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.
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
Queen Ana Nzinga was an incredible woman. She's featured in my book, “7 Types of Queens, Kings Desire.” Love the info you wrote about her.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.7queens7kings.com