Rimuka

Rimuka, known to Portuguese traders as Maramuca, was a gold-trading settlement near the Suri Suri River. An earthwork enclosure surrounded stores and dwellings built of sun-dried brick, with projections added at the centres of its walls. Glass beads and fragments of a Chinese glazed storage jar found there recall the goods exchanged for gold in the interior.

In the 1660s the trader Gonçalo João obtained rights to trade in the district. Rival merchants claimed the same privilege from the Mutapa and encouraged local chiefs, some of whom had lost land to João, to oppose him. Around 1680 the settlement was attacked and plundered. Its brief history reflects the rival claims of merchants and African authorities in the goldfields of the plateau.