ABSTRACT
The Portuguese of Zambesia had continued to trade at the fairs and to build up their followings of slaves and clients among the valley Tonga round Sena and Tete, following Barreto's unsuccessful attempt at conquest with a European army. The Portuguese went to the assistance of the Monomotapa and in so doing introduced firearms into the warfare of central Africa. Thereafter the private armies of the Portuguese, made up of Afro-Portuguese musketeers, their slaves and soldiers raised from among the Tonga population, became arbiters in the struggles for power within the Monomotapa chieftaincy. Under the leadership of the redoubtable Diogo Simioes Madeira, they secured the cession of the gold and silver mines and made a bid to control the Monomotapa chieftaincy itself by securing the conversion of the heir to throne – a tactic much favoured by the Portuguese throughout the Estado da India.
