Rozwi Empire
This article is about the specific polity Rozwi Empire 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 Shona state centered on the Zimbabwean Plateau. At times, it was a regional power, and was a main obstacle to the colonization of the region by the Portuguese Empire. It lasted more than 400 years and ended with the conquest of the region by the Kingdom of Mthwakazi.
Establishment
January 1661: Rozvi conquest of Butua.
Chronology
Interactive Chronologies with maps are available in the section Changes Navigation
1. Events
January 1696: In 1695, Changamire Dombo overran the gold-producing kingdom of Manyika and took his army east and destroyed the Portuguese fair-town of Masikwesi.
January 1701: The Chinamhora dynasty settled in Shavasha.
January 1713: In 1712, yet another coveter of the throne invited the Rozwi back to put him on the throne and kick out the Portuguese. This they did, and Mutapa again came under the control of the Rozwi Empire.
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 1721: The Rozwi Empire gained control of the Zimbabwe Plateau in 1720.
January 1825: In southern Mozambique, not far from Delagoa Bay, where Soshanganenote had preceded them and was in the process of establishing his kingdom. He consolidates the organization of his kingdom, which he names Gaza after his grandfather's name.
January 1825: Nguni armies, Southern (Xhosa) and especially Northern Nguni (Zulu, Swazi, Shangani, Gaza, Matabele or Ndebele, and Ngoni) people who speak related Bantu languages and inhabit southeast Africa from Cape Province to southern Mozambique, began to migrate to Mozambique from what is now South Africa. One Nguni chief, Nxaba, established a short-lived kingdom inland from Sofala.
January 1826: In 1825, Sotshangane Nxumalo, the grandson of Gaza Nxumalo, established the polity of AmaGaza in Manica, Mozambique.
January 1827: In 1826, several Nguni groups joined the Gaza Empire ruled by Soshangane.
December 1837: In 1837, one of the two migrating parties led by the Ndebele king Mzilikazi settled in modern-day Bulawayo. In Mzilikazi's absence, his son Nkulumane was installed as the acting king of the territory, which later became part of the Matabele Kingdom.
January 1841: In 1840, Mzilikazi, leader of the Ndebele, fleeing the Zulus, dominated the place and established the Matabele kingdom there, with Bulawayo as its capital.
Disestablishment
January 1867: Rozwi ruler Changamire Tohwechipi, a refugee in the mountains of Mavangwe, resisted until 1866, when he submitted to the Kingdom of Mthwakazi.
