Changamire Dombo
Changamire Dombo is a legendary African ruler who is widely known for founding the Rozvi empire. He was the lowly son of Matope, the ruler of the Mutapa empire who appointed him governor of its central and southern provinces.
Dombo declared his independence of Matope’s successor and founded a kingdom that he called Rozvi. Dombo was a man of considerable military genius. His kingdom was named after the Rozvi military regiment who were highly disciplined and has effective troops. The Rozvi eventually became too powerful for everyone hence their name which means robbers/raiders/marauders. With his abilities, Dombo was able to defeat the Torwa Rulers of Guruuswa or Butau in order to found the Rozvi Kingdom.
He established trade contacts with Arab traders, and his son (Changamire II, who used the name as a dynastic title) established contacts with the Portuguese settlements on the east African coast (c. 1500).
Between 1684 and 1696, Changamire Dombo expelled the Portuguese from Mutapa and Manyika, making the Rozwi Empire the most important empire in the Zimbabwe plateau, Zambezi Valley.
Although contacts with the Portuguese were initially encouraged, from 1693 to 1695 the Changamire empire drove the Portuguese from all their stations in the interior during a campaign against the remainder of the Mbire empire. Changamire’s empire was destroyed by the coming of the Ngoni and Ndebele tribes during the Mfecane (a period of vast migrations occasioned by Zulu wars in South Africa).
Changamire Dombo died in 1696.
