African Royalty - Kings and Queens of Color - Queen Ana Nzinga of West Africa Ndongo

Late in the 16th century, England and France were the leaders of the slave trade and Portuguese found itself looking to make its fortunes in the Congo and Southwest Africa.
Imagine the 1599 visit of Portuguese Governor Joao Correia into the kingdom of Ndongo.  On behalf of her brother Ngola Mbande at a peace meeting, a brilliant Nzinga was present to lead negotiations that were in dire straits of reversing a healthy economy and territorial control of their lands.  His instinct was to take the only chair in the room leaving this royal African figure to stand.  Expecting her to stand for the conference, she summoned a nearby female servant who kneeling before her creating a 'seat' for her to resume talks.
With the slave trade in full force and ensuing during the 16th century, the Portuguese were attempting to colonize modern day Angola to position themselves within Southwest Africa to seize captives for the slave trade in Luanda .  To avoid aggressive attacks including neighboring African tribes on all sides, Queen Nzinga tried to form an ally with the Portuguese, which in less than 2 years would prove false and send her into exile founding a new state called Matamba.  Runaway slaves and Portuguese trained soldiers in the region would be welcomed into sanctuary in Matamba where a militia known as a Quilombo was established, or a remote, inland settlement originally settled by fugitive slaves.
The Queen would later join alliance with the Dutch Netherlands to regain the Portuguese city but their combined forces didn't keep hold of Luanda for long (Today, Luanda is known as one of the most expensive cities to visit in Angola) and Nzinga made her return back to Matamba.  But well into her sixties, she was well known as personally leading her armies into battle.  As a political strategy,  she would convert to Christianity before her death at the age of 81 in the year 1663 (some sites show 1661).  Today you can find her statue in Angola at Kinaxixi Square.








Check out these sites below to get more accounts of this Queen's amazing bouts as a ruler:

http://www.amazingwomeninhistory.com/anna-nzinga-mbande-fearless-africa-queen/
http://rainqueensofafrica.com/2011/05/nzinga-of-ndongo-and-matamba/
http://black-earth.webs.com/apps/blog/entries/show/25430503-kongo-kingdom
http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/01/travel/day-and-a-night-luanda/
http://www.albany.edu/faculty/jhobson/middle_passages/queerafrica/project.html