Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba
Ngola Ann Nzinga Mbande (pronounced JINGAM-bandi with a soft "j" as in "azure") (c. 1583 - December 17, 1663) was a 17th century queen (muchino a muhatu) of the Ndongo and Matamba Kingdoms of the Mbundu people in southwestern Africa. Ngola was both a name and a title in Ndongo.
Early Life
Nzinga was born to Nzinga a Mbande Ngola Kiluaje and Guenguela Cakombe around 1582. She was named Njinga, according to tradition because her umbilical cord was wrapped around he neck (the Kimbundu verb kujinga which means to twist or turn). It was said to be an indication that the person who had this characteristic would be proud and haughty. According to her recollections later in life, she was greatly favored by her father, who allowed her to witness as he governed his kingdom, and who carried her with him to war. She also had a brother, Nzinga a Mbande and two sisters Funji a Mbande and Kambu a Mbande. She lived during a period when the Atlantic slave trade and the consolidation of power by the Portuguese in the region were growing rapidly. Nzinga first appears in the historical record as the envoy of her brother, the Ngola Ngola Mbande, at a peace conference with the Portuguese governor João Correia de Sousa in Luanda in 1622.
Succession to Power
The immediate cause of her embassy was her brother's attempt to get the Portuguese to withdraw the fortress of Ambaca that had been built on his land in 1618 by the Governor Luis Mendes de Vasconcelos, to have some of his subjects (semi-servile groups called kijiko in Kimbundu and sometimes called slaves in Portuguese) who had been taken captive by Governor Mendes de Vasconcelos' campaigns (1617-21) returned and to presuade the governor to stop the maurading of Imbangala (mercenaries) in Portuguese service then operating in Ndongo. Nzinga's efforts were successful, in that the governor João Correia de Sousa, agreed to her terms. One point of disagreement was the question of whether Ndongo surrendered to Portugal and accepted vassalage status. A famous story says that the Correia de Sousa had offered her no chair to sit on during the negotiations, and had placed a mat on the floor for her to sit, which in Mbundu custom was appropriate to subordinates. Not willing to accept this she ordered one of her servants to get down on the ground and sat on her back. By doing this, she wanted to assert that she was equal to the governor.
Nzinga converted to Christianity to strengthen the treaty and adopted the name, Dona Anna de Sousa when she was baptized in honor of the governor's wife who was her godmother. She sometimes used this name in her correspondence (or just Anna). The Portuguese never honored the treaty however, neither withdrawing Ambaca, nor returning the subjects, who they held were slaves captured in war, and they were unable to restrain the Imbangala.
In 1624, Nzinga's brother committed suicide, according to later reports, because he was despondent at losing so much of his kingdom. Nzinga assumed control as regent of his young son, who was then residing with the Imbangala band commanded by Kaza. Nzinga sent to Kaza to have the boy in her charge, and, again according to later reports, won Kaza's heart when he saw her. He returned the son, who she is alledged to have killed, and then she refused marriage to him. She then assumed the powers of ruling in Ndongo. In her correspondence in 1624 she styled herself "Lady of Ndongo" (senhora de Dongo), but in a letter of 1626 she now called herself "Queen of Ndongo" (rainha de Dongo), a title which she bore from then on.
Defeat and Withdrawl
The new Portuguese governor, Fernão de Sousa arrived in 1624 and entered into negotiations with Nzinga, but from the beginning claimed possession of the kijikos and refused to evacuate Ambaca. This impasse led to war, and de Sousa was able to oust Nzinga from her island capital of Kidonga that year. She fled to the east and reoccupied the island in 1627, but was driven out again in 1629, during which time they captured her sister. Portuguese forces pursued her and the remnants of her army to the Baixa de Cassange district, when Nzinga was only able to escape by climbing down the steep cliffs that surrounded this depression on ropes.
Unable to hold on to Ndongo and deeming the island of Kidonga too vulnerable, she sought to raise a new army by allying with the Imbangala band of Kasanje. He refused her equal status with him, however, and she soon raised sufficient forces to take over the neighboring Kingdom of Matamba, which she accomplished in 1631. During this time she declared herself an Imbangala, and allied with a smaller Imbangala band led by Njinga Mona (Nzinga's child). The Portuguese often asserted that her army sometimes practiced the rites and rituals of the Imbangala, which included infanticide and cannibalism, but acceptance of such reports must be tempered with knowledge that Europeans often created stories of barbarism to justify the dehumanization and enslavement of African peoples. It is unclear whether Nzinga herself of her armies ever engaged in these rites, and she often appears to have continued some elements of Christianity. She was certainly favorably disposed to priests and allowed Portuguese prisoners to have Christian sacraments if possible. She gained notoriety during the war for personally leading her troops into battle and forbade her subjects to call her “Queen,” preferring to be addressed as “King.” Portugal attempted to come to an understanding with her in 1639 and sent a mission to regularize relations, but nothing came of the attempt.
The Dutch Alliance
In 1641, the Dutch West India Company, working in alliance with the Kingdom of Kongo, siezed Luanda. Nzinga soon sent them an embassy and concluded an alliance with them against the Portuguese who continued to occupy the inland parts of their colony of Angola with their main headquarters at the town of Masangano. Hoping to recover lost lands with Dutch help, she moved her capital to Kavanga in the northern part of Ndongo's former domains. In 1644 she defeated the Portuguese army at Ngoleme, but was unable to follow up. Then in 1646 she was defeated by the Portuguese at Kavanga and in the process her other sister was captured, along with her archives revealing her alliance with Kongo. These archives also showed that her captive sister had been in secret correspondence with Nzinga and had revealed Portuguese plans to her. As a result the Portuguse drowned her sister in the Kwanza River.
The Dutch in Luanda, now sent her reinforcements, and with their help Nzinga routed a Portuguese army in 1647, and then laid siege to the Portuguese capital of Masangano When the Portuguese recaptured Luanda with a Brazilian based assault led by Salvador de Sá e Benavides, in 1648 Nzinga retreated to Matamba and continued to resist Portugal. She resisted Portugal well into her sixties, personally leading troops into battle.
Final Years
In 1657, weary from the long struggle, Nzinga signed a peace treaty with Portugal. After the wars with Portugal ended, she attempted to reconstruct her nation that had been seriously damaged by years of conflict. She was anxious that Njinga Mona's Imbangala not succeed her as ruler of the combined kingdom of Ndongo and Matamba, and inserted language in the treaty that bound Portugal to assist her kin retain power. Lacking a son to succeed, s