, Portuguese: Monomotapa) – was an African kingdom in Zimbabwe, which expanded to what is now modern-day Mozambique, Botswana, Malawi, and Zambia .

A sixteenth-century Portuguese map of Monomotapa lying in the interior of southern Africa.

The Portuguese term Monomotapa is a transliteration of the Shona royal title Mwenemutapa or Munhumutapa derived from a combination of two words Mwene or Munhu meaning Man, and Mutapa meaning conqueror. Over time the monarch's royal title was applied to the kingdom as a whole, and used to denote the kingdom's territory on maps from the period.[2]

  1. ^ Bairoch, page 59
  2. ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Monomotapa" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.