mwene

nd Early Foundations Before the formal rise of the Mwene Mutapa Empire, the region was inhabited by various Bantu-speaking communities engaged in subsistence farming, ironworking, and trade. The area that would become the empire was part of a broader network of

economic power. Fragmentation and Loss of Power By the 17th century, the kingdom fragmented into smaller polities. The rise of the Rozwi Empire in the 17th century marked the decline of Mwene Mutapa’s dominance. Portuguese colonial policies eventually led to the formal colonization of the region,