Nzinga Ana de Sousa Mbande was a southwest African Queen who ruled the Ambundu Kingdoms of Ndongo (1624–1663) and Matamba (1631–1663), located in present-day northern Angola. She was born into the ruling family of Ndongo. Her grandfather Ngola Kilombo Kia Kasenda was the king of Ndongo at the time.
Queen Nzinga Mbande was monarch to the Mbundu people who fought against the Portuguese and their expanding slave trade in the 17th century. She was an adept politician and skilled military strategist, Queen Nzinga Mbande was the ruler of the Mbundu people in what is now Angola.
With the growing demand for slave labor, Portugal had established a colony near Mbundu land to expand the slave trade. Nzinga became queen in 1626 after her brother, the former king, committed suicide in the face of rising Portuguese encroachment. But before she became queen, at her brother’s request, Nzinga met with the Portuguese to negotiate peace.
Queen Nzinga was an adept negotiator, she formed a strategic alliance with Portugal in 1622. Facing attacks from rival African aggressors looking to capture people for the slave trade, Nzinga’s pact with the Portuguese allowed her to fight enemy tribes to enslave for Portugal in exchange for weapons and an agreement that the Portuguese would cease slave raids on the Mbundu people. But by the time she became queen in 1626, Portugal had broken its side of the deal. Nzinga refused to give in to the Portuguese without a fight. In 1627, she formed a temporary alliance with the Dutch—an enemy of the Portuguese—and led an army against them.
Through her leadership, Nzinga successfully held off the Portuguese forces for decades, personally leading her troops into battle—even while in her sixties. Despite multiple attempts by the Portuguese to capture Nzinga, they never succeeded. She died peacefully in her 80s, after a long life of defending her people from colonial rule.
Queen Nzinga received military and political training as a child, and she demonstrated an aptitude for defusing political crises as an ambassador to the Portuguese Empire. In 1624, she assumed power over Ndongo after the death of her brother Mbandi. She ruled during a period of rapid growth of the African slave trade and encroachment by the Portuguese Empire in South West Africa.
The Portuguese declared war on Ndongo in 1626 and by 1628, Nzinga’s army had been severely depleted and they went into exile. In search of allies, she married Imbangala warlord Kasanje. Using this new alliance to rebuild her forces, she conquered the Kingdom of Matamba from 1631 to 1635. In 1641, she entered into an alliance with the Dutch West India Company who had captured Luanda from the Portuguese. Between 1641 and 1644, Nzinga was able to reclaim large parts of Ndongo. Alongside the Dutch, she defeated the Portuguese in a number of battles but was unable to take the Fortress of Massangano. In 1648, the Portuguese recaptured Luanda, with the Dutch leaving Angola. Nzinga continued to fight the Portuguese until a peace treaty was signed in 1656.
In the centuries since her death, Nzinga has been increasingly recognized as a major historical figure in Angola and in the wider Atlantic Creole culture. She is remembered for her intelligence, her political and diplomatic wisdom, and her military tactics.
Her Birth and History
Nzinga was born into the royal family of Ndongo, a Mbundu kingdom in central West Africa around 1583. She was the daughter of Ngola (a noble title translatable to King) Kilombo of Ndongo. Her mother, Kengela ka Nkombe, was one of her father’s slave wives and his favorite concubine. According to legend, the birthing process was very difficult for Kengela, her mother; Nzinga received her name because the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck (the Kimbundu verb ‘kujinga’ means to twist or turn). Children of the royal household who survived difficult or unusual births were believed to possess spiritual gifts, and some saw their births as an indicator the person would grow to become a powerful and proud person. Nzinga had two sisters, Kambu, or ‘Lady Barbara’ and Funji, or ‘Lady Grace’. She also had a brother, Mbandi, who was heir apparent to throne.
When she was 10 years old, her father became the king of the Ndongo. As a child, Nzinga was greatly favored by her father. Since she was not considered an heir to the throne, she was not seen as direct competition to male members of the family, and so the king could freely lavish attention upon her without offending his more likely heirs. She received military training and was trained as a warrior to fight alongside her father, displaying considerable aptitude with a battle axe, the traditional weapon of Ndongan warriors. She participated in many official and governance duties alongside her father, including legal councils, war councils, and important rituals. Furthermore, Nzinga was taught by visiting Portuguese missionaries to read and write in Portuguese.
Queen Nzinga Mbande is known by many different names including both Kimbundu and Portuguese names, alternate spellings and various honorifics. Common spellings found in Portuguese and English sources include Nzinga, Nzingha, Njinga, and Njingha. In colonial documentation, including her own manuscripts, her name was also spelled Jinga, Ginga, Zinga, Zingua, Zhinga, and Singa. She was also known by her Christian name, Ana de Sousa. This name—’Anna de Souza Nzingha’—was given to her when she was baptized. She was named Anna after the Portuguese woman who acted as her Godmother at the ceremony. She helped influence who Nzingha was in the future. Her Christian surname, de Souza, came from the acting governor of Angola, João Correia de Souza.
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