Mutapa Empire

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Kingdom of Mutapa Mwene we Mutapa
14th/15th century–1760/1888
Coat of arms granted to the Mwenemutapa in 1569 by the King of Portugal.
Monomotapa and surrounding kingdoms
Capital	Zvongombe
Common languages	Shona
Religion	Shona traditional religion
Government	Monarchy
Mwenemutapa/ Munhumutapa
• c. 1430 – c. 1450	Nyatsimba Mutota (first)
• 1740–1759	Dehwe Mupunzagutu (last)
History
• Established by Nyatsimba Mutota	circa 1450 14th/15th century
• Portuguese protectorate	1629
• Mutapa dynasty schism	1712
• Disintegrated in Civil war	1760
• Conquered by the Portuguese	1888 1760/1888
Area
16th century[1]	700,000 km2 (270,000 sq mi)
Preceded by Succeeded by Kingdom of Zimbabwe Rozvi Empire Portuguese Mozambique

The Mutapa Empire – sometimes referred to as the Mutapa Kingdom, Mwenemutapa, (Shona: Mwene (or Munhu) we Mutapa, Portuguese: Monomotapa) – was an African empire in Zimbabwe, which expanded to what is now modern-day Mozambique, Botswana, Malawi, and Zambia.

The Portuguese term Monomotapa is a transliteration of the Shona royal title Mwenemutapa or Munhumutapa derived from a combination of two words Mwene or Munhu meaning Man, and Mutapa meaning conqueror. Over time the monarch's royal title was applied to the kingdom as a whole, and used to denote the kingdom's territory on maps from the period.^[2]