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« on: March 21, 2024, 02:35:55 am »Anti-Colonialism mean Anti-Sexism
Source :
Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America page 65, 66
Autocracy in Action to Against Barbarism
Quote
ANA NZINGA
The King of Queens
Historical revisionists and people who jog in place at stoplights often dismiss the impact of white supremacy and slavery by smugly reminding others that Africans enslaved their fellow Africans. While this is a simplistic summary of how colonialism works, the “20. and odd” enslaved Africans who arrived on the White Lion in 1619 were probably from the Ndongo Kingdom in present-day Angola.1 Five years later, Ana Nzinga’s actions would disrupt the business of the original slave traders.
After the death of her father, King Kiluanji of Ndongo, Nzinga’s brother had her sterilized and ordered her son to be killed so she would not become queen. Nzinga fled to nearby Matamba, but when her brother realized he couldn’t defeat the Portuguese on his own, he begged Nzinga to negotiate a treaty.
She agreed, and when she arrived to meet the Portuguese governor, they used a common tactic to belittle her: offering her a floor mat while the European leaders looked down on her from their chairs. Unfazed, Nzinga ordered a member of her court to get on all fours and sat on his back, placing herself at their level to negotiate the treaty. Although the treaty didn’t end the trade of enslaved human beings altogether, it required the removal of Portuguese forts that facilitated the slave trade.
Of course, being the colonizers that they were, the Portuguese reneged on the agreement and continued to take “slaves and precious items” from the Ndongo. After her brother died, Nzinga had her brother’s son, the heir to the throne, killed. And when her rival, Hari, teamed up with the Portuguese enslavers and declared that a woman could never control the kingdom, Nzinga fled to Matamba. She slowly increased the size of her army, kidnapped their queen and the queen’s daughter, and eventually returned to Ndongo to take her throne. By 1648, Nzinga was the ruler of the Ndongo and the Matamba.
She called herself the king.2 Researchers say Nzinga defied gender norms by deciding to “become a man.” Not only did she dress in traditional male attire, but she also required her stable of husbands to dress as women. When the Portuguese declared war, she personally led her troops into battle and was by all accounts a fearless warrior and exceptional tactician. Using guerrilla warfare and implementing the war strategy of the Imbangala, Nzinga fought the Portuguese to a standstill for thirty years, all the while expanding her empire. In doing so, she also declared that any African enslaved by Europeans would be free in her kingdom.
When she defeated a neighboring army, she would integrate the conquered troops and force the leaders to teach her armies all their tactics, essentially creating an unstoppable force. After conquering a new land, Nzinga only had one rule for her subjects:
No slave trading.
Of course, this wasn’t just an act of benevolence. As Nzinga’s empire grew, she also depleted the Portuguese supply of human chattel, which crippled their slave economy while diminishing their army.
On November 24, 1657, the Portuguese gave up.3
They gave Nzinga the rights to all the land and agreed to a peace treaty. She spent the rest of her life resettling slaves, establishing trade, and reestablishing her kingdom. Nzinga lived until the age of eighty-one. After her death, Portugal eventually reinstated its claim. Eight years later, Ndongo became part of the Portuguese Empire, but the descendants of the “Mother of Angola” would resist colonialism forever.
Source :
Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America page 65, 66
Autocracy in Action to Against Barbarism
