HOME | DD
Ikechi1 — Queen Nzinga
#africa #angola #colonialism #colonization #kingdom #nzinga #portugal #matamba #hetalia #centralafrica #ovimbundu #ambundu #ndonga
Published: 2018-02-08 21:14:36 +0000 UTC; Views: 9586; Favourites: 82; Downloads: 21
Redirect to original
Description
Collaboration with HopelessPandora
NORTHERN NIGERIA
Yauri Zamfara Kebbi and Gwari Gobir, Katsina and Zaria Fulani-Kontagora
Daura Fulani-Wodaabe Fulani-Fula Hausa-Kano Kanuri
MIDDLE BELT NIGERIA
Nupe Jukun Igala
SOUTHEAST NIGERIA
Ekumeku-Igbo Anaang Ibibio Akpa-Ibom Isi Ijaw Nri-Igbo Aro-Igbo
Itsekiri
SOUTHWEST NIGERIA
Oyo-Yoruba Egba-Yoruba Edo-Benin Fulani-Ilorin
CURRENTLY IN OTHER COUNTRIES
Futa-Jallon Fulani-Toucouleur Fulani-Massina
Miscellaneous and History
Tribes side by side
Blood of the Kingdoms story featuring all the characters
Government history
Sokoto Caliphate
Ijaw-Itsekiri Conflicts
End of the Aro Confederacy
Famous Individuals and Groups
Queen Amina
Religious Matters
Ekwensu
Anyanwu and Agbala
Ahia and Menri
Chukwu and the Alusi
Nimu Kwome
Disclaimer: I am fully aware that Queen Nzinga was dressed slightly more provocatively as part of the culture. However she has been censored here in order for information about her to reach a much wider audience. Should you wish to find her actual attire, paintings of this woman can be easily found on the internet. The story of Queen Nzinga in this context would be put in a Hetalia setting as per my previous work with Queen Amina. Following the story of Queen Nzinga I will dedicate time to the tribes that she ruled over. This character has been requested as a friend wanted Angola to have some representation.
In the Portuguese colony of Angola Nzinga (Ana de Souza Nzinga Mbande) was born to the then current ngola Kia Samba in 1583. During her early childhood it was stated that she was heavily favoured by her father and even as a child she would follow her father into battle, where she would be able to glean a largess of tactical experience. Nzinga had two legitimate siblings, Lady Mubkumbu Mbande and Lady Kifunji Mbande in addition to one illegitimate brother, Mbandi Mbande. Mbandi would seize the throne from his father in 1610 and exile and thus Nzinga was exiled from her home at age 27.
At this time the Portuguese settlement at Luanda had been thriving since its placement in 1576. Stationed there was a sizeable Portuguese navy and military force and by 1618 Mbandi bristled at the military presence next to his Kingdom. He issued an attack to occur on the Portuguese settlement but Portugal and his stationed governor Luis Mendes de Vasconcelos called for the help from another tribe named Imbangala and managed to put Mbandi under his thumb. Mbandi, in desperation summoned Nzinga and asked her to help negotiate freedom from Portuguese rule.
Thus in 1622 she met with Portugal in Luanda. The famous tale of this meeting involves the Luandan governer João Correia de Sousa refusing to offer Nzinga a seat and thus not seeing her as an equal for the talks. Nzinga had a servant become her chair while she looked the governor in the eye and made sure that they would speak together as equals. Nzinga secured a peace treaty with Portugal on the grounds that she would become a Catholic. However neither Portugal nor Imbangala would honour this treaty and continued their attacks on the Kingdom of Ndongo and Matamba. What did not help was that Imbangala had broken away from Portuguese influence to found his own Kasanje Kingdom.
Mbandi despaired at this situation and committed ritual suicide and thought that the kingdom was lost. This was not helped by Mbandi's own son, Kadi, cavorting with the Imbangala. Nzinga then assumed the throne and called for Kadi to be returned to his family. Upon getting home, Kadi died (circumstances have many theories, including being killed by Nzinga) allowing Nzinga to declare herself ruler as opposed to regent in 1624. Portugal vehemently opposed this and tried to blacklist her and support her political rival Hari a Ndongo. Hari (aka Felipe 1 of Angola) requested aid from Imbangala and with their aid ejected Nzinga from her Kingdom in 1625. They set up Kifunji as a planned puppet ruler, unaware that Kifunji would consistently correspond with Nzinga and provide her intelligence on Portugal's actions. Nzinga had retreated to the Kingdom of Matamba in 1629 and managed to attract a large following by opposing the slave trade and offering amnesty and freedom to escaped slaves. With the blessing of the regent of Matamba, Nzinga gained the kingdom in 1631.
For 10 years she built a base of power in Matamba and allowing her spy Kifunji to rule through her unbeknowst to Portugal and Imbangala. Opportunity came from the Dutch-Portuguese war in 1641 where Nzinga requested an alliance with Netherlands and the Kingdom of Kongo. This alliance proved successful as she led many successful campaigns against Portugal up to 1644 but by 1646 Portugal managed to push back on her gains. Her defeat in 1646 involved the captured of Mubkumbu and Portugal finding out about Kifunji's espoinage activities. Officially Portugal is stated to have killed Kifunji under grounds of treason. Nzinga managed to secure more Dutch aid and routed Portuguese forces in 1647 during the Battle of Kombi. Gaining momentum she simulataneously laid seige to the presidios of Ambaca, Muxima and Masangano. These seiges failed as the Portuguese forces were too entrenched for the artillery to dislodge them. While Nzinga was distracted Portugal gained the aid of Brazilian forces led by Salvador Correia de Sá e Benevides and pushed Nzinga back to Matamba. The fighting between Nzinga and Portugal would last for another 10 years.
Nzinga filed for peace in 1657 and turned her attention to making sure that she had a definate successor and she was of the opinion that if there was a weak person after her then Imbangala would simply attempt to take over. While she did not have to worry about Portugal she was still constantly at conflict with Imbangala who attacked with renewed interest in opposition to her reforms. Nzinga's reforms gave a lot of rights to women and allowed for the freedom of a lot of former slaves. Despite all this Nzinga secured a Portuguese promise to hold up the royal family even after she passed. On December 17 1663 Nzinga peacefully passed away at age 80. However upon her death her two kingdoms broke into civil war now that Nzinga was no longer holding them together. However, her efforts to keep the Portuguese army at bay from their colonization plans were so successful in her reforms that Portugal would not seize her kingdom until the 20th century.
Sources:
- Brásio,António. Monumenta Missionaria Africana (1st series, 15 volumes, Lisbon: Agencia Geral do Ultramar , 1952–88)
- Cadornega, António de Oliveira de. História geral das guerras angolanas (1680-81). mod. ed. José Matias Delgado and Manuel Alves da Cunha. 3 vols. (Lisbon, 1940–42) (reprinted 1972).
- Cavazzi, Giovanni Antonio da Montecuccolo. Istorica descrizione de tre regni Congo, Matamba ed Angola. (Bologna, 1687). French translation, Jean Baptiste Labat, Relation historique de l'Éthiopie. 5 vols. (Paris, 1732) [a free translation with additional materials added]. Modern Portuguese translation, Graziano Maria Saccardo da Leguzzano, ed. Francisco Leite de Faria, Descrição histórica dos tres reinos Congo, Matamba e Angola. 2 vols. (Lisbon, 1965).
- Gaeta da Napoli, Antonio. La Meravigliosa Conversione alla santa Fede di Christo delle Regina Singa...(Naples, 1668).
- Heywood, Linda M. Njinga of Angola: African's Warrior Queen (Harvard University Press, 2017)
- Heintze, Beatrix. Fontes para a história de Angola no século XVII. (2 vols, Wiesbaden, 1985–88) Contains the correspondence of Fernão de Souza.
- Narratives from the Early Modern Ibero-Atlantic World, 1550-1812. Edited by Kathryn, Joy McKnight & Leo J. Garofalo, 2009 - 416 pp. 38–51 (includes original language and translations of Njinga's letters by Linda M. Heywood)
- Lewis, Jone Johnson. "Anna Nzinga: Queen Nzinga, seated on a kneeling man, receives Portuguese invaders." About Education (2016): 1.
- Njoku, Onwuka N. (1997). Mbundu. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. ISBN 0823920046 .
- Page, Willie F. (2001). Encyclopedia of African History and Culture: From Conquest to Colonization (1500-1850). 3. New York: Facts on File. ISBN 0816044724 .
- Serbin, Sylvia; Rasoanaivo-Randriamamonjy, Ravaomalala (2015). African Women, Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance. Paris: UNESCO. ISBN 9789231001307 .
- Thornton, John K. (1991). "Legitimacy and Political Power: Queen Njinga, 1624-1663". The Journal of African History. 32 (1): 25–40. doi :10.1017/s0021853700025329 . JSTOR 182577 . (Subscription required (help)).
- Thornton, John K. (2011). "Firearms, Diplomacy, and Conquest in Angola: Cooperation and Alliance in West Central Africa, 1491-1671". In Lee, Wayne E. Empires and Indigenes: Intercultural Alliance, Imperial Expansion and Warfare in the Early Modern World. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 9780814753095 .
- Vansina, Jan (1963). "The Foundation of the Kingdom of Kasanje". The Journal of African History. 4 (3): 355–374. doi :10.1017/s0021853700004291 . JSTOR 180028 . (Subscription required (help)).
- Williams, Hettie V. (2010). "Queen Nzinga (Njinga Mbande)". In Alexander, Leslie M.; Rucker, Walter C. Encyclopedia of African American History. 1. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781851097746 .
- Black Women in Antiquity, Ivan Van Sertima (ed.). Transaction Books, 1990
- Patricia McKissack , Nzingha: Warrior Queen of Matamba, Angola, Africa, 1595 ; The Royal Diaries (2000)
- David Birmingham, Trade and Conquest in Angola (Oxford , 1966).
- Heywood, Linda and John K. Thornton , Central Africans, Atlantic Creoles, and the Making of the Americas, 1580-1660 (Cambridge , 2007). This contains the most detailed account of her reign and times, based on a careful examination of all the relevant documentation.
- Saccardo, Grazziano, Congo e Angola con la storia dell'antica missione dei cappuccini 3 Volumes, (Venice , 1982–83)
- Williams, Chancellor, Destruction of Black Civilization (WCP)
- van Sertima, Ivan , Black Women in Antiquity
- Nzinga, the Warrior Queen ( a play written by Elizabeth Orchardson Mazrui and published by The Jomo Kenyatta Foundation, Nairobi , Kenya , 2006). The play is based on Nzinga and discusses issues of colonisation , traditional African ruleship, women leadership versus male leadership, political succession, struggles between various Portuguese socio-political, and economic interest groups, struggles between the vested interests of the Jesuits and the Capuchins, etc.
- West Central Africa: Kongo, Ndongo (African Kingdoms of the Past), Kenny Mann. Dillon Press, 1996.
Related content
Comments: 18
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
