Mutapa
Mutapa, also known as Mwenemutapa, Matapa, and Monomotapa, was located in the north of modern Zimbabwe along the Zambezi River. Sometimes described as an empire, Mutapa flourished between the mid-15th and mid-17th century CE thanks to its gold and ivory and powerful trade with Muslim merchants on the coast of East Africa and the Portuguese in the 16th century CE. The Portuguese, who were already dominating much of southern Africa at the time, decided to invade Mutapa to take over their wealth and powerful trade route. They finally made it to Mutapa by 1560 through evangelism, which soon led to a catastrophe. In the 1570s, Portuguese forces invaded the city and destroyed it.
