I agree. Bantu languages are spoken over a wide swath of Africa by many different peoples. I think it's a term that's gets thrown around fairly arbitrarily now. Though maybe it could make sense to have a civ that represents a few different Bantu speaking civs in just southern Africa. I still think a sprinkling of independent cities in the regions would be good too.
I think maybe you could use one civ to represent the rough continuum from Mapungubwe -> Zimbabwe -> Mutapa and Batua -> Rozvi
That would give a pretty good time span to work with, roughly 1000-1889. Obviously the connections between each of those polities are not just simple succession, but it might work for the purposes of the mod. Do you think that kind of grouping is reasonable, or is it still too broad?
I think maybe you could use one civ to represent the rough continuum from Mapungubwe -> Zimbabwe -> Mutapa and Batua -> Rozvi
That would give a pretty good time span to work with, roughly 1000-1889. Obviously the connections between each of those polities are not just simple succession, but it might work for the purposes of the mod. Do you think that kind of grouping is reasonable, or is it still too broad?
They're both linguistic groups, but there seems (to me) to be an obvious difference in scale and geographical dispersion. People who speak Indo-European languages make up literally half of humanity and would include well over half of the civs in the game. Bantu speakers only make up about 5% of the human population and occupy a mostly empty area of the game map.
Anyway, just thought a broader civ based on Bantu language and migration could be an idea to look at. MechatronicJazz's idea to shrink that down to more localized area sounds good to me.
They're both linguistic groups, but there seems (to me) to be an obvious difference in scale and geographical dispersion. People who speak Indo-European languages make up literally half of humanity and would include well over half of the civs in the game. Bantu speakers only make up about 5% of the human population and occupy a mostly empty area of the game map.
Anyway, just thought a broader civ based on Bantu language and migration could be an idea to look at. MechatronicJazz's idea to shrink that down to more localized area sounds good to me.
The Bantu really are just a broad linguistic group though, comparable in kind (if not quite in scale) to the Indo-Europeans. I'm not very familiar with the Mayans but, as an example, while the Greek city-states were politically divided there was always a distinct sense of cultural unity and common institutions (e.g. the Panhellenic games) that identifies it as a single "civ".
They're both linguistic groups, but there seems (to me) to be an obvious difference in scale and geographical dispersion. People who speak Indo-European languages make up literally half of humanity and would include well over half of the civs in the game. Bantu speakers only make up about 5% of the human population and occupy a mostly empty area of the game map.
Anyway, just thought a broader civ based on Bantu language and migration could be an idea to look at. MechatronicJazz's idea to shrink that down to more localized area sounds good to me.
I see your argument there. To be fair, comparing Bantu languages to Indo-European isn't quite right, since Bantu is a sub-family of Niger–Congo. It would be fairer to compare Bantu languages to Indo-Iranian languages or another comparable sub-family, but even doing that, you end up with rather large areas with multiple civs. Though Bantu languages are spoken by only about 5% of the world's population, they also cover quite a large area of Africa, and while I agree that those parts of the map are empty and should be filled, I think it should be with a few different civs. We also already have Kongo, which is a Bantu speaking civ, represented as its own civ.
Also, I realize that I unintentionally stole Kreiger's idea about a Zimbabwe/Mutapa civ. So I can't take credit for that! I'm still learning about African history, but I think it would be nice to ultimately have Zimbabwe/Mutapa, Swahili (though maybe those should stay independent city states for most of that period), and maybe something in the rift valley/ Lake Victoria region like Bunyoro/Buganda. The Bantu migration is a super interesting period, but I think in this mod it would work better to represent the various states that arose later on as certain regions centralized.
I see your argument there. To be fair, comparing Bantu languages to Indo-European isn't quite right, since Bantu is a sub-family of Niger–Congo. It would be fairer to compare Bantu languages to Indo-Iranian languages or another comparable sub-family, but even doing that, you end up with rather large areas with multiple civs. Though Bantu languages are spoken by only about 5% of the world's population, they also cover quite a large area of Africa, and while I agree that those parts of the map are empty and should be filled, I think it should be with a few different civs. We also already have Kongo, which is a Bantu speaking civ, represented as its own civ.
Also, I realize that I unintentionally stole Kreiger's idea about a Zimbabwe/Mutapa civ. So I can't take credit for that! I'm still learning about African history, but I think it would be nice to ultimately have Zimbabwe/Mutapa, Swahili (though maybe those should stay independent city states for most of that period), and maybe something in the rift valley/ Lake Victoria region like Bunyoro/Buganda. The Bantu migration is a super interesting period, but I think in this mod it would work better to represent the various states that arose later on as certain regions centralized.
To be fair, DC123456789 was the first one to mention the Zimbabwe/Mutapa continuity civ in this thread (although he did not developed the idea much further), thus I also kind that unintentionally stole his idea.
Nonetheless, I have to say that is great that you are learning about African history! Just the few reads that I've recently made about Ghana and Kanem-Bornu have showed me how little I knew about Africa before. I think that is one of the greatest DoC's achievements about: learn history besides our Eurocentric biases, showing how incredible, distinct and unique were these civilizations.
In the last days I’ve been reading about the Songhai to make a suggestion here. As you all know, the Songhai are a civ in Civ 5, but being really short, I’ve come to think that is best to represent them as a combo Indy city + under Mali civilization umbrella, just like History Rewritten seems to do. So my thread here is more to explore Songhai history and, while I outline a short civ suggestion in the end for the sake of reference and to help us understand unique aspects from them, my main concern here is to discuss how to better represent them in the mod, also trying to point some ideas to West Africa (and Mali) in general.
Spoiler:
The first aspect that I want to point is to discuss who were the Songhai. I found out that is kind disputed and uncertain a clear ethnically, culturally and linguistically definition of them. They seem to be related to Nilo-Saharan languages while they have close cultural links with the Mandé peoples (i.e., the builders of Ghan and Mali empires). While we do not have a precise information about when they emerged as polity (since most info about them come from Arab cartographers that never been there and wrote about them centuries later), it seems that it was more or less at same time of Ghana Empire and likewise was closely related to the development of trans-Saharan trade. Their first kingdom was named Kawkaw (alternatively Gawgaw/Gao), which seems to be the same name of their first capital, Kukiya (modern Mali-Niger border), and the later, Gao, founded north of the old capital to be close to the caravan’s routes by the middle of 8th century. A century later the Kingdom of Gao was considered to be one of the three great Sudanic empires (along Ghana and Kanem) and by the 10th they were already Muslim, even though traditional beliefs and rituals were still so strong (and still were many centuries after) that many Islamic writers commonly accused Gao/Songhai rulers of being unfaithful and only nominally Muslim. This complex relationship between Islam and pagan beliefs that ensure the legitimacy of Songhai rulers (who were raised in a mixed Islamic and pagan education in a tradition of magician-kings) and social order produced an unique cultural tradition that later often generated conflicts with the more Islamized western belt of the Niger. This mystical mix between traditional beliefs and Islam also explain why Sufism was so popular among the Songhai.
By the time of Ghana’s collapse and later ascension of Mali, Gao developed as a major commercial hub and most of its trade passed by central trade routes by Wargla/Ouargla (modern Algeria). Gao (the city) also shared many aspects with the capitals of those empires: it was divided in two towns that were separated by the Niger, one Islamic and more populous with the commercial hub located in eastern bank, and one pagan/royal in western bank. Nonetheless, the kingdom was relatively apart from the developments in the western belt of the Niger and we have little information about them until Mali expansion in the 13th century. Under the Mali Empire, Gao/Songhai were often a rebellious vassal, but nonetheless were deeply influenced by the empire. As stressed by many authors, Mali had a special role in the integration of Islam and Muslims into the regional religious, social and political texture and set a pattern could be observed in many parts of West Africa and at different periods.
By late 14th century, with Mali at verge of collapse, the Songhai emerged as independent polity again and the kingdom took advantage of the power vacuum left in the following decades. By mid-late 15th century, under Sonni Ali’s rule, the Songhai initiated a vigorous and ruthless military expansion. His harsh and unprecedent treatment of conquered peoples (particularly Muslims) left a bad impression to Islamic writers (who often accused him of being a tyrant and pagan – the last one points to the unique relationship that Islam and pagan beliefs had on the eastern belt of the Niger); the key element that gave such military advantage to the Songhai was their formidable military mobility thanks to their reliance on a large riverine fleet – in fact, when Ali was planning to conquer the landlocked Walata/Oualata, he even initiated the construction of a complex canal to ensure that he would be able to use his fleet.
(I got this map directly from Cambridge History of Africa, vol. 3 for reference, thus I apologize if the image quality is not ideal, but is the most complete one that I could find)
The next great ruler of the Songhai was Muhammed Ture, known as Askia the Great (askia/askyia became the ruler title after him), who deposed Sonni’s dynasty. It is somewhat uncertain the relationship with the previous rulers (it is said that he was the son of Ali’s sister and was ethnically Soninke instead of Songhai), but Ture consolidated and expanded even more the Songhai Empire, restored Mali imperial legacy by reforming the political, military (he even created a professional and standing army) and religious structures, and also made a pilgrimage to Mecca. While Gao remained the capital, Timbuktu flourished as the true empire metropolis under his rule, surpassing Walata/Oualata as the great center of trade and learning in West Africa. Nonetheless, after his rule, his sons and grandsons became engaged in perpetual civil wars for the throne, inevitability weakening the empire. By the 1580s, the Songhai were on the verge of collapse and met their demise after a small Moroccan military force defeated them in 1593, putting an end in their empire. Some of the Songhai nobility founded the successor Dendi Kingdom, but they never rose to prominence in the region again.
Taking in consideration these historical aspects, my initial idea is that the Songhai spawn (full civ or Indy city) be around 750 CE in Gao, which seems a reasonable date considering the earlier Ghana/Mali spawn in the west and Kanem in the east. An earlier leader can be the semi-legendary Zuwa Alayman (founder of Za/Zuwa dynasty) and later both Sonni Ali and Askia are good alternatives as LHs. If we chose the approach of a single Ghana-Mali-Songhai civ, I’d rather use Askia as the last LH, since he was more culturally (and possibly ethnically) linked with these former empires. About art assets, we have several available for these Islamic and West African LHs, but personally I'm big fan of the ones used in History Rewritten (which includes Askia as LH and a Sundiata LH originally made as Sonni Ali.
UP: any special bonus related to the trans-Saharan trade can be used if we want a generic UP, but I’m more fond to use something more militaristic. Both a UP like the one used by Civ 5 (land units gain strength when embarked and amphibious promotion) and/or a free Combat I/Drill I (referencing their development of a professional army) can be reasonable UPs.
UUs/UB: considering that we basically don’t have much information about earlier Gao Kingdom and relly on mostly in the Songhai Empire – which was basically the successor of Mali – most possible UUs/UBs are very similar to the ones of Mali. Looking again to Civ 5, the UB is the mudbrick/adobe minaret, which is an iconic symbol of the Sudano-Sahelian architecture shared with Mali Empire, and their most remarkable building still standing seems to be the Tomb of Askia. Military, while we do know about Songhai innovations with their riverine canoe fleet and professional standing army, most of their military forces were largely based on Mali’s military organization and I couldn’t find a solid name for their unique forces. So even Civ 5 Mandekalu cavalry UU is actually from 13th century Mali.
UHVs: the most remarkable aspect of Songhai is that they created one the largest African empire in history, which seems to be an obvious option for UHV. Other aspects that could be represented as UHVs are the reforms of Askia, specially his patronage to arts and learning religious centers (Timbuktu particularly grew under his rule). Besides these options, we also have the generic objectives to represent the trans-Saharan trade.
If we include Songhai in the Mali civ (alongside with Ghana, as Leoreth indicated), some tweaks in the barbarian spawns also have to be made, since it wouldn’t make much sense having Songhai barbarian Fararis spawns (again, I do feel that the Farari should be Mali second UU). Thus, we could have some Mossi barbarians (light cavalry) spawning in the southern areas and Berber/Tuereg ones in the north. The Mossi are an interesting choice because they remained pagan for much longer and thus were often targets in slaver raids, but they also made their own raids in these empires and contributed to their decline.
Thank you for the write up. I think Songhai makes more sense as an independent civ from Ghana/Mali, especially to have some competition in the region. In fact, I started thinking about a Ghana/Mali umbrella civ as a way to make separate Songhai feasible without leaving Mali no space at all to grow before they appear.
Since Ghana/Mali is probably already gold/trade themed, it makes more sense to make Songhai military/religious themed.
Fair enough, I do think that Songhai will be fun to play but my main concern was that there wasn't that much difference from the Mali+Ghana civ and we kind that do not have an obvious UU or UB for them. I'll dig more to find some alternatives, but in the meanwhile summing up my thoughts here:
Songhai:
Spawn: 750 CE in Gao
LHs: Zuwa Alayman (earlier), Sonni Ali or/and Askia Muhammed (later)
The first leader is the mythical (and pagan) founder of the Za/Zuwa dynasty (the first Muslim ruler of Gao seems to be Za Kusoy, who converted around 1000 CE). Favorite civic for the first could be Caste System, since it was a fundamental part of Songhai social organization. Sonni Ali certainly should have Conquest, while Askia can have Elective (Songhai ruler succession was a kind of elective system that proved to be highly unstable), Conquest (since he consolidated and expanded the empire even more) or Monasticism (I know that Islam don't have such thing of monastic life, but seems the more appropriate civic to represent his patronage to religious/cultural/scientific institutions).
UP: Power of Flotillas and Standing Armies: Military units starts with free Amphibious and Combat I or Drill I promotions until Renaissance or Industrial Age.
Represents their military innovation that allowed them to conquer their empire: the riverine flotillas under Sonni Ali and the standing army under Askia.
UHVs:
1) Make Timbuktu the city with the largest combined culture and science output in Africa by 1500.
Represents the role and status of Timbuktu under their empire. There is some overlap with the existent Mali UHV, but I do find more appropriate do give it to Songhai because it seems that the peak of Timbuktu (and also of the university of Sankoré) was under them.
2) Build X number of religious/scientific buildings and settle X Great People in your cities.
Related to the above UHV (can be combined if we want), but more properly try to represent Askia the Great cultural/religious/scientific efforts.
3) Be the largest civilization in Africa in 1600.
An obvious UHV given Songhai expansionism. Deliberatly chose the expression in Africa to include any civ that may have cities in Africa into the challenge, which means that the Songhai may have to defeat outsider invaders instead of a simple expansionism over other African civs.
4) A cultural/religious objective.
I'm unsure about a specific UHV here and it probably can be used as URV instead, but one of the major characteristic that differentiated culturally the Songhai from their western neighbors was the persistence of traditional and magical beliefs mixed with the Islam. As I said above, Sonni Ali maintained a magician-king pagan tradition and was often accused of being only nominally Muslim. Other interesting aspect of this fusion was that the Sufism (mystical Islam) was quite popular among them. I'm not sure about how to represent it with UHV though.
Pagan religion: Bidaism (a Mandé religion that is the closest one to the Songhai animism that I could find) URV (besides the standard pagan objectives):
1) Being pagan, have pleased or better relations with 5 Islamic civilizations.
2) Have Refined culture level (5.000) capital.
Both objectives here try to represent the unique relationship of pagan beliefs and Islam in Songhai society.
Apart from Swahili, Nubians, Mutapa and Yoruba I would strongly support a respawned Muslim/ or if alt hist Coptic, Egypt, based on Merjin's et al excellent work.
Rather than Fatimids/Mamlukes etc we could just use the Arabic name as a template (won't matter that much anyway because of dynamic names), ie Misr/Masriyyun/Masri, because the spawn should of course be based on the Islamic conquest. Historical areas could then include the Levant and Hejaz (maybe a Muhammad Ali UHV condition too).
On a very serious note, DOC would be utterly meaningless without the Austronesian civ with cores ranging from Taiwan and Hawai'i to Madagascar and the Easter Island.
After digging a little more about the Songhai, I've got some few ideas for UUs and UB. I have to say that none of the bellow options is really great; I suspect that because the Songhai Empire was relatively short-lived and borrowed much of the imperial Malian/Mandé tradition in its empire-building process, they didn’t attracted much academic interest as their predecessors. I also tried to find something more about their earlier kingdom (Gao/Kawkaw), but it seems to have even less info available. Also, I’ve got these references mostly from the excellent Unesco-sponsored General History of Africa (an open access book collection, available online and freely in many languages, which I strongly suggest for anyone interested in African history) and the recent book African Dominion from Michael Gomez; additionally, I’ve found this Songhai-English-French dictionary that may help us.
UU: The Songhai were known as great and fearless warriors since they established their first kingdom. Since that time, their main military force, much like in every other great Sahelian polity, was their cavalry, which was mentioned as early as the 9th century by Arab geographers. In fact, there is quite few mentions of any other military force besides the cavalry; the infantry, even in their peak as imperial state, was generally described as lightly armored and armed essentially with bows. So basically, I’ve got three options here, all for cavalry units.
Bari-koy: the heavy armored cavalry of the Songhai that seems to be pretty much similar to the Malian Fari/Farari. The name is Songhai and refers both to cavalry commanders (bari = horse; koy = chief, lord) and the generic term for horseman. It was usually described as the African equivalent to the European knight, equipped with iron-made weapons and chain mail armor (produced/inspired by Andalusian models and adapted for the Sahelian climate) and imported Arab/Moorish horses (the local horses were usually small sized and not really adequate for heavy cavalry purposes).
Sunna: seems to be the name of the askia (king) personal guard (the same term also confusedly seems to be applied for his court). There is no much more info about them besides that they were few (around 300 men) and well equipped (supposedly they wore gold bracelets), apparently recruited under the slave-soldier Islamic tradition.
Fārisān min khaṣī: this was a unit of eunuch cavalry under personal command of the askia that was the core of his professional/permanent army. It seems to be composed of at least 3.000-4.000 men (there was a unnamed complementary infantry unit at least three times larger alongside them). There is no much info about their equipment, but seems that they wore some form of jewelry (again there is the mention of gold bracelets that was a symbol of both the askia wealth and also the huge eunuchs political influence in the last decades of the Songhai Empire) and were relatively well armed. If I had to guess, I’d point that probably the Sunna was recruited among this unit or was part of it. The name seems to be Arabic rather than Songhai, but the reference is from the Ta’rīkh al-sūdān (a 17th century Songhai royal chronicle, part of the so-called Timbuktu Chronicles).
In terms of art assets, I have to say that I really didn’t search much here, but we may have some generic African knights that may fit to the description above. I’m unsure about their bonuses, but something to turn these units in city conquerors would be useful.
UB: Have to say that finding a good UB was hard and particularly I’m not really sure about any of the options. As said above, the Songhai were renowned warriors, not builders or traders. Foreign travelers and geographers quoted that major Songhai cities (Gao, Timbuktu and Djenné) were quite large but usually they weren’t much impressed by its buildings (the commander of the Moroccan force sent to conquer the Songhai complained to the sultan that even a tax collector at home had a more impressive and luxurious house than the askia’s adobe palace); the Songhai built their own cities in the so-called Sudano-Sahelian architecture, usually under what we now classify as the fortress-style: a building complex surrounded by walls with only the minaret with support beams visible. Major construction efforts seemed to be made only by the three more powerful and lasting Songhai rulers: Sonni Ali, Askia the Great and Askia Daoud. The first was know for his monumental canal building effort (in large part to ensure the mobility of his army and to increase the agricultural productivity near the Niger). Askia the Great was famous for the support to the University of Sankore and scholars in Timbuktu, building several mosques and madrassahs. Askia Daoud, while less famous than the others, also engaged in a building program of “treasury depositories” (called in Arabic khazā’in al-māl) to ensure the tax collection, and a kind of public libraries (khazā’in al-kutub).
To sum-up the ideas here, the list goes:
Adobe/mudbrick Minaret/Tower (Monument). While certainly this is the most uninspiring option, it is also the easiest to implement. The art asset would be a generic tower in the fortress-style; we can take the model from the University of Sankore.
Tarika (Estate). Seems to be the Songhai name for the large farms owned by the nobility and rulers. Under Askia the Great and later askias, these farms increasingly employed slave labor, so it would make sense to give some bonus related to it, like a free slave specialist.
Khazā’in al-māl (Bank). Not sure about bonus besides additional % gold.
Khazā’in al-kutub (Library). Also not sure about bonus, perhaps additional culture output to help them in territorial UHVs.
Griot (Library). This option is not really a building, but a name of whole caste of bards/storytellers/poets/musicians. The griots had an essential sociological role in preserving traditions and as part of the court. Nonetheless, tough they had an important role under the Songhai, they are more commonly identified with the Mandé peoples, so may not be the best option. The Songhai name probably is hórs-ó, at least according the dictionary mentioned above.
Recently, I’ve got reading to propose some ideas about a Zimbabwean/Mutapa/Rozvi civ. Considering that this civ is not very well known here and also the historical Portuguese presence in the area (so theoretically we would have more Portuguese sources than English ones, what proved be somewhat wrong ), I decided to make some research about them to see how we can fit this civ in our mod. So here goes my findings, comments and proposals:
Zimbabwe (aka Shona civilization)
Just like the Kanem-Bornu, we already have some mods that include Zimbabwe as civ in Civ 4 community. I'd like to start pointing to Merijn version (also available in DoCReborn), since he ported the civ into RFC mechanics:
Start: 1075 AD @ Great Zimbabwe
Leaders: Rushvingo, Mutota
UP: The Power of Stone Cities: extra production and commerce on city tiles
UB: Kraal. Replaces Smokehouse. 1 production on pasture resources
UU: Rizwo Warrior. Replaces Pikeman. 50% vs gunpowder units, doesn't require iron, can enter marsh, jungle and rainforests
UHV1: Build four castles and kraals and Great Zimbabwe and control them in 1400 AD (The textfile currently says 1600 AD, but is wrong. The code is correct and checks in 1400 AD. Fix up soon)
UHV2: Monopolize Gold, Silver, Gems and Ivory in Sub-Saharan Africa in 1500 AD
UHV3: Ensure there are no European colonies in Subequatorial Africa in 1700 AD
Includes the Great Zimbabwe wonder. 1 food, production and commerce on city tiles.
Going to the point, the first definition that we need to do is who is included in our civ. Considering the historical polities in the region and their lifespawn, I think is better to have a more broad Shona civilization, functioning as an "umbrella" for several tribes, kingdoms and empires, rather than a simple Zimbabwe civ, as noted before in this thread. While we have some earlier possible polities within the civ (Leopard's Kopje culture and the Kingdom of Mapungubwe), I’d propose as starting point the Kingdom of Zimbabwe for the simple reason that we know so little about the earlier ones (in fact, it seems that all we know about them stems from archeological remains and some oral traditions, even from Zimbabwean kingdom; if anyone know about earlier Swahili-Islamic sources I’d love to hear it); also, starting as Zimbabwe would also mean that the starting tile would be the Great Zimbabwe [GZ] the most impressive stone-built settlement of pre-colonial Southern Africa. After them, we have several later Shona kingdoms/empires, the arguably most important of them being the Mutapa Empire, Butua/Torwa Kingdom and the Rozvi/Rozwi Empire, giving us a gameplay ranging from Middle Ages to 19th century European Imperialism.
Spawn/Starting tile: Merijn chose GZ as starting tile and 1075 CE. I’m unsure about why he chose this specific spawn date (probably because it was by that time that the Kingdom of Mapungubwe emerged), but it may be better choosing a spawn date a little later. The state-building process in the are area seems to be related to the development of the trade with the coastal Swahili city-states from 11th century on, particularly with Kilwa (which was actually the most important trade partner of GZ), but it wasn’t’ until the late 12th century that we got a great cultural shift among the Shona, creating a complex political structure that also was reflected by their abandonment of the older wattle-and-daub technique to build their tribal villages to starting settling stone-built cities. I’d say that any spawn date between 1175-1225 CE seems good for our purposes.
Color/Flag: While we do have a Mutapan CoA (given by the Portuguese mid-16th century) and a supposed Mutapa flag (see the EUIV version here), I’m still with the Zimbabwean bird depicted in Merijn’s version. We are also free to choose any color that fits within the region, since I couldn’t find any reference for sacred/royal colors.
LHs: Merijn chose Rushvingo as the first leader, but honestly I couldn’t find any mention to this name. TBH, I also couldn’t find any name from an actual ruler of GZ; the earliest ruler known is Nyatsimba Mutota (c. 1430 – c. 1450), who supposedly was a Zimbabwean prince sent north to find new sources of salt and decided to establish his own kingdom – the Mutapa Empire, named after the ruler title mwene mutapa. We have more info about later rulers because they were contemporaneous of Portuguese colonial efforts. Looking for other Mutapa rulers (wiki has a list here), another candidate is Gatsi Rusere (c. 1589 - 1623), a ruler that sought Portuguese help to ascend to the throne before turning against the Europeans and almost expelling them from Africa, and finally requiring a missionary for conversion in his deathbed. Going to Rozvi rulers, the most obvious option is Changamire Dombo (c. 1660 – c. 1695), the founder of the Rozvi Empire (that also named the title of Rozvi kings, changamire) that conquered the old Kingdom of Butua and imposed a significant defeat over the Portuguese that basically expelled them from African hinterlands.
So, taking the three leaders above (so they can represent, arguably and respectively, the main three polities that the civ represent: Great Zimbabwe, Mutapa Empire and Rozvi Empire), some ideas for their favorite civics are:
Nyatsimba Mutota: Deification (in the GZ, the political power was closely related to the power of religious authorities, particularly their shamans; many of the rituals invoked ancestral spirit both from nature and ancient rulers to ensure wisdom, adequate rain for farming and political authority) or Tributaries (the imperial structure from GZ was based in a complex system of vassals and tributaries)
Gatsi Rusere: Manorialism (Mutapa obtained its gold and ivory, their main exports, from a tribute system that also included a kind of corvée labor system) or Tributaries (just like GZ, the political structure of the Mutapa Empire was also based in a system of vassals and tributaries).
Changamire Dombo: Conquest (given the militaristic origin of the empire and their anti-Portuguese policy, though may not be the ideal since after the initial conquests there was a century of relative peace and prosperity) or Vassalage (again, as successor of the old empire, the Rozvi also had an imperial system of vassals and tributaries, but I choose vassalage here to each leader have distinct favorite civics).
I also suggest that none of these leaders should have a favorite religion. While they had contact and even some of their rulers converted to Islam and Catholicism, the Shona continued to be mostly pagans until the colonial conquest in the late 19th century.
UP: I personally like Merijn’s UP and it seems an adequate UP, but I have also to say that the stone-built cities were more related to the GZ and Butua kingdoms. The Mutapa and Rozvi, on the other hand, abandoned these constructions for reasons that we really are not sure (possibly because they lacked adequate stone sources for building). The Rozvi later reintroduced the stone-building techniques, but none of them did in the same scale of GZ.
UUs:
Considering that we mostly know about GZ from its archeological remains, I’ve focused here in the later polities. There is not much info useful for civilian UUs, since most of the names noted are more related to specific professions and court officials (as example, the court bards/musicians were called marombe). About their military forces, likewise there is little info: the Portuguese estimated, with again certain exaggeration, that the mwene mutapa could easily mobilize an army of 100.000 men for large campaigns, but nonetheless the only true standing military force was the small bodyguard force that protected him and the military organization was rather a loose force of levied vassals. The Rozvi Empire was described by the same Portuguese as a militaristic nation with disciplined and trained corps, whose military prowess became evident when they defeated them in battle in 1684. The reality seems to indicate that although they did have a robust army in regional terms, it wasn’t that particularly powerful nor did innovated significantly in military terms. Although the Portuguese occasionally sold gunpower weapons (muskets but also few small cannons) when they sought alliances among Shona polities, these were not widely distributed or common among the Africans; only in the 19th century, with the Ndebele (who were former Zulus) invasions (known as Mfecane) did the Shona employed more commonly guns. Anyway, I’ve found only two reasonable options:
Rozvi (replaces Pikeman, special bonus could be same of Merijn, though I’d also reduce the bonus against heavy cavalry): The name Rozvi seems to come from the Shona expression “to plunder” and obviously refers to their legacy as warriors. Nonetheless, I couldn’t find any specific word for their warriors (looking online for Shona-English dictionaries I’ve found the words mhare and murwi meaning warrior, but we certainly have to look more before settling for any), but using Rozvi seemed reasonable for the unit. The Portuguese described Rozvi military as lightly armored and mobile forces armed with bows (with poisoned arrows), spears, battle axes and a special club called goromondo. They employed cunning and subtle tactics, making ambushes, and attacking at night. Some researchers have suggested that the Rozvi military organization may have influenced the later Zulu military innovations, but the argument is somewhat dubious here.
Giving their era, weapons and nearby traditions, the art could be something similar to our native Impi in-game, although I think it would be interesting to use a unit with a club or a battle axe because these weapons seems more unique for them. This mod offers an interesting option as Rozvi Warrior; it also gives some options regarding other art assets.
Chikunda (replaces Heavy Swordsman or Longbowman; can enter in rainforests/jungles and have bonus in enslaving enemy units): these were a proper unit but were related with Portuguese colonialism in the region. By the 1620s, the Portuguese were finally able to subdue the Mutapa to a vassal status and imposed a treaty that allowed Portuguese adventurers to take native lands (called Prazo, see bellow) under a double official authority of the mwene mutapa and the Portuguese crown. The prazeros (owners of the prazos) intermarried with local woman and established their own armed bands called chikunda that were responsible to ensure order, fight invaders, make slaver raids and extract tribute from nearby tribes. There is no much info about their weapons or organization, but if I had to guess I’d point that much likely they used the mentioned traditional African weapons (spears and bows).
If we go with this unit, the art asset used by Merijn’s Rozvi Warrior seems interesting: the fact that the unit has more clothes than the usual tribal African units would be a reminder of the mixed Portuguese-Shona traditions of the chikunda masters.
UBs:
Zimbabwe/Dzimba Dzemabwe (replaces Civic Square, available with Education, grant additional to pasture and mine resources worked): refers basically to the monumental courtyards and enclosures of the GZ and later Butua kingdoms. According to the first known mention of the GZ ruins, wrote by a Portuguese military officer in 1531, the name (that he wrote as Symbaoe) signifies “court”; the later option is in (possibly modern) Shona and seems to be “large stone houses". While some mods here prefer that the UB replaces the Castle, it seems to me more appropriate to replace the Civic Square, since these building complexes had more prestigious and symbolic functions than purely military ones (there are no obvious signs of widespread warfare during GZ timeline).
Kraal (replaces Smokehouse): this was the Merijn’s UB, referring to a cattle enclosure. TBH, I’m unsure about this option, even though these buildings were common among the Shona (during the GZ, it was even built using the same stone-building techniques employed in the other more famous constructions) and, as I’ve mentioned, cattle herds were very important for them. I’d point two main reasons: a) the kraal is common basically for all pastoral South African cultures, so it is not really unique for the Shona; and b) the name is Afrikaner, so even if we go with this UB, it may be better find the proper Shona name.
Prazo (replaces Estate, available with Exploration, grant additional to ivory, gold and plantation resources worked): as mentioned in the UU section, the prazo were the lands from Portuguese adventurers in the region. The owners of these estates were directly connected with the development of Portuguese colonialism and older feudal traditions, although they increasingly incorporated African traditions. Initially, their purpose was to obtain gold, hunt elephants for ivory and produce cash-corps (particularly sugar); after while became the base from slaver raids were launched. Ultimately, the prazo both undermined the authority of the Mutapa emperor and even the Portuguese crown in the region because they were largely autonomous and often fought themselves in local rivalries. The harsh treatment that the prazeros imposed over the native population and the unsustainable slaver raiding practices also weakened their tenuous legitimacy, paving way for the Rozvi successes.
Also, I fully support Merijn’s idea of including the Great Zimbabwe as wonder!
UHVs: In general, I see the Merijn’s UHVs as quite good for the civ, since they offer unique gameplay and represent their major achievements: building medieval stone cities, how they were part of a larger commercial routes in the Indian Ocean and tried to monopolize their most valuable exports, and how they were able to (almost) expel the Portuguese from Africa, who were confined with other European powers in the coastal areas until mid-19th century. So they can be incorporated in the main mod with some minor tweaks, but for the sake of having additional options, I’ll point to the following additional options:
The Cosmopolitan African Hinterland: Establish a trade route or have open border agreements with a Middle Eastern, Indian, and East Asian civs by 1450. The civs here are defined by the location of their capital rather than a specific one. Is another UHV related to the position of GZ within the trade in the Indian Ocean and is a direct reference to the fact that archeologists found Chinese, Syrian and Persian ceramics/glassware in GZ, and also to the fact that both GZ and Mutapa were consumers of Indian textiles.
TheCurva: Successfully sell open borders agreements to four (or more) other civilizations (or European civs) by 1650. Refers to the tribute (known as curva) often paid by the Portuguese to the mwene mutapa to open his empire for foreign merchants. The UHV also reflects the historical fact that the Mutapa successfully fooled the Portuguese about their real power, making them think that the mwene mutapa controlled tightly an enormous empire that had the monopoly of gold and ivory in the region.
Expansion, cities and resources:
I have to say that I’m not much updated with how the map looks in the region right now (Tab911 made a few suggestions some time ago), so I’m taking a more open approach here, giving that I think that many here, including myself, do not know much about the regional geography. We are uncertain about their maximum extent since their organization with tributaries and vassals make somewhat difficult to assess with precision their territory. Even Portuguese contemporaneous explorers/missionaries/conquerors noted this aspect, and one of them said, with some obvious exaggeration, that Butua extended to the Cape region and had close commercial relations with tribes in Angola. But overall, we know that their political heart was in the Zimbabwean plateau and they expanded mainly in the area between Zambezi and Limpopo rivers – which interestingly is more or less the borders of the modern country Zimbabwe.
Bellow, you can see a map with major cities. Particularly, I think that in overall we should have as canonical cities (certainly not all at same time, giving that some are very closely located) Great Zimbabwe, Khami (capital of Butua and later Rozvi, also a stone-built city in similar fashion, albeit in smaller scale, of GZ), Danangombe (alternative spelling Dhlo-dhlo; also capital of Butua and Rozvi) and Zvongombe (Mutapa capital).
SpoilerMutapa and Rozvi Empires :
Obs: I apologize for the not so top quality here, but these maps are the most complete ones that I could find, both taken from the Unesco's General History of Africa vol. 4 and 5.
About resources, the Shona peoples (and also the kingdoms/empires mentioned) had a economy based mostly in pastoralism (particularly cattle, which had a prestigious status, but also sheep and goats) and subsistence agriculture (sorghum and millet). They also were prolific in metallurgy, working (and mining) iron and cooper to make tools and weapons. Salt was also a mineral valuable highly regarded. Their exports, on the other side, were mainly gold and ivory; their imports were primarily colorful textiles and pearls. After the Portuguese colonial contact, new products were introduced, notably sugarcane, rice, fruits, and citrus (oranges and, particularly, lemons that were sold to India). Finally, the slave trade became increasingly important around 17th-18th centuries, particularly to supply plantations in Brazil and in French colonies (mostly to isles Mauritius and Réunion).
Pagan religion and URV:
While there is some discussion about specific religious practices and a kind of uncertainty about these older empires/kingdoms, the traditional religion of the Shona is known as the cult of Mwari. This cult included practices of ancestral veneration, rain-dances and invoking spirits. Cattle seems also to have been important, at least in GZ, given archeological finds of small cows’ ceramic figures and remains of ritual sacrifices. During that time, the main temple/religious site supposedly was called Dzimba Dzemabwe (stone houses; the same etymology was also applied to Zimbabwe) in a hill called Mhanwa. Both in the GZ and Mutapa the shamans/priests/spirit mediums had a great political role, being powerful royal advisers invoking ancestral spirits called mhondoro (lions). During the Rozvi there was a substantial religious reformation that established the Mwari cult as monotheistic, probably with some influences of Bantu peoples, the missionary activity of the Portuguese and the earlier Arab-Swahili traders.
Pagan religion: Mwari
Temple: Dzimba-hwe (“venerated houses” in Shona, seems to be also etymologically related to Zimbabwe) or Dzimba Dzemabwe
URVs (besides standard pagan objectives):
Have at least one Cow resource and Refined (1000) culture level per each city.
Somenting related to the rain dances and rituals?
Have a city with a Great Prophet settled and additional 5? priests’ specialists.
Recently, I’ve got reading to propose some ideas about a Zimbabwean/Mutapa/Rozvi civ. Considering that this civ is not very well known here and also the historical Portuguese presence in the area (so theoretically we would have more Portuguese sources than English ones, what proved be somewhat wrong ), I decided to make some research about them to see how we can fit this civ in our mod. So here goes my findings, comments and proposals:
First of all, I want to say that I love reading post like this. I will use this post to give comments on some decisions I made when I made the Zimbabwean civ.
Zimbabwe (aka Shona civilization)
Just like the Kanem-Bornu, we already have some mods that include Zimbabwe as civ in Civ 4 community. I'd like to start pointing to Merijn version (also available in DoCReborn), since he ported the civ into RFC mechanics:
Going to the point, the first definition that we need to do is who is included in our civ. Considering the historical polities in the region and their lifespawn, I think is better to have a more broad Shona civilization, functioning as an "umbrella" for several tribes, kingdoms and empires, rather than a simple Zimbabwe civ, as noted before in this thread. While we have some earlier possible polities within the civ (Leopard's Kopje culture and the Kingdom of Mapungubwe), I’d propose as starting point the Kingdom of Zimbabwe for the simple reason that we know so little about the earlier ones (in fact, it seems that all we know about them stems from archeological remains and some oral traditions, even from Zimbabwean kingdom; if anyone know about earlier Swahili-Islamic sources I’d love to hear it); also, starting as Zimbabwe would also mean that the starting tile would be the Great Zimbabwe [GZ] the most impressive stone-built settlement of pre-colonial Southern Africa. After them, we have several later Shona kingdoms/empires, the arguably most important of them being the Mutapa Empire, Butua/Torwa Kingdom and the Rozvi/Rozwi Empire, giving us a gameplay ranging from Middle Ages to 19th century European Imperialism.
My goal with the Zimbabwean civ was more or less to create an umbrella civ for that area. I didn't give it an "umbrella name" but named it after the Kingdom of Zimbabwe. But the empires you mention are meant to be covered with my civ as well.
Spawn/Starting tile: Merijn chose GZ as starting tile and 1075 CE. I’m unsure about why he chose this specific spawn date (probably because it was by that time that the Kingdom of Mapungubwe emerged), but it may be better choosing a spawn date a little later. The state-building process in the are area seems to be related to the development of the trade with the coastal Swahili city-states from 11th century on, particularly with Kilwa (which was actually the most important trade partner of GZ), but it wasn’t’ until the late 12th century that we got a great cultural shift among the Shona, creating a complex political structure that also was reflected by their abandonment of the older wattle-and-daub technique to build their tribal villages to starting settling stone-built cities. I’d say that any spawn date between 1175-1225 CE seems good for our purposes.
It was hard to find a proper starting date, because the available information is limited. I indeed used the Kingdom of Mapungubwe as the starting date. According to wikipedia, the kingdom was the first stage in a development that would culminate in the creation of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe. I thought it would be nice if I included that, so I thought this would be an appropriate starting date.
Color/Flag: While we do have a Mutapan CoA (given by the Portuguese mid-16th century) and a supposed Mutapa flag (see the EUIV version here), I’m still with the Zimbabwean bird depicted in Merijn’s version. We are also free to choose any color that fits within the region, since I couldn’t find any reference for sacred/royal colors.
I gave them some purplish color. There is no historical reason for this. (Or I have forgotton that reason) IIRC I chose this color because IMO it matched nicely with the gold Zimbabwean bird CoA and I had some feeling this color would be appropriate. Zimbabwe does not have (many) neighbours which could give a color clash. Although I think a dark green (Congo/ Portuguese colonies), red (English colonies) and orange (Dutch colonies) should be avoided.
LHs: Merijn chose Rushvingo as the first leader, but honestly I couldn’t find any mention to this name. TBH, I also couldn’t find any name from an actual ruler of GZ; the earliest ruler known is Nyatsimba Mutota (c. 1430 – c. 1450), who supposedly was a Zimbabwean prince sent north to find new sources of salt and decided to establish his own kingdom – the Mutapa Empire, named after the ruler title mwene mutapa. We have more info about later rulers because they were contemporaneous of Portuguese colonial efforts. Looking for other Mutapa rulers (wiki has a list here), another candidate is Gatsi Rusere (c. 1589 - 1623), a ruler that sought Portuguese help to ascend to the throne before turning against the Europeans and almost expelling them from Africa, and finally requiring a missionary for conversion in his deathbed. Going to Rozvi rulers, the most obvious option is Changamire Dombo (c. 1660 – c. 1695), the founder of the Rozvi Empire (that also named the title of Rozvi kings, changamire) that conquered the old Kingdom of Butua and imposed a significant defeat over the Portuguese that basically expelled them from African hinterlands.
So, taking the three leaders above (so they can represent, arguably and respectively, the main three polities that the civ represent: Great Zimbabwe, Mutapa Empire and Rozvi Empire), some ideas for their favorite civics are:
Nyatsimba Mutota: Deification (in the GZ, the political power was closely related to the power of religious authorities, particularly their shamans; many of the rituals invoked ancestral spirit both from nature and ancient rulers to ensure wisdom, adequate rain for farming and political authority) or Tributaries (the imperial structure from GZ was based in a complex system of vassals and tributaries)
Gatsi Rusere: Manorialism (Mutapa obtained its gold and ivory, their main exports, from a tribute system that also included a kind of corvée labor system) or Tributaries (just like GZ, the political structure of the Mutapa Empire was also based in a system of vassals and tributaries).
Changamire Dombo: Conquest (given the militaristic origin of the empire and their anti-Portuguese policy, though may not be the ideal since after the initial conquests there was a century of relative peace and prosperity) or Vassalage (again, as successor of the old empire, the Rozvi also had an imperial system of vassals and tributaries, but I choose vassalage here to each leader have distinct favorite civics).
I also suggest that none of these leaders should have a favorite religion. While they had contact and even some of their rulers converted to Islam and Catholicism, the Shona continued to be mostly pagans until the colonial conquest in the late 19th century.
When I create a civ, I search the download database for ideas. Very often there are one or more modcomps that add the civs I'm creating to the base game. I use these for ideas and assets.
UP: I personally like Merijn’s UP and it seems an adequate UP, but I have also to say that the stone-built cities were more related to the GZ and Butua kingdoms. The Mutapa and Rozvi, on the other hand, abandoned these constructions for reasons that we really are not sure (possibly because they lacked adequate stone sources for building). The Rozvi later reintroduced the stone-building techniques, but none of them did in the same scale of GZ.
The stone-built cities was a feature of Zimbabwe I really wanted to represent in some way and I thought the UP was the best way of doing this. But I am not that fond of the effect I came up with. I do think that the extra yield is a good translation of the stone-built city to game mechanics, but I think the usefulness isn't that great. A few extra yields early on are nice, but not world changing. I think a buff to the UP would be nice.
I don't mind that this UP is not that historical for the whole timespan of the civ. I think an inherent problem of an umbrella civs is that a feature of one civ (which could be reflected by the UP) might not be that appropriate for some other civs under the same umbrella.
UUs:
Considering that we mostly know about GZ from its archeological remains, I’ve focused here in the later polities. There is not much info useful for civilian UUs, since most of the names noted are more related to specific professions and court officials (as example, the court bards/musicians were called marombe). About their military forces, likewise there is little info: the Portuguese estimated, with again certain exaggeration, that the mwene mutapa could easily mobilize an army of 100.000 men for large campaigns, but nonetheless the only true standing military force was the small bodyguard force that protected him and the military organization was rather a loose force of levied vassals. The Rozvi Empire was described by the same Portuguese as a militaristic nation with disciplined and trained corps, whose military prowess became evident when they defeated them in battle in 1684. The reality seems to indicate that although they did have a robust army in regional terms, it wasn’t that particularly powerful nor did innovated significantly in military terms. Although the Portuguese occasionally sold gunpower weapons (muskets but also few small cannons) when they sought alliances among Shona polities, these were not widely distributed or common among the Africans; only in the 19th century, with the Ndebele (who were former Zulus) invasions (known as Mfecane) did the Shona employed more commonly guns. Anyway, I’ve found only two reasonable options:
Rozvi (replaces Pikeman, special bonus could be same of Merijn, though I’d also reduce the bonus against heavy cavalry): The name Rozvi seems to come from the Shona expression “to plunder” and obviously refers to their legacy as warriors. Nonetheless, I couldn’t find any specific word for their warriors (looking online for Shona-English dictionaries I’ve found the words mhare and murwi meaning warrior, but we certainly have to look more before settling for any), but using Rozvi seemed reasonable for the unit. The Portuguese described Rozvi military as lightly armored and mobile forces armed with bows (with poisoned arrows), spears, battle axes and a special club called goromondo. They employed cunning and subtle tactics, making ambushes, and attacking at night. Some researchers have suggested that the Rozvi military organization may have influenced the later Zulu military innovations, but the argument is somewhat dubious here.
Giving their era, weapons and nearby traditions, the art could be something similar to our native Impi in-game, although I think it would be interesting to use a unit with a club or a battle axe because these weapons seems more unique for them. This mod offers an interesting option as Rozvi Warrior; it also gives some options regarding other art assets.
Chikunda (replaces Heavy Swordsman or Longbowman; can enter in rainforests/jungles and have bonus in enslaving enemy units): these were a proper unit but were related with Portuguese colonialism in the region. By the 1620s, the Portuguese were finally able to subdue the Mutapa to a vassal status and imposed a treaty that allowed Portuguese adventurers to take native lands (called Prazo, see bellow) under a double official authority of the mwene mutapa and the Portuguese crown. The prazeros (owners of the prazos) intermarried with local woman and established their own armed bands called chikunda that were responsible to ensure order, fight invaders, make slaver raids and extract tribute from nearby tribes. There is no much info about their weapons or organization, but if I had to guess I’d point that much likely they used the mentioned traditional African weapons (spears and bows).
If we go with this unit, the art asset used by Merijn’s Rozvi Warrior seems interesting: the fact that the unit has more clothes than the usual tribal African units would be a reminder of the mixed Portuguese-Shona traditions of the chikunda masters.
I got the unit idea from one of the Zimbabwean modcomps I found in the database. I shamelessly copied the bonus from the Congolese UU, because I couldn't think of anything better. I thought it could be useful against the colonizing civs.
UBs:
Zimbabwe/Dzimba Dzemabwe (replaces Civic Square, available with Education, grant additional to pasture and mine resources worked): refers basically to the monumental courtyards and enclosures of the GZ and later Butua kingdoms. According to the first known mention of the GZ ruins, wrote by a Portuguese military officer in 1531, the name (that he wrote as Symbaoe) signifies “court”; the later option is in (possibly modern) Shona and seems to be “large stone houses". While some mods here prefer that the UB replaces the Castle, it seems to me more appropriate to replace the Civic Square, since these building complexes had more prestigious and symbolic functions than purely military ones (there are no obvious signs of widespread warfare during GZ timeline).
Kraal (replaces Smokehouse): this was the Merijn’s UB, referring to a cattle enclosure. TBH, I’m unsure about this option, even though these buildings were common among the Shona (during the GZ, it was even built using the same stone-building techniques employed in the other more famous constructions) and, as I’ve mentioned, cattle herds were very important for them. I’d point two main reasons: a) the kraal is common basically for all pastoral South African cultures, so it is not really unique for the Shona; and b) the name is Afrikaner, so even if we go with this UB, it may be better find the proper Shona name.
Prazo (replaces Estate, available with Exploration, grant additional to ivory, gold and plantation resources worked): as mentioned in the UU section, the prazo were the lands from Portuguese adventurers in the region. The owners of these estates were directly connected with the development of Portuguese colonialism and older feudal traditions, although they increasingly incorporated African traditions. Initially, they purpose was to obtain gold, hunt elephants for ivory and produce cash-corps (particularly sugar); after while became the base from slaver raids were launched. Ultimately, the prazo both undermined the authority of the Mutapa emperor and even the Portuguese crown in the region because they were largely autonomous and often fought themselves in local rivalries. The harsh treatment that the prazeros imposed over the local population and the unsustainable slaver raiding practices also weakened their tenuous legitimacy, paving way for the Rozvi successes.
Also, I fully support Merijn’s idea of including the Great Zimbabwe as wonder!
IIRC I used the Kraal because I wanted to represent the livestock herding in that area, but didn't bother to find a more appropriate name. I do like your first suggestion, but I think the name of the building should be different than a CNM name.
UHVs: In general, I see the Merijn’s UHVs as quite good for the civ, since they offer unique gameplay and represent their major achievements: building medieval stone cities, how they were part of a larger commercial routes in the Indian Ocean and tried to monopolize their most valuable exports, and how they were able to (almost) expel the Portuguese from Africa, who were confined with other European powers in the coastal areas until mid-19th century. So they can be incorporated in the main mod with some minor tweaks, but for the sake of having additional options, I’ll point to the following additional options:
The Cosmopolitan African Hinterland: Establish a trade route or have open border agreements with a Middle Eastern, Indian, and East Asian civs by 1450. The civs here are defined by the location of their capital rather than a specific one. Is another UHV related to the position of GZ within the trade in the Indian Ocean and is a direct reference to the fact that archeologists found Chinese, Syrian and Persian ceramics/glassware in GZ, and also to the fact that both GZ and Mutapa were consumers of Indian textiles.
TheCurva: Successfully sell open borders agreements to four (or more) other civilizations (or European civs) by 1650. Refers to the tribute (known as curva) often paid by the Portuguese to the mwene mutapa to open his empire for foreign merchants. The UHV also reflects the historical fact that the Mutapa successfully fooled the Portuguese about their real power, making them think that the mwene mutapa controlled tightly an enormous empire that had the monopoly of gold and ivory in the region.
I did want to represent Zimbabwe being a trading center with an UHV and I didn't want it to be another generic trading UHV. I came up with the monopoly concept and I really liked it because it provides multiple ways of achieving the goal, it is truly unique and it is somewhat trade related. So I include it as the "trade UHV" of Zimbabwe. I don't know if Zimbabwe historically did aim for a monopoly.
First of all, I want to say that I love reading post like this. I will use this post to give comments on some decisions I made when I made the Zimbabwean civ.
Thank you. I'm afraid that some people may find these kinds of posts boring and unnecessarily long, but nonetheless I do think that discussing these additions should be done with enough detail to make them more unique and interesting. Besides, a little more info can't hurt anybody and also could give people more material to discuss the topic.
Also, have to say that you did a great job porting the civ to RFC mechanics and in overall your version pretty much represent accurately many aspects of the Zimbabwe and gives a unique gameplay for them. My suggestions here are based upon yours, introducing other historical aspects to turn their representation even more accurate.
It was hard to find a proper starting date, because the available information is limited. I indeed used the Kingdom of Mapungubwe as the starting date. According to wikipedia, the kingdom was the first stage in a development that would culminate in the creation of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe. I thought it would be nice if I included that, so I thought this would be an appropriate starting date.
Yeah, I get, and honestly understand why you chose the Kingdom of Mapungubwe as starting date using the wiki info. Truth be told, I think that the only hard requirement for their spawn date is that they should start after the Swahili city-states (I have an impression that they are a very strong candidate for addition, but otherwise we can say about their existent Indy version), since the state-building process in the region is directly connected with the commercial links with these cities. My suggestion of a later spawn (and honestly, I do prefer earlier spawns, since they give more time to play!) is just because the really big and important cultural shift/leap among the Shona is around late 12th century. In this sense, it seems that we have more similarity and cultural continuity between Mapungubwe and the earlier Leopard's Kopje culture than there is between the first and Zimbabwe. Besides, as I have said, starting as Zimbabwe means starting with GZ as first city, while Mapungubwe would start few tiles north.
When I create a civ, I search the download database for ideas. Very often there are one or more modcomps that add the civs I'm creating to the base game. I use these for ideas and assets.
Yeah, I also usually look there for some ideas and to see what kinds of art assets are available, but in general I find kind of hard and a little confusing navigating and searching that database. The question about Rushvingo was really just out curiosity, because I couldn’t find any reference and I really hoped that we would have a mention of a proper Zimbabwean ruler.
I got the unit idea from one of the Zimbabwean modcomps I found in the database. I shamelessly copied the bonus from the Congolese UU, because I couldn't think of anything better. I thought it could be useful against the colonizing civs.
As I argued, there is not much info about their military forces, so I also think that we get some liberty to choose what we deem more appropriated; I pointed the Chikunda as option but really I do think that the Rozvi is the better option (in general, the order of my UUs and UBs suggestions reflect which ones I see more important and interesting). About their special bonus, I think that in general the bonus entering rainforest/jungle/marshes is good because of local geography but looking at historical sources I think we can consider giving a retreat or first strike bonus. Then there is the question with the unit’s natural bonus against cavalry, which may be somewhat historically weird given that cavalry wasn’t really a thing at that time and region (the Portuguese usually fought on foot, using all the knowledge and practices of local population in their colonial expeditions instead of using expensive horses and sticking to a European warfare style).
IIRC I used the Kraal because I wanted to represent the livestock herding in that area, but didn't bother to find a more appropriate name. I do like your first suggestion, but I think the name of the building should be different than a CNM name.
As I said, I’m not strongly against the kraal and agree that it would be, in general, historically accurate, it just seems to me that it is not that uniquely Shona. While I agree that would be interesting finding another name for the zimbabwes, I’m honestly not much concerned about it, since in other places of the world we also have cities named after some building complex: look, for example, Newcastle in Britain.
I did want to represent Zimbabwe being a trading center with an UHV and I didn't want it to be another generic trading UHV. I came up with the monopoly concept and I really liked it because it provides multiple ways of achieving the goal, it is truly unique and it is somewhat trade related. So I include it as the "trade UHV" of Zimbabwe. I don't know if Zimbabwe historically did aim for a monopoly.
The interesting thing in all this story is that Mutapa and Rozvi historically really tried to monopolize the gold and ivory trade, though only the latter had some success in doing so (because it was a more centralized state and most gold sources were already exhausted giving indigenous mining techniques). I personally love your idea on this UHV because it really is a unique trade UHV. Truth be told, your three UHVs reflect arguably the achievements of the three main Shona kingdoms: the impressive stone cities of Zimbabwe, the complex commercial aspects and focus of Mutapa, and finally the successful anti-Portuguese efforts of Rozvi.
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), I decided to make some research about them to see how we can fit this civ in our mod. So here goes my findings, comments and proposals:
to pasture and mine resources worked): refers basically to the monumental courtyards and enclosures of the GZ and later Butua kingdoms. According to the first known mention of the GZ ruins, wrote by a Portuguese military officer in 1531, the name (that he wrote as Symbaoe) signifies “court”; the later option is in (possibly modern) Shona and seems to be “large stone houses". While some mods here prefer that the UB replaces the Castle, it seems to me more appropriate to replace the Civic Square, since these building complexes had more prestigious and symbolic functions than purely military ones (there are no obvious signs of widespread warfare during GZ timeline).
