The Great Empires
Great Empires: In the southwestern part of Zimbabwe, there were two strong states from the late 1400s to the early 1800s. The area is mostly farmland and borders the Kalahari Desert. Archaeology reveals that it was once home to people from the Toutswe State period (around 900–1200).
The Leopard’s Kopje culture, associated with the towns of Mapela and Mapungubwe in the Limpopo Valley and Ntabazingwe near Bulawayo, defines the native people. Portuguese records from the 1600s and 1700s likely refer to this area as the Guruuswa (“tall grass”), also known as Butua.
Cow ranching, an ancient economic practice dating back over 400 years, currently occupies this land. Traditional drought-resistant crops like millet and sorghum can only grow in areas where there is little rain and frequent droughts. Besides these, there are also horses that eat mopane leaves during the dry seasons.
According to Portuguese records, there is a rich gold belt, but the kings’ wealth and power came from their cattle. It was easy to take care of cattle, they grew quickly, and they could be traded for other things. Rulers used cattle to protect themselves in case crops failed and to express gratitude to the army, miners, metal workers, and traders.
Khami served as the capital of the first of these states, Torwa, which existed from around 1450 to 1660. Changamire Dombo (d. 1695) founded the Rozvi State, which took its place (between 1680 and 1830). Rebels or outsiders (vatorwa) from the Mutapa state are believed to have started the Torwa state in the second half of the 1500s.
A family known as the Torwa split off and established themselves in Guruuswa, located on the southwestern edge of the state, around 1494. It is linked to the Torwa, and there was a rebellion in Mutapa State from 1490 to 1547. From 1547 onwards, they remained silent until a civil war destroyed their city in the middle of the 1600s.
In the early 1640s, there was a political dispute in the area that the Torwa controlled. During a power battle, one of the Torwa rulers lost and had to leave. The Portuguese sent a small army under the leadership of Sismundo Dias Bayao to help end the fighting. This event has something to do with Khami’s fall. The center moved about 150 kilometers to the east, and the Torwa ruled there until the early 1680s.
In reaction to the growing threat of Portuguese traders and people holding prazos from the northeast, the military changed a lot between the 1640s and 1680s. People were worried about how shaky the government was in Mutapa State and how many more Portuguese were on the Zimbabwe Plateau. In 1684, the Dombo Changamire-led Karanga took control from the Torwa family.
The group was known as the Rozvi. Dombo Changamire started a strong state that had an impact on places like Mukaranga, Mbire, and Manyika, which were once part of the Mutapa State. Not much is known about Dombo Changamire, but history sources say he was related to one of the Torwa leaders and became a politician by getting rich from cattle.
His name is also tied to Mutapa State, where Portuguese records say he worked as a herder for the king. Stories about him say that he had special powers, like the ability to make it rain. He was also known for his other magical abilities and bravery.
The Portuguese thought he was a wizard, most likely because of how well he did in battle. He appears to have made his army so strong that it defeated the Portuguese and drove them off the Zimbabwe Plateau in the 1680s.
Archeological methods have found stone buildings from at least the 1400s in the southwest of Zimbabwe. These buildings feature protective walls composed of well-shaped rectangular blocks, topped by platforms supporting circular houses.
There are many checkered, herringbone, dentelle, and other linear designs on the walls. Khami, near Bulawayo, is where most of the people live. In the area that the Torwa used to rule, there are stone houses of different sizes. The Rozvi continued to build with stone and made pottery with bands, panels, and incised designs in various colors.
Their main city was Danangombe, and Naletale, Zinjanja, and Manyanga were also important towns. This similarity in culture between Torwa and Rozvi makes it seem like they were the same person. The southwest’s stone building design shows how the culture that used to be based in Great Zimbabwe grew.
After Dombo Changamire died, there were disagreements about who should take over as king. These arguments weakened the power of the state. A lot of Rozvi people moved to new places, and some of them set up chiefdoms where they lived. One of Dombo Changamire’s sons went to Hwange in the northwest and set up a government with the Nambya and the Tonga.
Another son crossed the Limpopo River and took over the Venda’s land, establishing a city called Dzata in the Zoutpansberg. Around 1730, Dutch traders who lived in Delagoa Bay talked about Thovhela State. The Zimbabwean culture system has been found in both the Nambya and the Venda, which shows that the culture is still alive and growing.
The Torwa-Rozvi ruled in southwest Zimbabwe for almost 400 years. The number of Rozvi people decreased when the Mfecane groups from the south of Limpopo arrived. Direct attacks from the Sotho and Nguni, along with the later Ndebele settlement, wiped out the Rozvi in the 1850s.
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