Kingdom of Mutapa
This article is about the specific polity Kingdom of Mutapa and therefore only includes events related to its territory and not to its possessions or colonies. If you are interested in the possession, this is the link to the article about the nation which includes all possessions as well as all the different incarnations of the nation.
If you are looking for the page with the statistics about this polity you can find it here:All Statistics
Was a precolonial polity in sotuhern Africa that controlled regions of modern-day Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
Establishment
January 1431: Nyatsimba Mutota was a warrior prince who founded the Kingdom of Mutapa in the early 15th century.
Chronology
Interactive Chronologies with maps are available in the section Changes Navigation
1. Events
January 1481: Matope's armies overran the kingdom of the Manyika as well as the coastal kingdoms of Kiteve and Madanda.
January 1481: The empire of Mutapa had reached its full extent by the year 1480 a mere 50 years following its creation.
January 1516: In 1515, the Portuguese explorer Tristão da Cunha established control over the coast of actual Mozambique, including Sofala and Kilwa. This marked the expansion of Portuguese influence in southeast Africa, as they sought to establish trade routes and control over valuable resources in the region.
January 1531: By the 1530s, small groups of Portuguese traders and prospectors seeking gold penetrated the interior regions of Mozambique, where they set up garrisons and trading posts at Sena and Tete.
January 1569: In 1561, a Portuguese Jesuit missionary managed to make his way into the Mwenemutapa's court and convert him to Christianity. This did not go well with the Muslim merchants in the capital, and they persuaded the king to kill the Jesuit only a few days after the former's baptism. This was all the excuse the Portuguese needed to penetrate the interior and take control of the gold mines and ivory routes. After a lengthy preparation, an expedition of 1,000 men under Francisco Barreto was launched in 1568. They managed to get as far as the upper Zambezi, but local disease decimated the force.
January 1573: As local diseases decimated their force, the Portuguese left Mutapa.
January 1630: In 1629 the Mwenemutapa attempted to throw out the Portuguese. He failed and in turn he himself was overthrown, leading to the Portuguese installation of Mavura Mhande Felipe on the throne. Mutapa signed treaties making it a Portuguese vassal and ceding gold mines, but none of these concessions were ever put into effect. Mutapa remained nominally independent, though practically a client state.
January 1721: The Rozwi quickly lost interest in Mutapa, as they sought to consolidate their position in the south. Mutapa regained its independence around 1720. By this time, the kingdom of Mutapa had lost nearly all of the Zimbabwe plateau to the Rozwi Empire.
January 1741: Mbire state founded.
Disestablishment
January 1760: The Mwenemutapa died in 1759, sparking yet another civil war for the throne. This one was more destructive than its predecessors and Mutapa never recovered. The "winners" ended up governing an even more reduced land from Chidima.
