All  

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ Mobile

Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba

Queen Nzinga: A Courageous Ruler who Set Her People Free

Print

Queen Anna Nzinga, also known as Ana de Sousa Nzinga Mbande, was a queen of the Ndongo and Matamba Kingdoms (occupying what is today the country of Angola in the southern part of Africa) who lived during the 16th and 17th centuries AD. Queen Nzinga is best remembered for her resistance against the Portuguese, and setting her people free from slavery.

Anna’s Early Life

Queen Nzinga was born during the first half of the 1580s. Nzinga’s father, Ngola Kiluanji Kia Samba, was a ruler of the Ndongo people. In the same year that Nzinga was born, the king began to lead his people against the Portuguese colonialists.

These Europeans are said to have been raiding the territory of the Ndongo for slaves, as they tried to fill the increasing demands for slave labor in their New World colonies such as Brazil. Additionally, the Portuguese were attempting to conquer areas which they believed contained silver mines.

According to one source, Ngola Kiluanji was deposed by his son, Mbandi, who was also Nzinga’s brother. The queen’s child is also said to have been murdered by the new king. Perhaps fearing for their lives, Nzinga and her husband fled to Matamba.

Some sources say that Mbandi’s rule was cruel and chaotic and that he was an unpopular ruler. Others, however, do not mention this. It is perhaps more likely that Nzinga remained at her brother’s court, and that the flight to Matamba was a later episode in Nzinga’s life.

Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba from the UNESCO series on women in African history. Illustrations by Pat Masioni. (CC BY 3.0)

Nzinga Forms a Peace Treaty

In any event, 1621/2 was an important period in Nzinga’s life. It was during this year that the Portuguese invited Mbandi to a peace conference in the hopes of ending hostilities between the two peoples (the Portuguese had forced the king to flee from his court in 1617). Nzinga was sent to represent the king during the meeting with Joao Corria de Sousa, the Portuguese governor, in Luanda.

One of the best-known stories about Nzinga took place during this meeting. Prior to the meeting, the Portuguese are said to have prepared the room with only one chair. This meant that Nzinga would be obliged to stand during the negotiations, thus making her seem inferior. Instead of doing so, Nzinga had one of her male servants get down on his hands and knees to serve as her chair.

The negotiations were a success, as peace was achieved, and the Portuguese restored Mbandi to his throne, as well as agreeing to limit slave raiding activities. Nzinga also converted to Christianity and was baptized, taking the name of Dona Ana de Sousa. Her godparents were the Portuguese governor, Joao Corria de Sousa and his wife.

However, this period of peace did not last for long, and the Portuguese renewed their aggression towards the Ndongo several years later.

Nzinga Meeting with Portuguese Governor Joao Corria de Sousa.

Nzinga Meeting with Portuguese Governor Joao Corria de Sousa. (Public Domain)

Queen Nzinga at War

In 1626, Nzinga became the queen of her people following her brother’s death. According to one source, the king had committed suicide in the face of the increasingly aggressive Portuguese presence in the region. Another source, however, claims that it was Nzinga who murdered her brother.

In the same year, the Portuguese renewed their attacks against the Ndongo by hiring the Imbangala to do their fighting for them. Unable to defeat the Portuguese militarily, Nzinga and her people fled westwards and founded a new state at Matamba.

An image depicting Portuguese in Africa

An image depicting Portuguese people in Africa (Public Domain)

From Matamba, Nzinga fought against the Portuguese in a war that lasted three decades. Among other measures, the queen offered sanctuary to runaway slaves and Portuguese-trained African soldiers who came to her kingdom. Additionally, she stirred up unrest within Ndongo as well, which was at that time controlled indirectly by the Portuguese via a puppet king.

Moreover, Nzinga exploited European rivalries to her advantage. This can be seen in the alliance that she forged with the Dutch, who were the rivals of Portugal in the region.

The Portuguese were cast out of Luanda in 1641 by the combined forces of the Dutch and the Matamba. In the following year, however, the Portuguese were back, and managed to reclaim Luanda. The Dutch were driven out of Angola, and the queen had to retreat back to Matamba.

A map of Luanda.

A map of Luanda. (Public Domain)

Nzingha wasn’t ready to give up and she continued her fight against the Portuguese. But more importantly, perhaps, were the efforts she made to transform her kingdom into a commercial power, considering that it occupied a strategic position between a part of the African coast and it’s interior.

By the time of her death in 1663, Matamba is said to have had developed into a formidable commercial state that was able to deal with the Portuguese on an equal footing.

Top image: Drawing of Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba in Luanda, Angola. Source: Public Domain

By Wu Mingren

References

Bortolot, A. I., 2003. Ana Nzinga: Queen of Ndongo. [Online]
Available at: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pwmn_2/hd_pwmn_2.htm

Cross, V. M., 2015. Queen Ana de Sousa Nzinga Mbande of Ndongo (Angola). [Online]
Available at: http://www.blackhistoryheroes.com/2011/03/queen-ana-de-sousa-njinga-mbande-of.html

Engel, K., 2016. Ana Nzinga Mbande, fearless African queen. [Online]
Available at: http://www.amazingwomeninhistory.com/anna-nzinga-mbande-fearless-africa-queen/

Lewis, J. J., 2015. Anna Nzinga. [Online]
Available at: http://womenshistory.about.com/od/medrenqueens/p/nzinga.htm

Snethen, J., 2016. Queen Nzinga (1583-1663). [Online]
Available at: http://www.blackpast.org/gah/queen-nzinga-1583-1663

 

Comments

Hilarious, "I will not give you a slave, but have this woman who I sat on" I wonder, are there any records explaining what happened to that woman?

As any violent ruler, also in Africa today, the alliance ENDS with the own clan or tribe. She for example massacred the Matamba people (who also had a Queen, in case people carry rozy colored gender glasses) and then sold 10,000+ people as slaves to the Portuguese or Dutch. She shifted alliances with the "hated invadors" as it pleased her own power interest. She was ruthless, without moral, for good reason paranoic, trusted only her own family members and at her death all her folks were replaced because the people despised them. Warring royals are always EGO no matter if clad in XX or XY chromosome bodies. In the language of their culture : possessed by demons, commiting those atrocities against life through the host body. Role model? Like Margareth Thatcher, like Madeleine Albright massacring the Iraqis and stating "100,000 dead children is worth it", like Condolezza Rice who some call "intelligent" but she was just the war hag of the centurial war criminal George Bush administration who caused A CENTURY OF GLOBAL TERROR WAR. Applause from the peanut gallery where us sane minds watch people going down in utter confusion.

dhwty's picture

Wu

Wu Mingren (‘Dhwty’) has a Bachelor of Arts in Ancient History and Archaeology. Although his primary interest is in the ancient civilizations of the Near East, he is also interested in other geographical regions, as well as other time periods.... Read More

Next article