The Rozvi Empire (c. 16831866) was a Shona state established by Changamire Dombo on the Zimbabwean Plateau. The term "Rozvi" refers to their legacy as a warrior nation, taken from the Shona term kurozva, "to plunder". They became the most powerful fighting force in the whole of Zimbabwe.
Early in the 17th century, Mutapa was vassalised by the Portuguese, and over the following decades Portuguese settlers regularly raided its Shona subjects on the Plateau, while disease and famine devastated the region. The 1670s and '80s saw the rise of Changamire Dombo (likely a Mutapa governor who used royal cattle herds to gain followers); Dombo defeated the Portuguese and Mutapa in battle before turning south to conquer Butua c. 1683. In the 1690s, he came to the aid of a Mutapa ruler and massacred Portuguese traders, forcing all Portuguese off of the Plateau. He also conquered Manyika before his death c. 1696. The following decades saw several succession conflicts, and some offshoots of its dynasty migrated to found states elsewhere.
Throughout the 18th and early-19th centuries, the Rovzi state struggled to control the influx of many groups who conquered its subjects and sometimes ceased paying tribute, weakening Rozvi power. A severe drought occurred between 1795 and 1800, during which Changamire Rupandamananga was said to have let his people starve, sparking a series of civil wars which lasted up until at least 1808. The state persevered through another major drought in the 1820s, but invasions in quick succession from Nguni groups during the Mfecane in the 1830s spelled its end; the Rozvi army managed to fend off the first few invading groups, but Changamire Chirisamhuru was killed around 1835 by Nyamazana's Ngoni, leaving the state headless and leadership fragmented between royal houses until it was conquered and subdued around 1838 by Mzilikazi's Ndebele. Chirisamhuru's son, Tohwechipi, rebelled against Ndebele rule, but was defeated and he finally surrendered after a lengthy siege in 1866.
There is little information available on the Rozvi Empire because the Portuguese were barred from entering it, meaning contemporary accounts were based on hearsay, and dynastic oral traditions were greatly disrupted by migrations and the Ndebele and British conquests of the 1840s and 1890s respectively.
History
Changamire I and Mutapa A 1506 account by Diogo de Alcáçova mentions a 'Changamire' (termed "Changamire I" by historians) who revolted against Mutapa in the 1490s. The genealogy of Changamire I has been the subject of speculation by scholars. Some scholars say he was a member of the Torwa dynasty of Butua or a friend of them, while others say he was a son of Matope or that he married one of Matope's daughters. After analysing Valoyi traditions, Mathebula and Mokgoatšana say that Changamire was likely a descendant of both dynasties, being the son of Matope or having married Matope's daughter (or both were true and he married his sister).
According to Alcáçova's account, rumours were spread by others close to Mukombero that Changamire, an influential Mutapa governor and member of the Torwa dynasty, was plotting for the kingship, and Mukombero ordered Changamire to undertake a poison trial, wherein if he drank the poison () and were harmed by it, he would be deemed guilty. Accordingly, c. 1490 Changamire led an army to Mukombwe's and killed him, afterwards assuming the kingship. He is also said to have killed 21 of Mukombwe's sons, with Chikuyo Chisamarengu being the only one to escape. Around 1494, Chikuyo returned with a large army, and they fought a long and deadly battle ending in Changamire I's death. Chikuyo assumed the kingship and consolidated his rule over the empire, except for '' which stayed loyal to the successor Changamire II; over the course of the following decades the is known to have fought Changamire II (likely aided by Butua) intermittently, until at least 1512.
Scholars differ on whether Changamire Dombo, the founder of the Rozvi Empire, descended from Changamire I. Stan Mudenge considered to have been a honorific title, though others such as Catrien Van Waarden and David Beach thought it to have been a dynastic name, and Van Waarden says that Changamire I may have been the founder of the lineage that produced Dombo.
Origins and the conquests of Changamire Dombo The followers of Changamire Dombo came from an area in the northeast of the Zimbabwean Plateau, between the upper Mazoe and rivers where the (heart) totem predominated. Following the ascension of Mavhura to the Mutapa kingship in 1629 during his war with Kapararidze, Mutapa became a Portuguese vassal. The following decades saw widespread lawlessness as Portuguese -holders in Mutapa, who were outside the jurisdiction of the 's courts due to the terms of the vassalage treaty, regularly raided and enslaved their Shona neighbours (and even deposed a ), with the Portuguese Crown unable and unwilling to stop them, incensing provincial chiefs. From the late 1660s to '80s, the wider region was devastated by locusts, smallpox, measles, and plagues (the effects of which were worsened by insecurity), with many villages and fields left abandoned. Trade greatly decreased, and Mudenge estimated that over half of Mutapa's population may have died.
Changamire Dombo (called "" or "" in traditions) is reported to have either been the keeper of Mukombwe's royal cattle herds which he used to gain support in territory, or the leader of a Mutapa army who rebelled. Both Mudenge and Beach considered the former to be true. The system involved someone loaning their cattle to another, who was permitted to keep the cattle's product and profit from it, but not to dispose of the cattle, effectively constituting vassalage. Beach said that Dombo's rise to power likely began in the 1670s, and he used the royal herds to gain followers, before seizing some land which Mukombwe then spuriously granted to him. Portuguese presence in Mutapa had been greatly reduced by the disasters, and in the early 1680s the Portuguese Crown ordered settlers to leave Mutapa to prevent Mukombwe's rebellion. However, throughout the 1680s and '90s Portuguese presence in the region increased again, as they sought to revive their occupation of Mutapa. According to one source, the Portuguese in the gold-producing kingdom of Manyika paid (a tax permitting trade) to Dombo, and had been attacked by his forces after refusing to continue payments, causing them to move into Maungwe. Around 1683, Dombo's forces attacked the Portuguese forces of the in Maungwe (in which the governor reportedly invested all of the Portuguese resources of the Zambezi Valley) and decisively defeated them. But before Dombo could pursue the retreating army, his land was attacked by Mukombwe's forces, which he also defeated, and it was reported that all Mutapa grandees and some Portuguese in Mutapa were killed.
With his followers (called "Rozvi", from the verb meaning "to destroy"), c. 1683 Dombo next turned to the Kingdom of Butua in the southwest of the Plateau. This out-migration was partly due to famine and disease in the northeast, but also because the (king) of Butua (which was wealthy) had recently won a civil war with Portuguese assistance, and their withdrawal may have left the in a weak position. A drier climate after c. 1675 may have also incentivised Rozvi out-migration, while also weakening Butua's 's legitimacy as he failed to bring rain. Rozvi traditions say that in Butua there were two rulers, Chibundule and Tumbare of the (monkey/baboon) and (calabash) totems respectively, who both lived on hills (symbolising power and royalty), and that Dombo built his own hill taller than theirs. Kalanga (Butua) traditions say that Dombo was only able to defeat Chibundule (represented as having supernatural powers) by giving Chibundule his daughter/sister in marriage who cut his braids (worn like a horn on the fontanelle, symbolising power). Gifting a relative as a wife was often an act of submission, and one account said that Dombo initially paid tribute to Butua. Chibundule is then said to have been defeated in battle, before fleeing to the Matombo a Bhuba mountains where he disappeared. Kalanga traditions also mention Tumbare, but only as a Chief Councillor of Dombo, though they do detail how Tumbare's father attempted to take power three times (the third involving Chibundule's marriage). Van Waarden said that, along with the possible relations from Changamire I, Dombo's mother may have been Torwa as her lineage is said to have had the totem. Van Waarden concludes that factionalism in Butua likely allowed Dombo to support Tumbare to the Butua kingship, before "pushing him aside". Dombo spent the following years consolidating his rule in Butua.
Around 1693, Dombo may have supported Nyakunembire to the Mutapa kingship, foiling Portuguese plans to install their preferred candidate, and Nyakunembire requested Dombo's assistance against the Portuguese. In 1693 Dombo's forces attacked the (marketplace) of Dambarare, killing all its inhabitants and burning its church; all were subsequently abandoned save for ones in Manyika, and Portuguese traders fled, eventually reaching Tete. Dombo's forces likely continued to wreak havoc, burning down Masapa, and at some point relations between him and Nyakunembire soured. Dombo left to pursue his own interests elsewhere on the Plateau. By 1694 Dombo was back in the northeast campaigning in Maungwe, at which time Nyakunembire was ousted by the Portuguese candidate, and he fled to Dombo. Mudenge wrote that Dombo could have intervened and returned Nyakunembire back to power, but chose not to. In 1695 Dombo's forces invaded Manyika, forcing the temporary abandonment of its , and replacing its (king) with his own candidate, possibly Nyakunembire. From then on, Manyika was a Rozvi vassal. Following these battles and conquests, the Rozvi gained a reputation for ferocity and invincibility, said to have been due to their war drums. Throughout Dombo's reign, the Portuguese were terrified of possible attacks on Tete, Sena, and Sofala, viewing their own expulsion from the Plateau as comeuppance for their previous actions, however these did not happen as Dombo died c. 1696.
After Dombo Following Dombo's death, there was a succession dispute involving his sons, one of which ("Sababec" according to a Portuguese record) hurried back to Butua from the campaign in Manyika. In the late-17th century, members of the Changamire dynasty migrated southwards to the Soutpansberg to found the Venda Kingdom at Dzata, with traditions mentioning "political dissension". Around the early-18th century, a group of Rozvi led by Sawanga migrated north to the Lower Gwai and founded the Nambya state at Hwange. Thomas Huffman considered both of these migrations to have been led by losing sons of the succession dispute. Another Rozvi group led by Chireya overcame the Shangwe Confederacy on the . One Rozvi tradition says that the kingship was offered to Washaya who refused it, and Nechasike or Nechapingura ascended instead. Another tradition says that Dombo's successor was assisted by Kalanga ruler "Ndumba" (who was married to his sister, and possibly identified with Tumbare). In 1702, the Changamire raided Mutapa and helped Samutumbu Nyamhandu overthrow Chirimbe, though Chirimbe was reinstated a year later with Portuguese support.