MUTAPA EMPIRE — ZIMBABWE'S PREDECESSOR

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]This empire held European powers at arms length for 200 years, [music] and it wasn't defeated by an army. 1430, the Mutapa empire monopolized every trade [music] route gold traveled to reach the East African coast. At its height, it controlled the entire interior of Southern Africa, modern Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and parts of South Africa. Portuguese traders [music] tried to deal directly with the gold mines.

[00:00:26]Mutapa blocked every route. Portuguese missionaries tried [music] to convert the king. He executed them. So, the Portuguese tried something [music] different. They found a pretender to the throne, armed him, helped him seize power, installed a puppet ruler in [music] 1629.

[00:00:43]The man they put on the throne signed a treaty giving [music] Portugal everything. The Mutapa empire, which had held European powers at arms length for 200 [music] years, was not ended by military defeat.

[00:00:55]It was ended by a traitor [music] who wanted a crown.

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