Paper 1 · sources of history
Which of the following is a written source for the history of the pre-colonial states of Southern Africa?
Athe names of rivers and hills in an area
Brecords left by Portuguese traders
Cpraise poetry recited at a chief's court
Dstone walls and pottery dug from a site
Explanation: Portuguese traders, soldiers and priests wrote reports and letters about the Mutapa State from the sixteenth century, and those documents are the main written source for the period. Praise poetry is oral tradition, walls and pottery are archaeology, and place names belong to linguistics.
Derived from ZIMSEC History Paper 1, June 2019, Q2