Also see Angola Ministers
N'Dongo and Matamba (Ngola and Mbundu) (In present day Angola and Congo Kinshasa)
1623-63 Queen Nzinga M'Bande
1623-26 Governor of Luanda for the Portuguese
Also Known as Pande Dona Ana Souza. 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. She was daughter of N'Gola Kiluanzi
Kia Samba and succeeded her brother. Lived (1581-1663)
1623-47 Member of the Council of Government Princess Grace
Before her christening she was named Kifunji, and together with her sister Mukambu, she was closest aide and members of the government of their sister, Queen Nzinga. Also an important religious leader. In October 1647 she was drowned by the enemy as they retreated. She lived (1587-1647)
1623-63 Member of the Council of Government Princess Barbara
1663-66 Queen Regnant
When her sister, Queen Nijinga, became Queen in 1623, she was appinted as Member of the Council of Government. Before her christening, she had been named Mukumbu (Mukambu, Makumba). Her sister has tried to marry her off to her close ally, João Guterres, but the Portugese protested since he
was already married. Her reign was marked by civil war and she was killed by forces loyal to the general Njinga Mona. João succeeded 1669-70 but was also killed. She lived (1584-1663).
1681-1721 Queen Verónica I Guterres Kangala Kingwanda of Kongo (N'Dongo and
Matamba or Ngola and Mbundu) (Angola and Congo)
Also known as Cangala Quinguanda, she was daughter of King João Guterres Ngola
Kanini I of the combined kingdom of Ndongo and Matamba, and was in any case one
of the most important of the rulers of the Guterres Dynasty. Her brother was
killed at the Battle of Katole, where the Matamba won the battle against the
Portuguese. Nevertheless she decided to treat for peace, signing the agreement
with Portugal in 1683. But in 1689 she attacked the Portuguese in Cahenda in the
"Dembos" region to her west, an area that was disputed between Ndongo, Kongo,
and Portugal. She was anxious to reestablish Matamba's claims over the Dembos
region that lay directly to the east of Matamba, and in 1688-89 her armies moved
into the area and threatened Portuguese positions around Ambaca, their fortified
town that marked the western most edge of the colony of Angola. The Portuguese
intervened, and blunted the effectiveness of the campaign. In around 1701, Luca
da Caltanisetta, the prefect of the Capuchin mission in Angola wrote to her
asking to re-establish the mission which had fallen vacant, and "to return that
people to the granary of the Holy Church.". She answered by expressing her
concern that "it pained her to see her children die without baptism" but that
she was "disgusted with the whites, and she would "not see any of them in her
court with the missionaries." She sought once again to expand the kingdom into
Portuguese domains in 1706, and it was probably for this reason that she had
ambassadors in the court of Kongo's King Pedro IV that year. But her attempts to
do this were thwarted, as Portuguese forces were too strong and she abandoned
the attempt. Nevertheless, a state of constant low level conflcit between her
army and the Portuguese at Ambaca and Cahenda led to the virtual depopulation of
the country to the west of Matamba, as the people either fled or were captured
and deported to the Americas. Those captured by the Portuguese tended to be sent
to Brazil, those captured by her were often sold to Vili merchants, based in the
Kingdom of Loango to the north, and subsequently sold to English, Dutch, or
French merchants who frequented that coast. She was succeeded by her son, Afonso
I Álvares de Pontes. She (d. 1721).
17...
Politically Influential Princess Donna Suzanna di Nobrena
Daughter, sister and mother of three kings of Kongo, and died at the age of circa
90.
1741-56
Ana II
She was known as Ana the Second as Queen Njinga was known as Ana I as Matamba
accepted the Christian names of former rulers and their dynasty. She faced a
Portuguese invasion in 1744, one of their largest military operations in the
eighteenth century. In the course of their attack, Matamba's army inflicted a
serious defeat on the Portuguese, but in spite of this, a remnant of the army
managed to reach the capital of Matamba. In order to avoid a long war and to get
them to withdraw, she signed a treaty of vassalage with Portugal which renewed
points conceded by her predecssor, Verónica in 1683. While the treaty allowed
Portugal to claim Matamba as a vassal, and opened up Matamba to Portuguese
trade, it had little effect on the real sovereignty of Matmaba, or indeed in the
conduct of trade. Like Verónica I before her, she was interested in developing
Matamba as a Christian country, routinely sending letters to the Capuchin
prefect of Congo and Angola or the Portuguese authorities requesting
missionaries come and establish permanent bases in her country. While the
country was visited by missionaries from Cahenda and also from the Barefoot
Carmelites, a permanent mission was not established. (d. 1741).
1756-circa
58 Verónica II
She succeeded Queen Ana II, but she was overthrown sometime after 1758.
Circa 1758
Ana III
During the civil war, she came on the throne after Verónica II was deposed, but
she was her self overthrown by Kalwete ka Mbandi, a military leader. Kalwete won
the war, and was baptized as Francisco II upon taking the throne. However, two
of her daughters, Kamana and Murili escaped the civil war, took refuge in the
ancient capital of Ndongo on the Kindonga islands and successfully resisted
Francisco II's attempts to oust them.
.......Queen
Kamana
After her mother, Ana III was deposed, she created a rival kingdom, and in 1767
tried unsuccessfully to obtain Portuguese help against her rival. While the
Portuguese governor of the time, Francisco Innocencio de Sousa Coutinho granted
her asylum and instructed his officials to respect her and her position, he did
not favor direct intervention in affairs in the eastern part of the Portuguese
zone. her son and successor did manage to end the division of the country by
successfully recovering the capital and being crowned as king of Matamba in
around 1810.
Kongo
Around 1670 Queen Suzana de Nóbrega of the Lovota
District in Southern Soyo in the Kingdom of Kongo
Head of a
Kimpanzu lineage, to which kings as kings Afonso II, Afonso III and Daniel I,
belonged. Described as a powerful queen who sanctioned the rule of Manuel
de Nóbrega, brother of King Daniel I (ruled 1674-1678) over Mbamba Lovata.
Around 1682-1714 Queen Ana Afonso de Leão of Nkondo (Mucondo)
and Territories at Lemba and Matari, and along the Mbidizi River in the Kingdom
of Kongo
During the Kongo Civil
War (1665-1709) that waged between the House of Kinlaza against the House of
Kimpanzu, she established a regional principality within the kingdom. She was
the matriach of the Kilanza Clan and was engaged in battles against Manuel I of
another branch in 1682, 1696, 1702 and 1714. Her lands came to be called the
"Lands of the Queen".
After 1716 Pretender Elena at Mbula of Kongo
After the restoration of the kingdom in
1709, and Pedro IV's power sharing scheme, the Kinlaza shared power with the
other branches. Its northern branch, founded by her brother, João II, who Mbula
or Lamba 1680-1716, made a claim on the throne, but the branch of this family
that supported Pedro IV and opposed her claim to the throne in the 1710s. And
this branch eventually becake kings of the reunited Kingdom of Kongo when Garcia
IV came to power in 1743.
1957-62 Queen Dowager Dona Isabel Maria da Gama
1962-?75 Queen Regent (The Ntolia aNtino ne Kongo)
Her husband was Dom Antonio III was king (1955-58), she succeeded him and
in 1962 her son Dom Pedro VIII Mansala was king September-October and
afterwards she took over the reigns again.
Cingolo
Circa 1665 Queen Ndumbu
Jaga (Jagas)
Late 1500s-early 1600's Queen Regnant
Mussasa
Her nation was on the
Cunene river in what is now Angola. She expanded her empire greatly through her
military, and led soldiers into battle. She was succeeded by her daughter,
Tembandumba.
1600s Queen Regnant Tembandumba
Her mother was Mussasa, whom she rebelled against and declared herself queen.
After taking power, she organized the Jaga for war by demanding that infants be
killed by their mothers and their bodies pounded into ointment, which was mixed
with herbs. In order to enforce this decree, she assembled the tribe and pounded
her own infant son to death on a mortar and prepared the ointment. She then
rubbed it on her body, declaring that it would make her invunerable. The women
of the tribe immediately imitated her actions with their own children. She
eventually encountered resistance to this practice in the tribe, and had to
resort to using only male infants captured in war for the ointment. She was
eventually poisoned by one of her lovers. She was described as being repulsive
and having only one eye, having lost the other in battle.
Kalembe
Until circa 1600 Nganja
Sambu
Circa 1700-ca.40 Queen Alembanu
Last update 17.07.09