was a portuguese man called Correia de Sousa. When she arrived at her meeting with him, there was no chair for her, the Governor expected her to sit at his feet! Nzinga was not going to do this, she ordered one of her servants to go on all fours so that she could sit on them. Her negotiations went well. While in Luanda she impressed people with her charisma and became friends with the Governor’s wife. She also converted to christianity and was baptised. (It was at her baptism that ‘Ana de Sousa’ became part of her name.) All of this pleased the Portuguese who were Christian. With the Governor, they agreed that slave-traders and missionaries would be allowed in Ndongo and that slave-trading would happen in the capital, Kabasa, where she could oversee it. 

 

In 1624 Nzinga’s brother died, the cause of his death is not known. When he died Nzinga seized control of the Ndongo. It is surprising that she took power as the Ndongo was always ruled by men, and had a special way of choosing their king. 

 

In 1626 a new Governor arrived in Luanda and he did not keep to Nzinga’s agreement with the previous Governor. Ngola a Hari, who had wanted to take power of Ndogo instead of Nzinga, worked with the Portuguese and they planned to capture Nzinga. 

 

Nzinga’s spies heard of this plan and told her. She left Ndongo with her followers and they fled to Mabango. Ngola a Hari took control of Ndongo. 

 

The Mabango Kingdom was not in a good state as the Portuguese, with the Imbangala, had been attacking the kingdom. Mabango was an unusual kingdom as it had female leaders. These two factors (Mabango being in a bad situation and Mabango being used to female leaders) helped Nzinga to take power. 

 

Nzinga wanted Mabango to become a powerful kingdom against the Portuguese. She welcomed runaway slaves and Portuguese-trained African soldiers. She set up a type of military organisation called ‘kilombo’ where young people would leave their families and be raised by the military. She also sent spies to Luanda to see how the Portuguese were training their troops. This way she could make sure that her troops were well-prepared to fight the Portuguese. She attacked Portuguese slave-traders and she traded slaves with the Dutch in the 1640s. Mabango became a powerful kingdom. 

 

In 1641 Nzinga joined with the Dutch to fight the Portuguese in Luanda. It looked like they were going to win, until the Portuguese sent more soldiers from Brazil. The Dutch surrendered and left, and Nzinga had to retreat. 

 

Nzinga came up with a new plan and contacted the missionaries. She told them that she wanted to spread Christianity to her people. The Portuguese liked this idea and in 1656 they signed a new agreement with Nzinga and agreed that she was the ruler Ndongo as well as Matamba. 

 

As she grew older she dressed more and more like the Portuguese, she even wore a crown. 

 

Nzinga died on 17 December 1663 aged 81.