The Mthethwa Paramountcy, sometimes referred to as the Mtetwa or Mthethwa Empire, was a Southern African state that arose in the 18th century south of Delagoa Bay and inland in eastern southern Africa.

Unlike its successor, the Zulu Kingdom, the Mthethwa Paramountcy was a confederation.

The chief entered into an alliance with the Tsonga to the north in the early 19th century and began trading Ivory[3] and other things with the Portuguese in Mozambique.

About 1811, the Buthelezi and a number of other Nguni groups, including the then still marginal Zulu clan led by Senzangakona, were integrated into a sort of confederacy with the Mthethwa clan predominating.

Many military and administrative institutions, including the system of age regiments (amabutho) that later characterized the Zulu kingdom were utilized by Mthethwa, although an older theory that credits the Nyambose rulers of Mthethwa with the introduction of amabutho is no longer accepted because of evidence for the widespread existence of amabutho going back into the 18th century and perhaps earlier.