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Conflict Africa

Great Zimbabwe & Mutapa Wars

1100 CE – 1629 CE · 529 years

Rise and fall of the Great Zimbabwe civilization and its successor the Mutapa Empire, which controlled gold trade in southeastern Africa before Portuguese interference.

Belligerents

The main peoples, kingdoms and states involved.

  • Great Zimbabwe / Mutapa Empire
  • Rival Shona kingdoms, Portuguese colonists

Key moments

Defining events in the Great Zimbabwe & Mutapa Wars.

  1. c. 1100 Establishment of Great Zimbabwe
  2. 1629 Portuguese Battle of Dambarare
  3. 1693 Changamire dynasty's expulsion of Portuguese

Elsewhere in Africa at the time

Records whose own span overlaps this one, found by the same test the canvas draws with. The bar under each card is where it sits inside this one.

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Image credits3 pictures from Wikimedia Commons