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Great Lives from History: The Incredibly Wealthy

Mwene Matapa Nyatsimba

by Cynthia A. Bily

Shona monarch

Nyatsimba founded a flourishing empire in southeastern Africa and was one of the greatest African monarchs. His kingdom engaged in industry and trade with the rest of the world in the last years before European conquest changed the continent.

Sources of wealth: Inheritance; conquest; trade

Bequeathal of wealth: Unknown

Early Life

Mwene Matapa Nyatsimba (MWEH-nay mah-TAH-pah nyaht-SIHM-bah) was born in southern Africa around 1400, the son of Chikura Wadyambeu, a prominent chief, or mambo. Nyatsimba is said to have descended from Mbire, the king who is credited with crossing the Zambezi River and conquering the land that is now Zimbabwe and Mozambique around 1000-1050, establishing the Mbire or Matapa Dynasty. The name Mwene Matapa Nyatsimba is composed of two Bantu words, mwene, meaning lord or chief, and matapa, meaning “the ravished lands” or “the conquered lands.” Mwene Matapa, also known as Mwene Mutapa, and in Portuguese as Monomotapa, became the name of the Shona kingdom that rose in the early fifteenth century between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers in southeastern Africa. Nyatsimba, the first ruler of this kingdom, used the term Mwene Matapa to refer both to his kingdom and to himself, as did his successors. The Shona at this time had no written language, and so precise dates and names are difficult to determine.

First Ventures

According to oral tradition, Nyatsimba was sent by his father on an expedition to find a source of salt. To the north of his father’s lands, he found the Tavara tribe, who lived on a bend in the Zambezi River that had good supplies of salt, as well as elephants and other game. Nyatsimba conquered the tribe and set himself up as king of Mwene Matapa around 1420 or 1430, establishing a capital in the middle of the Zambezi Valley in the ancient stone city known as the Great Zimbabwe (or “great stone city”). At its peak, this city was home to more than twenty thousand people.

Mwene Matapa became the first major civilization to become established in Zimbabwe, that is, the first state with permanent settlements, government, industry, and trade. The area was rich in natural resources, including salt, copper, and gold, and soon the kingdom had flourishing textile and ironwork industries, as well as agriculture and trade. Another important source of wealth was the plundering of neighboring lands.

Mature Wealth

By the time Nyatsimba died, around 1450, he had expanded the territory of his kingdom to include most of what is now Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Nyatsimba’s personal fortune included gold, copper, jewels, elephants, and even Chinese porcelain. His capital city was located near Mount Fura on the Zambezi River. Many scholars believe that the Great Zimbabwe declined about this time because its gold was petering out and the environment had degraded from overuse and drought.

From this new capital, Nyatsimba continued to expand his territory through conquest. Nyatsimba was still the undisputed king, said to have a staff of one hundred female bodyguards and vassals ruling over smaller regions of the kingdom. The vassals’ loyalty was bought, in part, with gifts of cattle herds, captured from other tribes. Nyatsimba had a large circle of advisers, made many decisions through consensus, and sent ambassadors to forge trust with trading partners. The kingdom by this time was involved in the copper trade and was a part of a network of gold traders that had extended its business to China.

Legacy

Mwene Matapa Nyatsimba created one of the richest of the great African kingdoms, lasting from about 1420 to 1629. Under the leadership of his son, Matope Nyanhehwe, the state remained strong, but it began to decline with the next generation. In the seventeenth century, the kingdom was invaded and conquered by the Portuguese. Nyatsimba, or perhaps his son, was the last ruler to inhabit the Great Zimbabwe, an architectural marvel that had begun flourishing as one of the world’s great cities in the eleventh century. The city was deserted by the end of the sixteenth century when Portuguese traders first saw it.

Further Reading

1 

Henriksen, Thomas H. Mozambique: A History. London: Collings, 1978.

2 

Oliver, Roland Anthony, and Anthony Atmore. Medieval Africa, 1250-1800. 2d ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

3 

Owomoyela, Oyekan. Culture and Customs of Zimbabwe Santa Barbara, Calif.: Greenwood Press, 2002.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Bily, Cynthia A. "Mwene Matapa Nyatsimba." Great Lives from History: The Incredibly Wealthy, edited by Howard Bromberg, Salem Press, 2010. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=GLIW_1295369001295.
APA 7th
Bily, C. A. (2010). Mwene Matapa Nyatsimba. In H. Bromberg (Ed.), Great Lives from History: The Incredibly Wealthy. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Bily, Cynthia A. "Mwene Matapa Nyatsimba." Edited by Howard Bromberg. Great Lives from History: The Incredibly Wealthy. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2010. Accessed December 14, 2025. online.salempress.com.