Abstract

The Mutapa Empire (Mwene Mutapa) or in Portuguese, ‘Monomotapa’, also known as ‘Great Zimbabwe’, was a mediaeval kingdom (1250  to 1629) which was located between the Zambeziand Limpopo Rivers of Southern Africa in an area which currently includes the modern states ofZimbabwe and Mozambique. In the sixteenth century, it was considered a strategic trade area to control by the Portuguese who sought to subdue it by introducing Christianity. Father  Dom Goncalo da Silveira, a Missionary was dispatched from Goa in India for this purpose, but he was murdered in 1561 as his presence posed a serious threat to a number of contending parties in the Mutapa Empire. This resulted in a Portuguese expedition to conquer the lands militarily in1570. The objective of this article is to show the extent to which the Portuguese crown used Jesuit Priests to promote imperialism in Southern Africa and how one Jesuit in particular was used in this regard.

Key words: Portuguese colonialism, Mutapa Empire, Zimbabwe, Jesuits.