Herstory

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t is generally assumedthat there were nosignificant women

leaders in Africa. Despite thisbeliefl there are a number ofwomen leaders in the historyof Africa that cannot beignored. One such womanwas Queen Nzinga ofAngola.

Her legend is so powerfulthat a prehistoric imprint of afootprint on a rock near theCuarua river is known asQueen Nzinga's footprint, asif her very feet cciuld makemarkings in solid stone.

Nzinga was the daughter ofKing Kiluanji of the Mbundupeople. In the time around1618 her father angered hispeople because of his deal- ;ings with the Portugueseslave tradbrs. The peopletook his throne away and hewas killed.

The eldest son Mbandimade himself king. Mbanditried to silence all oppositionand he killed his youngerbrother as well as Nzinga'sonly child, a son.

Because Mbandi was socruel Nzinga left the king-dom with her husband andsisters and settled in a neigh-bouring area. Meanwhile therelationship between theindigenous people of Angolaand the Portuguesecolonialists became evenmore sour. The Portugueqewere searching for the se-crets of the silver mines andtraded many Angolans asslaves toBrazil, their othercolony in Latin America.

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Herstory

Aueen Nzinga's famous ineeting with the Portuguese Governorin Luanda, ̂ from a Dutch engraving of that time.

Mbandi had to surrenderthe territory of the Mbundukingdorn and he fled io anisland on the river Cuanza.He later sent word to hissister Nzinga to help. him bynegotiating a treaty with thePortuguese.

The murder of her sonwould have been enoughreason for Nzinga to haverefused her brother's requestjbut her greatest desire was todefend her people and to thatend she put aside all thoughtsof the misery her brothercaused her and set offwithher followers to Luanda.

The famous meetingNzinga was in a difficult

position. Her brother hadgiven everything over to thePortuguese. Yet it wasexpected ofher to negotiatean agreement. Nzinga was anatural diplomat and decidedthat her only hope was to bebrave.

Her meeting with thePortuguese governor, Correade Souza, has become alegend in the history ofAfrica' s confrontations withEurope.

Nzinga organised herarrival at the governor'sresidence in such a way thatno one could be in doubt'thatthis was a'royal' occassion.Musicians announced herarrival as she entered theaudience chamber escorted

by her women followers.But, alas, in the room there

was only one chair, thegovernor's throne. Nzingawas determined not to beplaced at a disadvantage. Sheasked one of her womanfollowers to act as a chair forher. Nzinga sat down on thishuman seat. When Governorde Souza entered, he found aleader who was not willingto be intimidated.

De Souza asked Nzinga toreturn the Portuguese prison-ers the Mbundu had takenover the years 0f fighting.Nzinga smilingly said shewould agree to do that if allthe Mbundu who had beencarried offto Brazil andelsewhere as slaves bebrought back in exchange.

This was not acceptable forthe Portuguese ruler andafter much discussion theagreement was that Portugalwould recognise KingMbandi as ruler of an inde-pendent kingdom and wouldwithdraw its army from theMbundu's area.

The rulers in Portugal,however, were slave-hungryand thg conflict betweenthem and the Angolan peoplecontinued. Despite moreefforts of negotiation byQueen Nzinga, the Portu-guese would not keep totheir side of agreements andwars broke out again.

Nzinga proved to be abrilliant politician and war-rior. The term Amazon,referring to a race of femalewarriors, is often attributedto her.(Source: I(omen leaders inAfrican History - DavidSweetman)

. .In th€ hihetee'nth

cehtury,a histoiicaltheory,known as TheGolden Age of Matriarichy was formulated.Acobrding to this :: ,,fhebry; the ga,liest .h u rnan::r Sbbi eties : weridruled by women, but:men'giadUal$ ,!cOh:,Queredl':their femalercounterpans. : ,"

,,Mehy, histoiiahs:, don'tagree with this theoryarO u in0 : :that,, thereii iisn'tconcrete evidence tosupport the theory thatmatriarchal soqietiesh aVe, re{isled th ro 0$ hiout rhiStbries, el lll*,human race.