Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba

Early life

Njinga Mbandi, whose name is also written Nzinga or Njinga, was born in the kingdom of Ndongo, in what is now central Angola, around 1582 or 1583. Her father was a king of Ndongo. The Enslaved.org biography says he trained her in physical skills and brought her into court sessions. Her childhood was shaped by war: the Portuguese had set up a base at Luanda in 1575, and their campaigns into Ndongo enslaved very large numbers of its people.

Envoy to Luanda

In the early 1620s her brother, the king Ngola Mbandi, sent her to Luanda to negotiate with the Portuguese governor. A well-known story says she had a servant kneel to serve as her seat so that she would not have to sit below the governor. South African History Online treats this as a story, not established fact. During the talks she was baptized and took the name Ana de Sousa. Some historians think the baptism later strengthened her claim to rule. The treaty soon broke down.

Taking power

Her brother died in uncertain circumstances in the early 1620s (sources differ on the date and cause). Njinga first acted as regent for his young son and by 1624 ruled in her own right, despite opposition from some noble lineages. Some accounts say she had the heir killed, but this is not confirmed. She insisted on the title of king.

The Portuguese backed a rival ruler in Ndongo. Njinga allied with Imbangala war bands and raided Portuguese positions in the late 1620s. When that alliance faltered she moved east, conquered Matamba in the early 1630s and made it her base. By the 1640s Matamba was one of the largest states in the region.

War and peace

After the Dutch seized Luanda in 1641, Njinga joined an alliance with them and the kingdom of Kongo against Portugal. In 1648 a fleet from Brazil restored Portuguese control of Luanda, and the Dutch withdrew. Njinga kept fighting until the mid-1650s, when she negotiated a peace (sources date it between 1655 and 1657). The treaty recognized her as ruler, and in return she agreed to terms on trade and tribute and let missionaries into her lands. She reaffirmed her Catholic faith, which some historians see as a strategic choice. She died on December 17, 1663, and was succeeded by her sister.

Contested legacy

Like other rulers in the region, Njinga sold war captives into the Atlantic slave trade, and this is a central and uncomfortable part of her history. Much of what is known about her personal life comes from hostile Portuguese observers. Historian Linda Heywood describes her as a pragmatic ruler whose main aim was to regain her kingdom.

In Angola today she is a national symbol, honoured with statues, street names and school murals. She is also remembered in Afro-Brazilian festivals and traditions.