² Among the many works published in this field may be cited Dike, K. O., Trade and Politics in the Niger Delta (Oxford, 1956);Google ScholarJones, G. I., The Trading States of the Oil Rivers (London, 1963);Google ScholarBirmingham, D., Trade and Conflict in Angola (Oxford, 1966);Google Scholar more recently Gray, R. and Birmingham, D. (eds.), Pre-Colonial African Trade: Essays on Trade in Central and Eastern Africa before 1900 (London, 1970).Google Scholar

³ The Rozvi empire discussed here was founded by a man known in oral tradition as Dombo, but referred to simply as Changamire in contemporary Portuguese documents. For the argument that the name Rozvi and the Rozvi nation did not exist before Dombo's wars (1684–95) see Mudenge, S. I., ‘The Rozvi Empire and the Feira of Zumbo’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, London, 1972), 35–43.Google Scholar

⁴ Summers, R., Zimbabwe: a Rhodesian Mystery (Cape Town, 1963), 96.Google Scholar

⁵ Weinrich, A. K. H., ‘Karanga History and the Mwari Cult’, Cultures et développement, II, 2 (1969-1970), 394–6;Google ScholarSutherland-Harris, N., ‘Trade and the Rozwi Mambo’, in Gray and Birmingham, Pre-Colonial African Trade, 244, 246.Google Scholar

⁶ Sutherland-Harris, , ‘Trade and the Rozwi Mambo’, 245.Google Scholar

⁷ Ibid. 243; see also Isaacman, A., Mozambique: the Africanization of a European Institution: the Zambezi Prazos, 1750–1902 (Madison, Wisconsin, 1972), 82.Google Scholar

⁸ Bhila, H. H., ‘The Manyika and the Portuguese 1575–1863’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, London, 1971), 71.Google Scholar

⁹ Biblioteca da Ajuda Lisboa (B.A.L.), 51-VII-34, fl.51, “Proposta que fizerão os moradores dos Rios de Cuama ao Senhor V. Reys”, Senna, 27 June 1698, Manuel Rebello.

¹⁰ Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino, avulsos de Mocambique, Caixa (A.H.V.AV. de Moç. Cx.) 13 Tette, 20 July 1768, Inácio de Mello Alvim to Governor-General (G.G.).

¹¹ See Garbett, G. Kingsley, ‘Religious aspects of political succession among the valley Korekore (N. Shona)’, in Stokes, E. and Brown, R. (eds.), The Zambesian Past (Manchester, 1966), 152–6.Google Scholar Garbett shows just how confusing the situation could become. See also Holleman, J. F., ‘Some “Shona” Tribes of Southern Rhodesia’ in Colson, E. and Gluckman, M. (eds.), Seven Tribes of British Central Africa (Manchester, 1951), 380–2.Google Scholar

¹² E.g. between 1759 and 1766 no less than six Mutapas ruled. Each was in turn deposed. From 1766 to 1806 there were sporadic wars between the ruling Mutapas and pretenders to their throne. It could also be argued that it was the seventeenth-century succession wars within the Mutapa empire which, to a large extent, enabled the Portuguese prazo holders to gain such a strangle-hold over the valley lands during that period.

¹³ A.H.U. AV. de Moç. Cx. 13, Tette, 20 July 1768, lnácio de Mello Alvim to G.G.

¹⁴ E.g. Nenguwo, S., ‘Oral work among the Rozvi: a few notes’, in Conference of the History of the Central African Peoples (Rhodes–Livingstone Institute for Social Research, Lusaka, 1963), 6.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Mudenge, , ‘Rozvi Empire’, 106–8.Google Scholar

¹⁶ The Rozvi capital, according to tradition, was variously at Khami, Dhlo-dhlo and Manyanga.

¹⁷ Posselt, F. W. T., Fact and Fiction (Bulawayo, 1934), 157;Google ScholarMarodzi, , ‘The Barozwi’, Native Affairs Department Annual (NADA) (1924), 90.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Sutherland-Harris, , ‘Trade and the Rozwi Mambo’, 245;Google ScholarSummers, R., Zimbabwe: A Rhodesian Mystery (Cape Town, 1965), 96;Google ScholarBhila, , ‘Manyika’, 71.Google Scholar

¹⁹ These were the soldiers of the Mutapas.

²⁰ A.H.U. AV. de Moç. Cx. 22, Tette, 11 June 1785, Antônio Manoel de Mello e Castro to Martinho de Mello e Castro, Secretary of State for Overseas.

²¹ de Andrade, J. J. N., ‘Descripção de Estado em que ficavão os negocios da Capitania de Mossambique nos fins de Novembro do anno de 1789’, in Arquivo das colónias (Lisbon, 1917), I, 95Google Scholar Translation by Abraham, D. P., ‘The Monomotapa dynasty’, NADA (1959), 75.Google Scholar

²² I have personally been unable to trace where this part of the quotation comes from.

²³ de Andrade, J J. N., ‘Descripçao’, 95.Google Scholar

²⁴ A.H.U. AV. de Moç. Cx. 22, Tette, 11 June 1785, Antônio Manoel de Mello e Castro to Martinho de Mello e Castro.

²⁵ de Castro, F. de M., Descripção dos Rios de Senna anno de 1750 (Nova Goa, Imprensa nacional, 1861), 32, pars. 66.Google Scholar

²⁶ Ibid.

²⁷ Posselt, , Fact and Fiction, 147.Google Scholar

²⁸ de, F.de Castro, M., Descripção, 32–3, paras. 66–7;Google ScholarFortune, G., ‘A Rozvi Text with translation and notes’, NADA (1956), 83–4;Google ScholarColley, D. M., ‘The Fate of the last Bashankwe chief’, NADA (1927), 65–6.Google Scholar

²⁹ A.H.U. AV. de Moç. Cx. 17, Anon., ‘Descripção Corografica do Reino de Manica seus Custumes e Leis’; de Andrade, J. J. N., ‘Descripção’, 95; A.H.U.AV. de Moç. Cx. 22, Tette, II June 1785, A. M. de Mello e Castro to M. de Mello e Castro.Google Scholar

³⁰ A.H.U. AV. de Moç. Cx. 22, Tette, II June 1785, A. M. de Mello e Castro to M. de Mello e Castro.

³¹ A.H.U. AV. de Moç. Maço 21, I June 1831, Anon., ‘Acressentamento’ (annexe) to the ‘Memoria sobre a doação do Territorio Bandire’.

³² Wangemann, T., Geschichte der Berliner Missionsgesellschaft, Bd. IV: Die Berliner Mission im Bassutolande (Berlin, 1877), 70.Google Scholar

³³ See Gray, R., ‘Portuguese Musketeers on the Zambezi’; J. Afr. Hist., XII, 4 (1971), 531–3;CrossRefGoogle ScholarAtmore, A., Chirenje, J. M. and Mudenge, S. I., ‘Firearms in South Central Africa’, J. Afr. Hist. XII, 4 (1971), 551–2.Google Scholar

³⁴ Xavier, I. C., ‘Notícias dos Domínios Portugueses na Costa de áfrica Oriental’, in de Andrade, A. A. (ed.), Relações de Moçambique Setecentista (Agência Geral do Ultramar, Lisbon, 1955), 145.Google Scholar

³⁵ de Andrade, A. A., Relações, 145; also A.H.U. AV. de Moç. Cx. 22, Tette, II June 1785, A. M. de Mello e Castro to M. de Mello e Castro.Google Scholar

³⁶ ‘Corografica’, as cited in n. 29; also A.H.U. AV. de Moç. Cx. 22, Tette, II June 1785, A. M. de Mello e Castro to M. de Mello e Castro.

³⁷ Mudenge, , ‘Rozvi Empire’, 74–90, 116.Google Scholar

³⁸ Conceição, A. da, ‘Tratado dos Rios de Cuama (1696)’n Rivara, J. H. Cunha (ed.), O Chronista de Tissuary (Goa, 1867), 105, para. 106.Google Scholar

³⁹ Fortune, , ‘Rozvi Text’, 78.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Posselt, , Fact and Fiction, 156.Google Scholar

⁴¹ A.H.U. AV. de Moç. Cx. 22, Tette, II June 1785, A. M. de Mello e Castro to M. de Mello e Castro.

⁴² Mudenge, , ‘Rozvi Empire’, 122–3.Google Scholar

⁴³ Fortune, , ‘Rozvi Text’, 81, 83, 84;Google ScholarColley, , ‘Last Bashankwe Chief’, NADA (1927), 66;Google ScholarConceição, , ‘Tratado dos Rios de Cuama’, 106, para. 110;Google ScholarMuhianga, S., ‘In the Early Days’, NADA (1926), 109.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ B. A. L., 51-VII-34, fl. Goa, 12 December 1698, Antônio Luis da Camara Coutinho to king.

⁴⁵ Conceição, , ‘Tratado dos Rios de Cuama’, 106, paras. 109–10.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ Ibid. 105, para. 103.

⁴⁷ B.A.L. 51-VII-34, fl. 50, Senna, 27 June 1698, ‘Proposta que fizerão os Moradores dos Rios de Cuama ao Senhor V. Rey’, Manoel Rebello; A.H.U. AV. de Moç. Cx. 2, Senna, 24 July 1685, Caetano de Mello de Castro to king.

⁴⁸ A pasta was a weight of about 16½ ounces.

⁴⁹ de, F.de Castro, M., Descripçao dos. Rios de Senna, 32–3, paras. 66–7.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ A.H.U. AV. de Moç. Cx. 14, Moçambique, 15 Aug. 1773, Balthazar Manoel Pereira do Lago.

⁵¹ Mudenge, , ‘Rozvi Empire’, 275–8.Google Scholar

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⁵³ Bhila, , ‘Manyika’, 71.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ Summers, Zimbabwe: a Rhodesian Mystery, 96.Google Scholar

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⁵⁷ In the present guerrilla insurgence in north-eastern Rhodesia, for example, the Mhondoro (spirit mediums) seem to be playing an important role on both sides in the battle to win the support of the rural Africans.

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⁶³ E.g. Posselt, , Fact and Fiction, 158;Google ScholarSebina, A. M., ‘The Makalaka’, African Studies, VI, 2 (1947), 85–91.Google Scholar

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⁶⁸ Hist. Mss. Misc. /RU4/I/I, Rukara account, National Archives, Salisbury.

⁶⁹ ‘Corografica’, as cited in note 29.

⁷⁰ Ibid.

⁷¹ Posselt, , Fact and Fiction, 145;Google ScholarRobinson, K. ‘A History of the Bikita District’, NADA (1957), 77.Google Scholar

⁷² Posselt, , Fact and Fiction, 156;Google Scholarx Robinson, , ‘History of Bikita’, 80; Nenguwo, ‘The Rozvi: a few notes’, 6; Hist. Mss. Misc. /RU4/I/I, Rukara account; ‘Corografica’ as cited in note 29;Google ScholarWeinrich, , ‘Karanga History’, 396.Google Scholar

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⁷⁸ One such decree forbade all non-Africans, Portuguese and Goanese, to enter Butwa for the purposes of trade. Trade between the Rozvi and the Portuguese had to be carried on through African intermediaries known as vashambadzi. The only place where non Africans were allowed to stay for trade in the Rozvi empire was at the Feira of Manyika, where the Chikangas, the Rozvi vassal rulers of Manyika, kept a vigilant eye on their activities. So strict were the rulers of Manyika with the Portuguese that on at least one occasion the Rozvi had to intervene to restrain the ruling Chikanga's harsh treatment of the Portuguese at the Manyika Feira. But the reason why the Rozvi rulers forbade the Portuguese to wander freely in their empire was not so much economic as political. As one writer has so aptly remarked, the lesson of the seventeenth century in Zambezia was that long spoons were needed to sup with the Portuguese. The Rozvi Mambos understood the lesson only too well. As if to underline the fact that the ban on non-Africans was motivated by political considerations and not by a desire to enforce a trade monopoly, any Rozvi subject was free to trade at the Feira of Manyika whenever he chose to. Although trade between the Portuguese at Zumbo and the Rozvi empire was carried on largely through the vashambadzi, there is no evidence to suggest that the Rozvi rulers forbade their own subjects to visit Zumbo for trade. The distance as well as the need to traverse foreign lands and the inhospitable country of the Zambezi valley, rather than any decree of the Rozvi rulers, probably discouraged visits by Rozvi subjects to Zumbo. And, in any case, the regular visits by the vashambadzi made the journey to Zumbo unnecessary.

⁷⁹ de, F.de Castro, M., Descripção dos Bios de Senna, 33, para. 69.Google Scholar

⁸⁰ Mudenge, , ‘Rozvi Empire’, 206, 229, 385–9.Google Scholar

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⁸² ‘Inventario do Fundo do Século XVIII’ in Moçambique Doumentario Trimestral, no. 84, 1955, doc. 165, pp. 90–7 Zumbo, 13 Mar. 1769, Manuel da Costa.Google Scholar

⁸³ The document reads ‘regulos e bareiros ou chefes’.

⁸⁴ Sutherland-Harris, , ‘Trade and the Rozwi Mambo’, 258.Google Scholar

⁸⁵ Same as Vashambadzi.

⁸⁶ Term meaning trade goods or loads.

⁸⁷ Word used by the Portuguese in the Zambezi valley for cloth or goods.

⁸⁸ A.H.U. AV. de Moç. Cx. 42, Mucariva, 29 Jan. 1803, Manoel Francisco do Rozario.

⁸⁹ A.H.U. AV. de Moç. Cx. 23, Mossambique, 3 Dec. 1786, Manoel de Mello e Castro to M. de M. e Castro; A.H.U. AV. de Moç. Cx. 37, 9 Oct. 1800. Pedro Antônio Jose da Cunha to D. Rodrigo de Sousa Coutinho; A.H.U. AV. de Moç Cx. 21, Zumbo, 20 June 1784, C. de Sousa to Governor of the Rivers; See also Annais do Conselho Ultramarino, parte não official, Serie II, 186–7, ‘Mappa das minas conhecidas no Districto de Senna’, Senna, 30 July 1857, Izidoro Correia Pereira.

⁹⁰ See note 72 above.

⁹¹ See notes 49–51.

⁹² A.H.U. AV. de Moç. Cx. 14, Moçambique, 15 Aug. 1773, B.M.P. do Lago.

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¹⁰⁵ In this respect cattle may have played not a dissimilar role for Dombo I as they were to do for Moshoeshoe I, who according to P. B. Sanders, gained his supremacy over the other Sotho chiefs mainly because he possessed more cattle than they, and used the cattle through the Mafisa system (the Sotho equivalent of the Shona kuronzera) to increase his influence. See Sanders, P. B., ‘Sekonyela and Moshweshwe; failure and success in the aftermath of the Difaqane’, in J. Afr. Hist. x, 3 (1969), 439–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar