Nzinga, Ancient Ruler of present-day Angola

Nzinga was born about 1582 to King Ngola Kiluanji Kia Samba, ruler of what is modern day Angola. As children, Nzinga and her brother, Mbandi, witnessed the atrocities of slave trading. Mbandi succeeded his father as King. Then in 1617, the new Portuguese governor invaded the capital of Ndongo demanding more slaves for their Brazilian colonies. King Mbandi fled. He asked his sister to negotiate with the slavers.

In 1622, the Portuguese governor had only one chair, for himself, at the meeting. So someone in her entourage knelt down to make themself a throne for her. Nzinga sat and continued negotiating as though this were normal. After that meeting, the Portuguese promised to withdraw from Ndongo. Showing good faith, Nzinga was baptized into the Catholic faith and renamed herself Ana de Souza.

In 1623, (just a year later) the Portuguese broke the treaty and went back to kidnapping Africans. Then King Mbandi either committed suicide or was murdered. And Nzinga crowned herself Queen, abandoned Christianity, made alliances with former rivals, then raised and led a mighty army and fought the Portuguese for over 30 years. In 1641, Nzinga’s army joined the Dutch army to defeat the Portuguese army. It was the first time a European army joined forces with a non-European army to defeat another European nation. The Portuguese wanted to capture and kill this brazen Warrior Queen, but they never could.

She was over 80-years-old when she died peacefully on Dec. 17, 1663 but her story lives. She was recently the subject of a feature film called Nzinga, Queen of Angola directed by Sérgio Graciano, produced by Coreon Du and starring Lesliana Pereira, Ana Santos, Erica Chissapa.