Queen Nzinga of Angola and how she resisted Portuguese conquest of her country for 40 years

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Queen Nzinga Mbande (sometimes spelt as Njinga) is among the most celebrated African Queens to resist European colonization. She led a four-decade (1620s to 1660s) tactful war against the Portuguese invasion of her country and the Portuguese imperialists' continued thirst for African slaves.


Nzinga was born to the King of the Ndongo people in Lunda, a place that is present-day Angola. After the death of the king, her brother Mbandi succeeded in the throne. However, King Mbandi faced many challenges in his administration. Firstly, he was threatened with his rule by his niece (Nzinga's son) thereby murdering him.


Queen Nzinga Mbande


The other challenge that King Mbandi faced was the growing demand for slaves by the Portuguese. Since the English and French had threatened the source of slaves for the Portuguese in West Africa, the Portuguese were forced to seek new sources. As of 1580, they had established a relationship with Alfonso 1 of the Kongo Kingdom. They would later go to Angola for slaves.


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The previous Ngola 'King' (Nzinga's father) had taken some conservative measures to protect his kingdom against European colonial expansion. He banned missionary activities that were the catalyst for colonization at that time. This resulted in years of resistance against the Portuguese.


Years later, in an event to help settle their conflict with the people of Ndolo Kingdom, the Portuguese invited the succeeding King of Ndongo for a peace conference in 1622. As an outstanding diplomat, Nzinga was sent by the king to the conference. She was to meet Portuguese Governor Joao Corria de Sousa.


At the meeting, Nzinga strongly challenged the inequality shown to her. The only chair present in the room was meant for Governor Corria which did not please Nzinga. She demanded equal treatment with the Governor. Nzinga could not accept the impression of inferiority they were showing her. 


Nzinga at the Portuguese conference 1622.


An Italian priest, Giovanni Antonio Cavazzi, who was in attendance at the court, recorded the scene in an engraving whereby Nzinga decides to sit on the back of a maidservant within her royal envoy during the negotiations.

The overall results of the conference as per Nzinga were very strategic. She recognized the fact that their relationship with the Portuguese would help her kingdom acquire guns and gain an ally against other European powers. The political domination of the previous independent Kingdom of Kongo also made her cautious in entering into the treaty.

Records show that Nzinga made some accommodations with the Portuguese and even converted to Christianity. She was baptized and given the name Dona Anna de Souza in honour of the governor's wife who was also her godmother. Even though there was a peace treaty, the Portuguese did not honour it. They lost Nzinga's trust and support a year later.

Chancellor Williams in The Destruction of Black Civilization says that: "The Queen herself had dropped 'Anna' from her name when she discovered that baptizing a Black into Christianity meant surrendering his soul and body not to any Christ but to the Whiteman". Pg 284 

Nzinga officially became the Queen of Mbundu in 1623 after her brother died from suicide. The Portuguese pressure on him seemed unbearable. However, Nzinga could not watch her Kingdom fall under colonialism. A year later, she formed alliances with her former rival group, the Jagas, by marrying their King. She also took advantage of the European rivalry that existed at that time by forming an alliance with the Dutch.

Chancellor Williams writes that "the Portuguese suffered a heavy and bloody defeat". They retreated to their strongholds. When she sensed that the Portuguese would be coming after her, she told her general to spread the news that she was dead. She would later come with another powerful army retaking more villages from the Portuguese and disposing of their imposed queen. 

The Dutch were later defeated by the Portuguese but Queen Nzinga carried on the struggle. It is reported that she kept the Portuguese abay for 28 years. In her 60's, she personally led an army to battle. Her revolution would give birth to the Guerrial war for independence in Angola.


As part of her legacy, Queen Nzinga provided refuge to runaway enslaved Africans. Some sources say that she was also a slave trader but it's evident that she was a strategist; she would give up some principles for the greater good.

A statue of Queen Nzinga in  Luanda, Angola.

With many attempts, the Portuguese and their allies are reported to have failed in capturing or killing Queen Nzinga. She died peacefully in her eighties in the year 1663.

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