Chief of Toutswemogala

Who he is

Title

Chief of the Toutswemogala hill centre, perhaps senior among the Toutswe chiefs

Since

Not pinned

Family

Toutswe people

Confidence

low

Archaeology (Denbow). Toutswemogala is the largest of the three main centres, occupied for about five hundred years in its main phase.

What it holds

• Toutswemogala hill
• The secondary villages and cattle posts round it (Mmadipudi and others; their placing is not pinned)

How it was acquired

Settled from the seventh century; main occupation for about five centuries.

Allies and rivals

The chiefs of Bosutswe and Shoshong; the K2 kingdom to the east.

How things stand that morning

The largest centre of a cattle chiefdom still in being, near the end of its time.

Wealth

Cattle, grain, beads and ivory.

Military

Nothing known.

Threats

• Overgrazing and drought

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. Thirteenth to fourteenth centuryThe Toutswe centres decline and are abandoned or taken over.Depends on: Drought, overgrazing and the K2 kingdom's pull. Stopped by: Not relevant to 1200.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Archaeology; the chief's existence is inferred from the site hierarchy.

On the map: District estimated round the hill.

Primary sources for Toutswe

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Mapungubwe, the Zimbabwe plateau, Toutswe and the Comoros: the archaeological record (no text; radiocarbon-dated sites). There is no written word from the interior south of the Zambezi or from the Comoros in 1200; all that is known is from excavation. Read online