Mwene Mutapa Emerges

1410

The Shona kingdom of Mutapa was taking form north of the Zambezi as Great Zimbabwe declined. Its rulers styled themselves Mwene Mutapa, controlling gold exports that would later attract Portuguese traders. Swahili merchants already carried Mutapa gold to Kilwa and thence to Arabia, India, and China. The kingdom's stone enclosures, built without mortar, dotted the Zambezi corridor and marked the northward migration of Shona power.