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History Notes Form 2

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10 views9 pages

History Notes Form 2

Uploaded by

jinguraryan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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EARLY EUROPEAN CONTACTS WITH ZIMBABWE: PORTUGUESE AND

MISSIONARIES

PORTUGUESE IN THE ZAMBEZI VALLEY

Definition of key terms

 Shona word ‘purazi’ was derived from the Portuguese word Prazo
 Prazos are large farms owned by the Portuguese
 Prazo system was a system of land ownership that was introduced by the Portuguese in
Zambezi valley
 Prazeros or Senhors were owners of the land

Background

 Fernandez the missionary who was sent to establish mutual and friendly relations
repotted back the abundance of gold and ivory in Mutapa.
 He recommended the Portuguese to enter the inland and establish trading ports and
develop the mining and trade in gold and copper
 Mutapa sought good relations with the Portuguese
 The Mutapa wanted to trade with Portuguese because they brought in guns which made
the Mutapa strong
 The representative who was in charge of the relations between the Portuguese trader and
the Mutapa king was given the name Captain of the gates
 Captain of the gates’s responsibility in distributing the land resulted in the Mutapa lands
being granted to the Portuguese individuals who established prazos
 This system paved way for the Portuguese to interfere with Mutapa politics and absorb
powers which were meant to be practiced by Mutapa King

Portuguese to establish Prazos in Zambezi valley

 Diogo Madeira
 Antonio Lobo da Silva
 Antonio Fernandez
 Gasper Bocarro
 Antonio da Souza
 Dona Catarina

The Portuguese Prazo System

 In Mutapa state, the prazo system started during the reign of Mutapa Negomo
 Negomo was impressed by the Portuguese firearms
 He used the Portuguese as allies against local rivals and insubordinate regional chiefs and
gave them land as payment for military assistance during succession disputes and civil
wars
 Gatsi Rusere and Mavhura Mhande later signed treaties that made them vassals to the
Portuguese
 Prazo system was a system of slavery that exploited both men and women who were
forcibly attached to the land
 Women were exploited and enslaved to work as farm labourers and to provide concubines
for land owners
 Intermarriage resulted in the emergency of coloured population called mulatos
 Prostitution and sexual abuse of women were also common
 African men were also exploited as miners, hunters and work as boatmen, potters, gold-
smiths and soldiers
 Portuguese lived in luxury and controlled trade by using professional trader called
‘vashambadzi’
 Portuguese used private armies ‘Achikundas’ to enforce the authority of prazo-holders
and capture slave labourers from African communities
 New farming methods, crops and exotic fruit trees were introduced
 New crops were grown alongside local crops like sorghum, rapoko, maize and finger
millet

New crops Exotic fruit trees


Maize Guavas
Groundnuts Mangoes
Cowpeas Peaches
Sweet potatoes Paw-paw
Wheat
Tobacco
Rice

 Coffee was used to pay tribute by the African population


 Copper, gold and iron were mined and exported
 Slaves were also exported to Brazil

Activities of the Portuguese in the Zambezi valley

Political activities

 Barreto and Homen after the death of Father Goncalo Da Silveria had a military
expedition to revenge his death by invading the Mutapa
 However, both failed the mission before accomplishing it. Homen failed as many of his
soldiers died of malaria and the Tonga sharply resisted Homen
 The Portuguese participated in civil wars
 They raised private armies
 They refused to pay tribute (state tax)
 They interfered in succession disputes
 African chiefs lost their political powers because the Portuguese took up new roles as
African chiefs for example Antonio da Souza married Chief Makombe’s daughter and
took over the Barwe chieftainship after the death of Makombe
 Chiefs become puppets of the Portuguese

Social activities

 Goncalo da Silveria converted Mutapa Negomo, his wife and 500 others
 However, he Silveria was murdered at the instigation of Moslems and African
traditionalists
 Missionary work spread widely when the Portuguese assisted to convert Mavhura to
Mutapa
 Priests came to Manicaland and Mashonaland preaching and running schools
 Sons of Mutapa and senior chiefs were sent to large schools to Sena and Tete
 Women did not enjoy their stay in prazos as they were abused
 Women were married without payment of lobola or bride price
 Slavery was widely spread

Economic activities

 The Portuguese brought guns, cloth, beads, jewellery, knives and ceramics in
exchange for gold, ivory, cattle, goats, sheep and grain
 They introduced the prazo system and forced labour to meet the requirements of the
prazo
 New crops were introduced and forced Africans to pay tribute instead
 Portuguese mined gold, hunted for ivory and practiced slavery

Impacts of the prazo system on people on the Zimbabwean plateau

Positive impact Negative impact


New crops such as maize, cassava and Africans were enslaved
groundnuts and fruit trees such as mangoes,
bananas and guavas were introduced
Africans gained access to new farming African resources were exploited and
methods plundered
Africans got exotic goods such as cloth, wines Africans lost their land to prazo-holders
and guns
Africans gained new mining methods African kings lost their political power
African women were sexually abused
African were terrorized by Portuguese private
armies which led to violence and
displacement

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