Well done and thank you for another great article, I'm fascinated by the Wa Zimba, their terrifying martial practices, meant to shock ,intimidate and show utter contempt by reportedly cannibalizing their foes, which remind me of the later Imbangala , where did these people came from, and why were they so aggressive were they working on the behalf of another power, perhaps a great inland empire ?
excluding the somewhat exaggerated attributes, the zimba remind me of the 19th century nguni/ngoni movements in almost everything; travelling long distances, fierce warriors, etc, its possible that the zimba shared other similarities with them (eg the gaza empire of mozambique); a charismatic leader breaksaway from his original polity to establish his own state, travels long distances (to accumulate cattle? and followers?), gains a reputation along the way for ferocity (which swells his army), but the polity he establishes collapses after his death (explaining why the Zimba are never mentioned again) or as in the case of the imbangala, breaks up into smaller states, intergrates and becomes sedentary.
Well done and thank you for another great article, I'm fascinated by the Wa Zimba, their terrifying martial practices, meant to shock ,intimidate and show utter contempt by reportedly cannibalizing their foes, which remind me of the later Imbangala , where did these people came from, and why were they so aggressive were they working on the behalf of another power, perhaps a great inland empire ?
excluding the somewhat exaggerated attributes, the zimba remind me of the 19th century nguni/ngoni movements in almost everything; travelling long distances, fierce warriors, etc, its possible that the zimba shared other similarities with them (eg the gaza empire of mozambique); a charismatic leader breaksaway from his original polity to establish his own state, travels long distances (to accumulate cattle? and followers?), gains a reputation along the way for ferocity (which swells his army), but the polity he establishes collapses after his death (explaining why the Zimba are never mentioned again) or as in the case of the imbangala, breaks up into smaller states, intergrates and becomes sedentary.
I see that makes sense actually, refugees turned marauders, again thanks for your great articles folks are loving them.