Rozwi, also spelled Rozvi, a Karanga empire in southern Africa between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers (now in Zimbabwe), had probably been established by Changamire Dombo I, who had been a lowly son of Matope, the ruler of the Mbire (or Monomotapa) empire, who appointed him governor of its central and southern provinces.

Declaring his independence of Matope's successory, Changamire had founded a kingdom that he called Rozwi and established trade contacts with Arab traders.

Around 1500, his son (Changamire II, who used the name as a dynastic title) had established contacts with the Portuguese settlements on the east African coast.

Beginning in 1684, Rozwian forces had begun conquering some of the most fertile and mineral-rich areas in the Zambezi River valley.

Although contacts with the Portuguese had initially been encouraged, from 1693 to 1695 the Changamire empire has driven the Portuguese from all their stations in the interior during a campaign against the remainder of the dying Mbire empire.

The area of the Rozwi confederacy fluctuates, and its influence extends over much of present-day Zimbabwe and perhaps westward into Botswana and southward into northeastern South Africa.