History of Zimbabwe Advanced Level Study Guide

Sources Used in Recovering Zimbabwe’s Pre-colonial History

• There are three major sources utilized by historians to reconstruct the pre-colonial history of Zimbabwe: Oral Tradition, Archaeology, and Written Records.

• Auxiliary sources include linguistics, anthropology, botany, rock paintings, and ethnography.

Oral Tradition as a Primary Source

• Definition: Information passed from generation to generation by word of mouth. It is considered the oldest and most popular method for recording African history, sometimes referred to as "unwritten history."

• Forms: Includes praise poems, songs (telling heroic deeds of ancestors, clans, or communities), verbal testimonies, king lists, succession records, migration patterns, and war histories.

• Reliability and Utility:
    - Useful despite risks of distortion, forgetting, or exaggeration.
    - Acts as the "backbone" of all other sources; archaeology and written records are considered complementary and dependent on oral starting points.
    - Corrects Eurocentric myths from the $19^{th}$ and $20^{th}$ centuries that attributed Zimbabwean structures to foreigners (Arabs/Phoenicians).
    - Provides specifics that archaeology cannot, such as the names of rulers (e.g., Nyatsimba Mutota, Nyanhewe Matope, Changamire Dombo).
    - Offers an African perspective on $19^{th}$-century relations, such as countering claims that Ndebele-Shona relations were solely hostile or that the Ndebele economy was based entirely on raiding.
    - Jan Vansina postulated that oral tradition provides the "clothing, colour and flesh on the bones of the past."

• Weaknesses and Limitations:
    - Memory Lapses: Fallibility of memory leads to omissions or the unintentional creation of new stories to fill gaps.
    - Manipulation: J. Vansina argued traditions often reflect the consciousness of the present. Post-modernists claim all accounts are formulated to suit modern interests.
    - Chronology: Societies lacked calendars; events are dated by catastrophes (droughts, plagues of locusts) rather than specific years.
    - Life Span: Usually does not extend beyond $400$ to $500$ years (Spear argued oral tradition has a maximum life of $500$ years).
    - Vagueness: For example, the rulers of Great Zimbabwe are often referred to only by the dynastic title "mambo," hiding individual identities.

Archaeology: The Scientific Study of Material Remains

• Definition: Scientific study of material remains such as tools, pottery, bones, and religious artifacts.

• Usefulness:
    - Vital for the Stone Age period where no writing or oral tradition survives.
    - Distinguishes the Iron Age (marked by agriculture) from the Stone Age (hunting and gathering) through the discovery of hoes, axes, and spears.
    - Sites like Gokomere, Ziwa, and Mabveni suggest settled communities based on pottery fragments and grain remains.
    - Findings of sea shells at Kadzi and Mabveni suggest connections to Indian Ocean trade in the first half of the first millennium AD.
    - 1903 findings at Great Zimbabwe (Persian bowls, Chinese stone wares, Near Eastern glass, glass beads, copper rings) suggest extensive long-distance trade.

• Limitations:
    - Lacks names for people, places, or languages (Phillipson noted this as a chief weakness).
    - Ignores political hierarchies, gender structures, and specific cultural motivations unless inscribed on artifacts.

Written Records and Auxiliary Disciplines

• Written Records:
    - Earliest records from Arab traders (e.g., Ibn Madjid, written between $1475$ and $1489$) and later Portuguese records (Joao de Barros, Diego de Aloacova).
    - Portuguese sources from the early $16^{th}$ century describe royal capitals as "Dzimbadzamabwe" (Houses of Stones).
    - $19^{th}$-century records by missionaries (Charles Helm, Robert Moffat), hunters, and traders provide dates for mission stations like Inyati ($1859$) and Hope Fountain ($1870$).
    - Limitations: Often second-hand, biased, or Eurocentric. Portuguese accounts were "sporadic" between $1520$ and $1570$.

• Linguistics: The study of language development. Uniformity (like Bantu languages) suggests common origins; borrowing suggests conquest or absorption.

• Anthropology: Study of social, political, and economic organization to determine the stage of a society's progress.

• Botany and Rock Paintings:
    - Botany (flora and fauna) helps reconstruct the environment.
    - Rock paintings (San and Khoikhoi) depict lifestyles, hunting methods, and beliefs, though they are subject to multiple interpretations.

The San: Late Stone Age Hunter-Gatherers

• The San were the first known inhabitants of central and southern Africa. Eurocentric myths characterized them as ignorant of ownership or lazy, which historians now reject.

• Economic System:
    - Hunting: Collaborative effort using pit traps (covered with wood/grass near rivers) and poisoned arrows (toxins from roots, snakes, or scorpions).
    - Gathering: Provided $80\%$ of daily food; performed by women and children (bulbs, nuts, flying ants, honey).
    - Fishing: Used basket traps made from reeds and sharpened bone hooks.
    - Industry: Made leather blankets (karosses), net bags, and wooden digging sticks.

• Social and Political Organization:
    - Practiced consensual democracy with no centralized chief; disputes were solved communally.
    - Egalitarian and nomadic; lived in groups of $5-35$ people to match environmental capacity.
    - Practiced natural family planning; used ostrich egg shells for water storage.
    - Religious belief in a Supreme Being and lesser spirits inhabiting nature (valleys, rivers, mountains).

The Khoikhoi (Khoi Herders)

• Known as "men of men"; Europeans called them "Hottentots."

• Origins: Recent evidence suggests they were original inhabitants who adapted to environmental changes by raising livestock about $2000$ years ago.

• Economic System:
    - Pastoralism: Raised long-horned cattle (symbol of wealth) and fat-tailed sheep.
    - Transhumance: Moved seasonally for pasture and water.
    - Agriculture: Cultivated grain (Pennisetum) around the $3^{rd}$ century AD.
    - Technology: Smelting/smithing of iron and copper; specialized pottery for milk storage.

• Social/Political Organization:
    - Centralized authority: Chiefs led clans; several clans formed a chiefdom.
    - Hereditary chieftainship (father to son).
    - Initiation into adulthood at age $18$; marriage required lobola (bride price) in the form of an ox.
    - Villages consisted of $5-35$ dome-shaped huts arranged in a circle for kraaling animals.

The Transition from Stone Age to Iron Age

• Described as a "Revolution" in goods and service production.

• Economic Changes:
    - Hunting improved with iron-tipped spears; agriculture became the primary subsistence mean using iron hoes/axes.
    - Domestication expanded to cattle, goats, and sheep (compared to only dogs in the Late Stone Age).
    - Mining: Included shaft (over $100$ feet deep), alluvial, and open-cast mining for iron, copper, and gold.
    - Trade: Became more organized; exchange of gold/copper for Chinese porcelain and beads.

• Social Changes:
    - Permanent settlements: Huts made of pole and dagga with grass thatch.
    - Population growth due to food security and polygamy.
    - Emerging social stratification based on cattle ownership and professions (blacksmiths/miners).

• Origins Controversy:
    - Migrationists (Beach, Mudenge, Huffman): Argue the sudden appearance of technology suggests Bantu-speaking immigrants from the North/East brought iron skills.
    - Diffusionists (Garlake): Argue for local, gradual development of Stone Age communities through experimentation and social shift from matrilineal to patrilineal systems.

Early States: Toutswe, Leopard’s Kopje, and Mapungubwe

• Toutswe State: Located in South Western Zimbabwe/Eastern Botswana; rose primarily due to cattle accumulation.

• Leopard’s Kopje State: Located on the Zimbabwe-Botswana border; generated wealth through cattle, gold, and ivory trade.

• Mapungubwe State ($1100$–$1300$ AD):
    - Located in the mid-Limpopo Valley; archaeology found gold ornaments and spindle whorls for spinning.
    - Decline: Attributed to overgrazing, a severe drought in the latter half of the $13^{th}$ century, and the shift of trade routes North toward the Sabi River.

The Great Zimbabwe State ($1200$–$1500$ AD)

• Origins/Construction Controversy:
    - Eurocentric School: Figures like Richard Hall, Cecil Rhodes, and Carl Mauch claimed foreign origins (Phoenician, Arab, or Jewish), arguing Africans lacked technological ability.
    - African Theory: Proponents like Garlake, Beach, and Mufuka used tangible archaeological evidence (local ceramics, Shona oral tradition) to prove local Shona/Karanga construction.

• Architecture and Religion:
    - Purpose of the stone walls: Status symbols, religious shrines, or prestige emblems.
    - Conical Tower: Viewed as an altar for religious ceremonies or an expression of fertility.

• Economic Organization:
    - Cattle Hypothesis (P. Garlake): Transhumance and management of cattle led to kingship; cattle were a symbol of the ruler's status.
    - Trade: Strategic position linked to the Indian Ocean; trade items included gold/ivory in exchange for Chinese stoneware and Near Eastern glass.

• Reasons for Decline:
    - Environmental stress: Overpopulation led to the depletion of resources (salt, firewood, grazing land).
    - Salt Shortage: Oral tradition emphasizes the search for salt as a reason for Prince Mutota's migration North.
    - Shift in trade routes from the Sabi Valley to the Zambezi.

The Mutapa State ($1400$-$19^{th}$ Century)

• Origins: Founded by Nyatsimba Mutota, who migrated North to the Dande region and was nicknamed "Mwenemutapa" (Lord of the Conquered Lands).

• Expansion: Nyanhewe Matope expanded the state to the Indian Ocean, incorporating regions like Manyika, Sofala, and Barwe.

• Political Structure:
    - Absolute King (Munhumutapa) assisted by the "Dare" (Council) and officials: Chancellor, Chamberlain, Military Commander (Nengomasha), and Chief Priest.
    - Royal Fire: Symbolic of unity; vassal chiefs collected it annually as a sign of loyalty.

• The Portuguese Influence:
    - Penetration: Initially for gold/ivory trade and spreading Christianity ($1561$ murder of Goncalo da Silveira used as a pretext for invasion).
    - Treaties: In $1629$, the puppet ruler Mavura Mhande signed a treaty making Mutapa a vassal of Portugal, ceding mineral rights and ending the "curva" (tribute) payment to the king.
    - The Prazo System: Portuguese-owned estates (prazos) utilized African slave labor (achikunda army) and disrupted traditional land ownership.
    - Effects: Introduction of new crops (maize, groundnuts) and guns, but also political instability, depopulation, and cultural destruction.

• Decline: Caused by weak leadership, civil wars, Portuguese interference, and later attacks by the Rozvi and Nguni groups.

The Rozvi State ($1680$–$1850$)

• Origins: Debatable; either an outgrowth of the Torwa state or founded by Changamire Dombo through magical powers and cattle wealth.

• Military Prowess:
    - Standard army of $3000$ soldiers; used the "cow-horn" formation and advanced weaponry (including captured guns).
    - Bodyguards known as "Ngwanangwana" (Wide Awake).

• Economic/Social:
    - Centered on cattle (loaning system called "kuronzera") and control of long-distance trade.
    - Centralized government: The "Tumbare" acted as a powerful regent during successions.

• Decline: Weakened by severe droughts in the $19^{th}$ century and decimated by Mfecane/Nguni incursions (Zwangendaba, Soshangane, and finally Mzilikazi’s Ndebele in $1840$).

The Ndebele State and Shona Relations

• Organization:
    - Caste System: Zansi (original Khumalo aristocrats; $15\%$), Enhla (assimilated Sotho/Tswana; $25\%$), and Hole (conquered Shona/Kalanga; $60\%$).
    - King (Inkosi): Absolute ruler, commander of the army, and religious leader (presided over the "Inxwala" first-fruit ceremony).

• Economics: Debunking the "Raiding Myth"; the economy was diverse, including crop cultivation, livestock production, and extensive trade with the Karanga and Venda.

• Ndebele-Shona Relations:
    - Reality: Paradoxical. While raids occurred to punish recalcitrant chiefs (like Chivi or Nemakonde), there was also peaceful co-existence, trade, and even cattle loaning to Shona groups.

Missionary Activities ($1850$–$1900$)

• Aims: Spread Christianity, western civilization, literacy, and "legitimate commerce" to replace the slave trade.

• Matabeleland: Robert Moffat (London Missionary Society) established Inyati ($1859$). Missionaries were used by kings to mend guns and treat diseases (e.g., Mzilikazi's gout).

• Failure of Conversion: The Ndebele caste and military system were fundamentally opposed to the egalitarian teachings of Christ. By $1893$, only six converts were made.

• Role in Colonization: Frustrated by failure, missionaries like J.S. Moffat and Charles Helm became agents of Cecil Rhodes, facilitating treaties like the Rudd Concession to force a "regime change."

The Colonization of Zimbabwe

• Economic Factors: Rumors of a "Second Rand" (a massive gold belt) across the Limpopo.

• Treaties signed by Lobengula:
    1. Grobbler Treaty ($1887$): With the Boers; Lobengula later repudiated it as a fraud.
    2. Moffat Treaty (February $1888$): Friendship treaty with the British; limited Lobengula's foreign policy.
    3. Rudd Concession (October $1888$): Charles Rudd and team. Lobengula granted exclusive mining rights in exchange for $1000$ rifles, ammunition, and $100$ pounds monthly.

• Calculations of Deception: Bribing of Induna Lotshe (who was later executed) and the use of legal language Lobengula could not understand.

• The Pioneer Column ($1890$): Led by Pennefather and Frederick Selous. Established Fort Victoria, Fort Charter, and Fort Salisbury, raising the Union Jack on $12$ September $1890$.

Wars of Resistance

• Anglo-Ndebele War ($1893$): Triggered by the "Victoria Incidents" (the Gomora and Bere cattle/wire-cutting disputes). The Ndebele were defeated by Maxim guns and the use of defensive laagers at Shangani and Mbembesi.

• First Chimurenga/Umvukela ($1896$–$1897$):
    - Causes: Loss of land, cattle confiscation, forced labor ("chibharo"), taxation ($1894$), and natural disasters (rinderpest, locusts, drought).
    - Leadership: Religious figures like Mkwati, Nehanda, and Kaguvi provided spiritual coordination.
    - Results: The Ndebele negotiated peace with Rhodes at the Matopos; the Shona leaders (Nehanda, Kaguvi) were captured and executed in $1897$.

Colonial Administration and the Federation

• Land Legislation:
    - $1930$ Land Apportionment Act: Legalized racial division; whites ($50,000$ people) got $51\%$ of the land; blacks ($1,000,000$ people) got $29\%$.
    - $1951$ Native Land Husbandry Act: Enforced conservative farming and compulsory destocking of cattle.

• Labor Legislation: Master and Servant Ordinance ($1901$), Pass Law ($1902$), and the Compulsory Native Labour Act ($1943$).

• Central African Federation ($1953$–$1963$):
    - Objectives: Economic pooling of resources (Copper from N. Rhodesia, Labour from Nyasaland, Agriculture from S. Rhodesia).
    - Achievements: Construction of the Kariba Dam ($1959$), University of Rhodesia ($1957$), and Harare Hospital.
    - Collapse: Development disparity (S. Rhodesia was "Bambazonke," grabbing everything) and the rise of nationalist agitation in the Northern territories led to Malawi and Zambia's secession.