Sunday, March 30, 2008

"MBANDE NZINGA ANGOLAN QUEEN"



Mbande NzingaAngolan Queen, 1582-1663
Nzinga (or Jinga) was the colorful queen of the Ndongo and Matamba kingdoms. She is honored for her resistance against the Portuguese who were increasingly occupying all of what is now known as Angola. Constantly driven east by the Portuguese, Nzinga organized a powerful guerrilla army, conquered the Matamba, and developed alliances to control the slave routes. She even allied with the Dutch, who helped her stop the Portuguese advancement. After a series of decisive setbacks, Nzinga negotiated a peace treaty with the Portuguese, but still refused to pay tribute to the Portuguese king. (Nzinga is featured in our resource

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