Queen Nzinga -- Angola

Queen Nzingha a Mbande also known as Ana de ceSousa Nzingha Mbande, was a 17th century queen (muchino a muhatu) of the Ndongo and Matamba Kingdoms of the Mbundu people in southwestern Africa  (Ngola was both name and title in Ndongo).

Queen Nzingha was born to Ngola (King) Kiluanji and Kangela in 1583.  According to her recollections, she was greatly favoured by her father, who allowed her to witness as he governed his kingdom, and he carried her with him to war. 

She also had a brother, Mbandi and two sisters Kifunji and Mukambu, she lived during a period when the Atlantic slave trade and the consolidation of power by the Portuguese in the region were growing rapidly. 

In the 16th century, England and France threatened the Portuguese position.  As a result, the Portuguese shifted their slave-trading activities to The Congo and South West Africa. 

Mistaking the title of the ruler (ngola) for the name of the country, the Portuguese called the land of the Mbundu people "Angola" the name by which it is still known today.

At a peace conference with the Portuguese, Nzinga attempt to get the Portuguese to withdraw the fortress of Ambaca that had been built on her brother’s land in 1618 by the Governor Mendes de Vasconcelos, and to have some of his subjects who had been taken captive during the 1617–21 campaigns returned and to persuade the governor to stop the marauding of Imbangala mercenaries in Portuguese service.  Nzinga's efforts were successful, the governor, João Correia de Sousa, never gained an advantage at the meeting and agreed to her terms, which resulted in a equal treaty.  One important point of disagreement was the question of whether Ndongo surrendered to Portugal and accepted vassalage status.  Nzinga converted to Christianity, possibly in order to strengthen the peace treaty with the Portuguese, and adopted the name Dona Anna de Sousa in honour of the governor's wife when she was baptised, who was also her godmother. 

The Portuguese never honoured the treaty, neither withdrawing from Ambaca, nor returning the subjects, who they held as slaves and they did not restrain the Imbangala.  In 1626 Nzinga became Queen of the Mbundu when her brother committed suicide in the face of rising Portuguese demands for slave trade concessions.  Nzinga, however, refused to allow them to control her nation and in 1627, after forming alliances with former rival states, she led her army against the Portuguese, initiating a thirty year war against them.  She exploited European rivalry by forging an alliance with the Dutch who had conquered Luanda in 1641.  Nzinga moved her capital to Kavanga in the northern part of Ndongo's former domains.  In 1644 she defeated the Portuguese army at Ngoleme, but did not follow this up.  Then, in 1646, she was defeated by the Portuguese at Kavanga and, in the process, her other sister was captured, along with her archives, which revealed her alliance with Kongo. 

The Dutch in Luanda now sent Nzinga reinforcements, and with their help, Nzinga routed a Portuguese army in 1647.  Nzinga then laid siege to the Portuguese capital of Masangano.  The Portuguese recaptured Luanda and in 1648, Nzinga retreated to Matamba and continued to resist The Portuguese well into her sixties, personally leading troops into battle using irregular warfare on the Portuguese which would continue long after her death and inspire the ultimately successful 20th Century armed resistance against the Portuguese that resulted in independent Angola in 1975.  Despite repeated attempts by the Portuguese and their allies to capture or kill Queen Nzinga, she died peacefully in her eighties on December 17, 1663.

Her death accelerated the Portuguese occupation of the interior of South West Africa, with the massive expansion of the Portuguese slave trade.  She is remembered in Angola for her political and diplomatic acumen, her intelligence and brilliant military tactics.  In time, Portugal and most of Europe would come to respect her.  A major street in Luanda is named after her, and a statue of her was placed in Kinaxixi on an impressive square, Angolan women are often get married near the statue.