Queen Anna Nzinga

Queen Anna Nzinga was a 17th century queen of the Ndongo and Matamba Kingdoms of the Mbundu people of today’s Angola. She is honored throughout Africa as a remarkable leader and woman, for her political and diplomatic acumen and her brilliant military tactics.

Anna Nzinga was born into the royal family of Ndongo around 1583.

According to legend, she was named Njinga because her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck at birth. In local tradition, this was said to be an indication that the child would grow to become a powerful and proud person.

Growing up, Anna was greatly favoured by her father. She attended strategic war meetings and other governance affairs with him, and she was trained as a warrior to fight alongside her father. She was also taught to read and write in Portuguese.

In the late sixteenth to early seventeenth century, states on the central African coast found their economic power and territorial control threatened by Portuguese attempts to establish a colony in present-day Angola. Many of these states had become regional powers through trade in African slaves. Anna Nzinga soon proved to be adept at overcoming these difficulties.

In 1624, her brother who was ruler died, and the Portuguese declared war on the Ndongo tribe. Nzinga assumed control as regent - in spite of great opposition she faced. As a solution, it is said at some point in the 1640s Nzinga decided to 'become a man', which is actually a practice many female rulers in central and western Africa adopted to maintain their power. She reinforced this maleness by engaging in masculine pursuits. She led her troops personally into battle, and had multiple husbands.

She fought relentlessly against both neighbouring aggressor tribes and the Portuguese colonial powers. She implemented guerrilla warfare tactics and ordered trenches to be made around her island, created hidden caves, and stocked up on supplies to prepare her people for a potential long stating siege. She also made an unusual decree, establishing her kingdom as a safe haven for runaway slaves seeking refuge from the European colonists.

By the time of her death in 1663 at the age of around 80, Nzinga had built a formidable commercial state that dealt with the Portuguese colony on an equal footing.

Today, Queen Nzinga is remembered in Angola for her political and diplomatic acumen, as well as her brilliant military tactics. A major street in Angola’s capital, Luanda, is named after her, and in 2002 a statue of Nzinga was erected in Kinaxixi to celebrate Angola’s 27th anniversary of independence.