Queen Zinga

Queen Nzinga Pande was a 17th century queen born around 1582. She was Queen of the Ndongo and Matamba Kingdoms of the Mbundu people in southern Africa. She was named Nzinga according to tradition because her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. It was believed that children born with their umbilical cord around their necks will be proud and haughty. 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 lived during a period when the Atlantic slave trade and the increasing power of the Portuguese was growing in the region. Nzinga first appears in the historical record as the representative of her brother, the Ngola Ngola Mbande, at a peace conference with the Portuguese governor João Correia de Sousa in Luanda in 1622. Her mission was to try and persuade the Portuguese to leave her kingdom in peace and to stop taking slaves from the region. It is said that when she was at the meeting with the Portuguese they placed a mat on the floor for her to seat on but to prove that she was an equal to them she asked on of her servants to go down on all fours and she sat down on him. When her brother committed suicide in 1624 she took over the throne and became Queen Nzinga. In 1657, after a 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 devoted her efforts to resettling former slaves and allowing women to bear children. Nzinga died a peaceful death at age eighty on December 17, 1663 in Matamba. Today she is remembered in Angola for her political and diplomatic good judgment, and intelligence, as well as her brilliant military tactics. In time Portugal, and most of Europe, would come to respect her. A major street in Luanda is named after her, and a statue of her was placed in Kinaxixi on an impressive square. Angolan women are often married near the statue, especially on Thursdays and Fridays.