Editing History of Zimbabwe (section)

== Pre-Colonial era (150,000 BCE – 1852 CE) ==

{{main|Pre-colonial history of Zimbabwe}}

=== Prehistory ===
{{See also|Bantu expansion|Gokomere}}

By 150,000 BC, ''[[Human|Homo sapiens]]'' had migrated to the region now known as Zimbabwe from East Africa. Prior to the arrival of Bantu speakers in present-day Zimbabwe the region was populated by ancestors of the [[San people]]. The first Bantu-speaking farmers arrived during the Bantu expansion around 2000 years ago.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/pre-colonial-history-sa|title=Pre-colonial history of SA|website=South African History Online|access-date=17 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160702192857/http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/pre-colonial-history-sa|archive-date=2 July 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

These Bantu speakers were the makers of early Iron Age pottery belonging to the Silver Leaves or Matola tradition, of the third to fifth centuries A.D.,<ref>{{cite book|last=Huffman|first=T.N.|title=Handbook to the Iron Age|year=2007|publisher=University of KwaZulu-Natal Press|pages=123}}</ref> found in southeast Zimbabwe. This tradition was part of the eastern stream<ref>{{cite journal|last=Phillipson|first=D.W.|title=An Archaeological Reconsideration of Bantu Expansion|journal=Muntu|year=1985|volume=2|pages=69–84}}</ref> of Bantu expansion (sometimes called Kwale)<ref name="Huffman">{{cite book|last=Huffman|title=Handbook to the Iron Age}}</ref> which originated west of the Great Lakes, spreading to the coastal regions of southeastern Kenya and north eastern Tanzania, and then southwards to Mozambique, south eastern Zimbabwe and Natal.<ref>{{cite book|last=Phillipson|first=D.W.|title=African Archaeology 3rd ed.|year=1995|publisher=Cambridge|pages=250 ff}}</ref> More substantial in numbers in Zimbabwe were the makers of the [[Ziwa]] and [[Gokomere]] ceramic wares, of the fourth century A.D.<ref name="Huffman" /> Their early Iron Age ceramic tradition belonged to the highlands facies of the eastern stream,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Phillipson|first=D.W.|title=An Archaeological Reconsideration of Bantu Expansion|pages=77–8}}</ref> which moved inland to Malawi and Zimbabwe. Imports of beads have been found at Gokomere and Ziwa sites, possibly in return for gold exported to the coast.

A later phase of the Gokomere culture was the Zhizo in southern Zimbabwe. Zhizo communities settled in the Shashe-Limpopo area in the tenth century. Their capital there was Schroda (just across the Limpopo River from Zimbabwe). Many fragments of ceramic figurines have been recovered from there, including figures of animals and birds, and also fertility dolls. The inhabitants produced ivory bracelets and other ivory goods. Imported beads found there and at other Zhizo sites, are evidence of trade, probably of ivory and skins, with traders on the Indian Ocean coast.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=P. Mitchell |author2=G. Whitelaw |title=The Archaeology of Southernmost Africa from c. 2000 bp to the Early 1800s: a Review of Recent Research|journal=Journal of African History|year=2005|volume=46|issue=2 |pages=209–241|doi=10.1017/s0021853705000770|s2cid=162795390 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Phillipson|first=D.W.|title= Bantu-Speaking People in Southern Africa' in Obenga (ed), Les Peuples Bantu|year=1989|publisher=Paris|pages=156}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Mapungubwe: A Living Legacy|year=2011|publisher=Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection}}</ref>

Pottery belonging to a western stream of Bantu expansion (sometimes called Kalundu) has been found at sites in northeastern Zimbabwe, dating back to the seventh century.<ref>{{cite book|last=Phillipson|title=Bantu-Speaking People in Southern Africa|year=1989|pages=156}}</ref> (The western stream originated in the same area as the eastern stream: both belong to the same style system, called by Phillipson<ref>{{cite journal|last=Phillipson|first=D.W.title=An Archaeological Reconsideration of Bantu Expansion|pages=69–84}}</ref> the Chifumbadze system, which has general acceptance by archaeologists.) The terms eastern and western streams represent the expansion of the Bantu-speaking peoples in terms of their culture. Another question is about the branches of the Bantu languages which they spoke. It seems that the makers of the Ziwa/Gokomere wares were not the ancestral speakers of the [[Shona languages]] of today's Zimbabwe, who did not arrive in there until around the tenth century, from south of the Limpopo river, and whose ceramic culture belonged to the western stream. The linguist and historian Ehret believes that in view of the similarity of the Ziwa/Gokomere pottery to the Nkope of the ancestral [[Nyasa languages|Nyasa]] language speakers, the Ziwa/Gokomere people spoke a language closely related to the Nyasa group. Their language, whatever it was, was superseded by the ancestral Shona languages, although Ehret says that a set of Nyasa words occur in central Shona dialects today.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ehret|first=C.|title=An African Classical Age|year=2001|publisher=University Press of Virginia|pages=239}}</ref>

The evidence that the ancestral Shona speakers came from South Africa is that the ceramic styles associated with Shona speakers in Zimbabwe from the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries can be traced back to western stream (Kalunndu) pottery styles in South Africa. The Ziwa /Gokomere and Zhizo traditions were superseded by Leopards Kopje and Gumanye wares of the Kalundu tradition from the tenth century.<ref>{{cite book|last=Huffman|title=Handbook to the Iron Age|year=2007}}</ref>

Although the western stream Kalundu tradition was ancestral to Shona ceramic wares, the closest relationships of the ancestral Shona language according to many linguists<ref>{{cite book|last=Ehret|title=An African Classical Age}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Bastin Y, Coupez A, Mann M |title=Continuity and divergence in the Bantu languages: perspectives from a lexicostatistic study|journal=Annales, Sciences Humaines|year=1999|volume=162|pages=315–317 (the S languages)}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Guthrie|first=M.|title=Comparative Bantu: an introduction to the comparative linguistics and prehistory of the Bantu languages|year=1967–71|publisher=Gregg International}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author1=K. Rexová |author2=Y. Bastin |author3=D. Frynta |title=Cladistic analysis of Bantu Languages|journal=Naturwissenschaften|year=2006|doi=10.1007/s00114-006-0088-z |volume=93 |issue=4 |pages=189–194 |pmid=16514514|s2cid=1050952 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Holden|first=C.J.|title=Bantu language trees reflect the spread of farming across sub- Saharan Africa|journal=Proc. R. Soc. Lond.|volume=269|issue=1493|year=2002|pages=793–799|doi=10.1098/rspb.2002.1955|pmid=11958710|pmc=1690959}}</ref> were with a southern division of eastern Bantu – such languages as the southeastern languages ([[Nguni languages|Nguni]], [[Sotho-Tswana languages|Sotho-Tswana]], [[Tsonga language|Tsonga]]), Nyasa and Makwa. While it may well be the case that the people of the western stream spoke a language belonging to a wider Eastern Bantu division, it is a puzzle which remains to be resolved that they spoke a language most closely related to the languages just mentioned, all of which are today spoken in southeastern Africa.

After the Shona speaking people moved into the present day Zimbabwe many different dialects developed over time in the different parts of the country. Among these was [[Kalanga language|Kalanga]].

[[File:Tower, Great Zimbabwe1.jpg|thumb|Towers of [[Great Zimbabwe]].]]
It is believed that Kalanga speaking societies first emerged in the middle Limpopo valley in the early 12th century before moving on to the Zimbabwean highlands. The Zimbabwean plateau eventually became the centre of subsequent Kalanga states. The [[Kingdom of Mapungubwe]] was the first in a series of sophisticated trade states developed in Zimbabwe by the time of the first European explorers from Portugal. They traded in gold, [[ivory]] and copper for cloth and glass. From about 1250 until 1450, Mapungubwe was eclipsed by the [[Kingdom of Zimbabwe]]. This Kalanga state further refined and expanded upon Mapungubwe's stone architecture, which survives to this day at the ruins of the kingdom's capital of [[Great Zimbabwe]]. From {{Circa|1450}}–1760, Zimbabwe gave way to the [[Kingdom of Mutapa]]. This Kalanga state ruled much of the area that is known as Zimbabwe today, and parts of central [[Mozambique]]. It is known by many names including the [[Mutapa Empire]], also known as Mwenemutapa was known for its gold trade routes with [[Arabs]] and the [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]].<ref name="Hall 2005 241–244">{{cite book |title=Historical Archaeology |last=Hall |first=Martin |author2=Stephen W. Silliman |year=2005 |publisher=Wiley Blackwell |isbn=978-1-4051-0751-8 |pages=241–244 }}</ref> [[António Fernandes (explorer)|António Fernandes]], a Portuguese explorer, first entered the area in 1511 from [[Sofala]] and encountered the [[Manyika]] people. He returned in 1513 and explored the northern region of the territory, coming into contact with Chikuyo Chisamarengu, the ruler of Mutapa.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rubert |first1=Steven C. |last2=Rasmussen |first2=R. Kent |title=Historical Dictionary of Zimbabwe |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0000rube/page/90/mode/1up |series=African Historical Dictionaries |volume=86 |date=2001 |edition=3rd |publisher=[[Scarecrow Press]] |location=Lanham, Maryland |chapter=Antonio Fernandes |page=90 |isbn=0-8108-3471-5}}</ref> In the early 17th century, Portuguese settlers destroyed the trade and began a series of wars which left the empire in near collapse.<ref name="Hall 2005 241–244"/> As a direct response to Portuguese aggression in the interior, a new Kalanga state emerged called the [[Rozvi Empire]]. Relying on centuries of military, political and religious development, the Rozvi (which means "destroyers") removed the Portuguese from the Zimbabwe plateau by force of arms. The Rozvi continued the stone building traditions of the Zimbabwe and Mapungubwe kingdoms while adding guns to its arsenal and developing a professional army to protect its trade routes and conquests. Around 1821, the [[Zulu people|Zulu]] general [[Mzilikazi]] of the Khumalo clan successfully rebelled from King [[Shaka]] and created his own clan, the [[Ndebele people (Zimbabwe)|Ndebele]]. The Ndebele fought their way northwards into the [[South African Republic|Transvaal]], leaving a trail of destruction in their wake and beginning an era of widespread devastation known as the [[Mfecane]]. When [[Boer]] [[Great Trek|trekkers]] converged on the Transvaal in 1836, they drove the tribe even further northward.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

After losing their remaining South African lands in 1840, Mzilikazi and his tribe permanently settled the southwest of present-day Zimbabwe in what became known as [[Matabeleland]], establishing [[Bulawayo]] as their capital. Mzilikazi then organised his society into a military system with regimental [[kraal]]s, similar to those of Shaka, which was stable enough to repel further Boer incursions. During the pre-colonial period, the Ndebele social structure was stratified. It was composed mainly of three social groups, abeZansi, Enhla and Amahole. The Zansi were the ruling class of the original Khumalo people who migrated from south of Limpopo with Mzilikazi. The Enhla and Amahole groups were made up of other tribes and ethnics who had been incorporated into the empire during the migration. However, with the passage of time, this stratification has slowly disappeared<ref>{{cite web |url=https://pindula.co.zw/Ndebele |title=The Ndebele People |access-date=24 May 2019 |archive-date=30 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190530114850/https://www.pindula.co.zw/Ndebele |url-status=live }}</ref> The Ndebele people have for long ascribed to the worship of Unkunkulu as their supreme being. Their religious life in general, rituals, ceremonies, practices, devotion and loyalty revolves around the worship of this Supreme Being. However, with the popularisation of Christianity and other religions, Ndebele traditional religion is now uncommon.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bulawayo1872.com/history/ndebele.htm |title=Zimbabwe Ndebele people, history: the origins of the tribe |website=Bulawayo History |access-date=24 May 2019 |archive-date=30 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190830081320/http://www.bulawayo1872.com/history/ndebele.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Mzilikazi died in 1868 and, following a violent power struggle, was succeeded by his son, [[Lobengula]]. King Mzilikazi had established the Ndebele Kingdom, with Shona subjects paying tribute to him. The nascent kingdom encountered European powers for the first time and Lobengula signed various treaties with the various nations jostling for power in the region, playing them off one another in order to preserve the sovereignty of his kingdom and gain the aid of the Europeans should the kingdom become involved in a war.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}