NZINGA, QUEEN ANA (born Nzinga Mbandi, also spelled Njinga, c. 1582–17 December 1663), queen of the Ndongo and Matamba kingdoms (present-day central Angola). Queen Nzinga is celebrated for her remarkable leadership and her relentless resistance against Portuguese colonization in the seventeenth century; however, her diplomatic and political strategies ultimately contributed significantly to the growth of the transatlantic slave trade.
The eldest daughter of Mbandi a Ngola Kiluanji, king of Ndongo, Nzinga was born and raised in a tumultuous era during which the kingdom was constantly under attack from the Portuguese and the slave trade boomed. Historic records describe Nzinga as strong, charismatic, and "possessed of considerable military and diplomatic skill." One account details a 1604 diplomatic encounter between Nzinga and João Correa de Sousa, governor of the Portuguese-occupied city of Luanda (now the capital of Angola). According to this account, Nzinga impressed the governor by refusing to sit on the floor; instead, she chose to sit atop a servant kneeling as a human chair. Nzinga was also baptized on this trip, agreeing to the Christian name “Ana de Sousa” in order to appeal to the governor and his council.
After her father’s death, the throne went to his son Ngola Mbandi, who committed suicide in 1622, whereupon Nzinga became queen in 1624. Her ascendance, however, was marked by conflict. Some rejected her claim to the throne and accused her of murdering Ngola Mbandi as well as his son. Her regime was marked with a fierce determination to negotiate with the Portuguese, who capitalized on the internal division of the kingdom, funding and promoting the dissident leader Hari a Ngola. Still, Queen Nzinga was able to expand her kingdom by conquering the neighboring kingdoms of Kidonga and Matamba, and she also established trade relations with the Dutch West India Company (W.I.C.), which was beneficial in defending against the Portuguese.
In 1644, Queen Nzinga defeated the Portuguese army that seized Matamba; however, she was pushed out of Ndongo upon the arrival of Brazilian reinforcements, which forced her to retreat and settle permanently in Matamba. Eventually, in 1657, a peace treaty was ratified, which legitimized her claim to the throne and delineated her postcolonial territories. She died peacefully in 1663 at the age of eighty-one; and her sister Kambu, known as Lady Barbara, inherited the throne. At the time of colonization on her kingdom. Nzinga is also famed for creating the kilombo, a youth military organization that also served as a sanctuary for refugees and slaves.
In Rio de Janeiro during carnival, Afro-Brazilian descendants of Angolan slaves honor her by selecting a “Queen Nzinga” each year, as well as paying tribute through song and with parades.