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123-481: In the 1650s the intellectuals of Kasanje developed a largely fiction history that sought to give meaning and stability to the state. This history claimed a Zimbo and Tendo Andumba, and their daughter Tendo Anduma as the founding force of the nation. By the 1650s Kasanje had been making war with many of its neighbors for quite some time. These included Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba , and also areas called Lubolo, Beebe, Haku and Sango. Kasanje also had relations with

246-529: A Mbundu kingdom in central West Africa around 1583. She was the daughter of Ngola (a noble title translatable to King ) Kilombo of Ndongo. Her mother, Kengela ka Nkombe, was one of her father's slave wives and his favorite concubine. According to legend, the birthing process was very difficult for Kengela, her mother; Njinga received her name because the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck (the Kimbundu verb kujinga means to twist or turn). Children of

369-606: A Christian ceremony. Nzingha – wary of a potential succession crisis – also worked to increase the power of the royal family in Ndongo. She distanced herself from the Imbangalan culture and abolished many of the democratic and meritocratic policies she had tolerated in wartime, seeing them as a threat to the monarchy. During her later reign, divides opened in her court between educated Christian converts who supported her royalist policies and traditionalist Imbangalans and Mbundus, who supported

492-470: A Kiluanje died of smallpox, forcing them to replace him as king with Ngola Hari, another Ndongan nobleman. Ngola Hari proved to be an unpopular leader with the Ndongan people, who viewed him as a Portuguese puppet, while some sobas supported his rule. A divide soon formed inside the kingdom of Ndongo in which the common people and lesser nobles supported Nzinga, while many powerful nobles supported Ngola Hari and

615-555: A Portuguese invasion, Nzinga gathered her army and withdrew to a group of islands in the Kwanza river. After a series of battles, she was defeated and forced to make a long march into eastern Ndongo; during the retreat, she was forced to abandon most of her followers, a strategy that greatly benefited her as the Portuguese were more interested in re-capturing slaves than in pursuing her army. The Portuguese soon suffered their own setback when Hari

738-483: A Portuguese push inland (as opposed to trying to re-conquer Ndongan territory), disrupting their soldiers and fomenting wars between smaller tribes and kingdoms. While her wars against the Portuguese and their allies continued, Nzingha created alliances with neighboring kingdoms, expanding her influence even as she aged. She sent soldiers to enforce her rule over local noblemen, dispatched forces to fight against Kasanje's Imbangalans in eastern Matamba, and fought against

861-681: A battle axe, the traditional weapon of Ndongan warriors. She participated in many official and governance duties alongside her father, including legal councils, war councils, and important rituals. Furthermore, Njinga was taught by visiting Portuguese missionaries to read and write in Portuguese . Queen Njinga Mbande is known by many different names including both Kimbundu and Portuguese names, alternate spellings and various honorifics. Common spellings found in Portuguese and English sources include Nzinga , Nzingha , Njinga , and Njingha . In colonial documentation, including her own manuscripts, her name

984-541: A biography of her in 1689, again noting her political skill, but also describing her as a queen who had ruined the land. Together, Gaeta and Cavazzi's biographies became the primary sources for Nzinga's life. Portuguese writers would continue to write about Nzinga into the 20th century, normally depicting her as a skilled, "savage" opponent who had ultimately been forced to submit to Portugal and accept Christianity. Numerous western authors have written about Nzinga. The first notable, non-Portuguese Western work mentioning Nzinga

1107-414: A compilation of several different contemporary king lists by Joseph C. Miller. Kasanje is located on the upper Kwango River in what is now Angola. Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba Nzinga Ana de Sousa Mbande ( Swahili pronunciation: [n̩ˈʒiŋa] ), Nzinga ( / n ə ˈ z ɪ ŋ ɡ ə / ; c.  1583 – 17 December 1663) was a southwest African ruler who ruled as queen of

1230-456: A decisive strike. Machine guns added significantly to infantry firepower at the turn of the 20th century, and the mobile firepower provided by tanks , self-propelled artillery and military aircraft rose significantly in the century that followed. Along with infantry weapons, tanks and other armoured vehicles, self-propelled artillery, guided weapons and aircraft provide the firepower of modern armies. Mobility, which determines how quickly

1353-420: A deep depression and was forced to cede many of his duties to Nzingha. In 1624, her brother died of mysterious causes (some say suicide, others say poisoning). Before his death, he had made it clear that Nzinga should be his successor. Nzinga quickly moved to consolidate her rule, having her supporters seize the ritual objects associated with the monarchy and eliminating her opponents at court. She also assumed

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1476-586: A diplomatic tool, Nzinga adopted Christian customs into her court. From the 1650s onward, she increasingly relied on Christian converts at her court. Just as she had done with the Imbangalan culture several decades before, Nzinga appropriated aspects of Christian ideology and culture, adding these to her existing court traditions to create a new class of Christian councilors loyal to her. She also began practicing Catholic-inspired rituals, placed crosses in places of high honor in her court, and built many churches across her kingdom. Nzinga's efforts to convert her people

1599-602: A domain called Muzumbu a Kalungu which controlled an area between the Kwanza River and the headwaters of the Cunene River. It appears that Kasanje captured some of the territory of Muzumbu a Kalungu. There were many Portuguese merchants who operated in Ksanje by the 1650s. In 1680, the Portuguese traveller António de Oliveira de Cadornega estimated the kingdom had 300,000 people, of whom 100,000 were able to bear arms. However, it

1722-639: A fictional story of her life in 1769, portraying her as cruel (but not a cannibal), while the Marquis de Sade wrote about Nzinga's alleged cruelty and promiscuity in his 1795 work Philosophy in the Bedroom , in which he cites her as an example of a woman driven to evil by passion. Likewise, Laure Junot included Nzinga as a symbol of cruelty and lust in her Memoirs of Celebrated Women of All Countries , grouping her alongside women such as Lady Jane Grey , Marie Antoinette , and Catherine I . Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

1845-440: A fighting force can move, was for most of human history limited by the speed of a soldier on foot, even when supplies were carried by beasts of burden. With this restriction, most armies could not travel more than 32 kilometres (20 mi) per day, unless travelling on rivers. Only small elements of a force such as cavalry or specially trained light troops could exceed this limit. This restriction on tactical mobility remained until

1968-448: A great historical figure. Heywood cautioned against portraying Nzinga as either a populist hero or tyrant, noting instead that she should be viewed as a complicated individual who used culture, diplomacy, religion and war to secure her kingdom. One legend (having no proof) records that Nzinga executed her lovers. She kept 50–60 men dressed as women, according to Dapper's Description of Africa , as her harem, and she had them fight to

2091-533: A large infantry force. In both the European and Oriental traditions of warfare, the advent of gunpowder during the late Medieval and Early Modern periods created a relentless shift to infantry firepower becoming "a decisive, if not dominant" arm on the battlefield, exemplified by the significant impact of massed arquebusiers at the Battle of Nagashino in 1575. The synchronisation of the various fighting arms to achieve

2214-552: A major Portuguese bombardment, on 24 August 1648 the Dutch commander sued for peace with the Portuguese and agreed to evacuate Angola. When Nzinga's army and the remaining Dutch forces arrived outside Luanda, the peace between Dutch and Portuguese was signed, and unbeknownst to Nzinga, the Dutch forces sailed for Europe. Faced with a bolstered Portuguese garrison, Nzinga and her forces retreated to Matamba. Unlike previous decades however, after 1648 Nzinga concentrated her efforts on preventing

2337-527: A male' to retain power, her female successors faced little problem in being accepted as rulers. The clever use of her gender and her political understandings helped lay a foundation for future leaders of Ndongo today. In the period of 104 years that followed Njinga's death in 1663, queens ruled for at least eighty of them. Nzingha is a leadership role model for all generations of Angolan women. Women in Angola today display remarkable social independence and are found in

2460-466: A marriage proposal; the couple were married, and after the wedding she had her nephew killed—in Nzinga's view, final revenge for her own murdered son. However, her ascension to the throne faced severe opposition from male claimants from other noble families. According to Mbande tradition, neither Nzinga nor her predecessor brother had a direct right to the throne because they were children of slave wives, not

2583-408: A monarch of Ndongo and Matamba, her native name was Ngola Njinga. Ngola was the Ndongo name for the ruler and the etymological root of " Angola ". In Portuguese, she was known as Rainha Nzinga/Zinga/Ginga (Queen Nzingha). According to the current Kimbundu orthography, her name is spelled Njinga Mbandi (the "j" is a voiced postalveolar fricative or "soft j" as in Portuguese and French , while

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2706-629: A more nuanced approach to her biography. American historian Joseph C. Miller published a widely cited essay on Nzinga in the 1975 The Journal of African History , highlighting her struggles and innovations but also criticizing her autocratic methods. Afro-Cuban poet Georgina Herrera published a 1978 poem extolling Nzinga's wisdom and connecting her culturally with Afro-Caribbeans in the Americas. American feminist author Aurora Levins Morales wrote about Nzinga, praising her anti-colonial and anti-patriarchal struggles but also criticizing her status as

2829-409: A procession led by Father Ignazio de Valassina. Upon Kambu's arrival to Matamba the terms of peace were officially agreed upon, and as was tradition Nzingha and her officials clapped their hands letting the Portuguese know that peace terms were accepted. After the wars with Portugal ended, Nzingha attempted to rebuild her kingdom. As noted by Linda Heywood, Nzingha's final years were spent establishing

2952-514: A result of the woman's spying, the Portuguese reputedly drowned the sister in the Kwanza River . The Dutch in Luanda sent Nzinga reinforcements, and with their help, Nzinga routed a Portuguese army in 1647 at the Battle of Kombi . Nzinga then laid siege to the Portuguese capital of Massangano, isolating the Portuguese there; by 1648, Nzingha controlled much of her former kingdom, while her control over

3075-412: A return to the more militaristic, meritocratic policies of the past. During the 1660s (specifically after a period of serious illness in 1657) Nzinga grew increasingly concerned about who would succeed her as ruler of Ndongo and Matamba. She feared that her death would lead to a succession crisis, which would cause her Christian conversions to be undone, and spark renewed Portuguese aggression. To ensure

3198-437: A room for several weeks. She emerged, however, and within a month had begun a new campaign to rebuild her alliances in Ndongo. While rebuilding her strength, Nzinga took advantage of Ngola Hari's political weakness, highlighting his lack of political experience. Ngola Hari was despised by both his nobles and his Portuguese allies, for while previous kings of Ndongo had all been warriors, Ngola Hari had no soldiers of his own and

3321-488: A ruling elite and her propagation of the slave trade. In his writings on Nzinga, American historian John Thornton focused on her lifelong struggle to establish her authority over the Mbundu culture, noting that her legendary reputation and actions helped to establish a wider Atlantic Creole culture. American historian Linda Heywood wrote an extensive biography of Nzinga in 2017, featuring much of her life and describing her as

3444-402: A separate function from command and control and logistics . In contemporary military science , tactics are the lowest of three levels of warfighting, the higher levels being the strategic and operational levels. Throughout history, there has been a shifting balance between the four tactical functions, generally based on the application of military technology, which has led to one or more of

3567-453: A success and many sobas joined forces with her, strengthening her position and causing the Portuguese to fear a Mbande uprising was imminent. Despite these successes, Nzinga's policies threatened the income of the Portuguese and Mbande nobles, and soon the Portuguese began to foment rebellion in her kingdom. In late 1625, the Portuguese sent soldiers to protect Hari a Kiluanje, a soba who had broken ties with Nzinga. Kiluanje opposed having

3690-410: A symbol of their power). Nzinga accepted these terms, married Kasanje and was inducted into Imbangala society. The exiled queen adapted quickly to the new culture, adopting many Imbangala religious rites. Sources (African, Western, modern, contemporary) disagree on the intricacies and extent of Imbangala rites and laws ( ijila ), but the general consensus is that Nzinga was compelled to participate in

3813-578: A unified kingdom she could pass on to her sister. However, her native Ndongo had been ravaged by decades of war, with wide swathes of the land left depopulated; as such, Nzingha focused her efforts on strengthening Matamba. She developed Matamba as a trading power by capitalizing on its strategic position as the gateway to the Central African interior, strengthening her hold on the slave trade. She resettled former slaves on new land and allowed women in her war camp to bear children, which had been banned under

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3936-428: A vassal of the king of Portugal and pay tribute, demands she refused outright. Further straining relations, in late 1624 de Sousa began an aggressive campaign to force Mbande nobles, sobas , to become Portuguese vassals. Sobas were traditionally vassals of the ruler of Ndongo, and provided as tribute the valuable provisions, soldiers, and slaves needed to control Angola – thus, by making the sobas vassals of Portugal,

4059-542: A woman rule Ndongo, and was himself descended from the royal family; upon learning of his actions, Nzinga sent warriors to crush his revolt but was defeated, weakening her position and convincing more nobles to revolt. Nzinga petitioned the Portuguese to stop supporting Kiluanje, and attempted to negotiate as long as possible while she gathered more forces, but the Portuguese guessed this was a delaying tactic and soon recognized Kiluanje as king of Ndongo. The Portuguese subsequently declared war on Nzinga on 15 March 1626. Facing

4182-399: Is as much a psychological function of tactics as a physical one, and can be significantly enhanced by the use of surprise. It has been provided by charging infantry, and as well as by chariots , war elephants , cavalry and armoured vehicles which provide momentum to an assault. It has also been used in a defensive way, for example by the drenching flights of arrows from English longbowmen at

4305-439: Is considered a symbol of the fight against oppression. Nzingha ultimately managed to shape her state into a form that tolerated her authority, though surely the fact that she survived all attacks on her and built up a strong base of loyal supporters helped as much as the relevance of the precedents she cited. While Njinga had obviously not overcome the idea that females could not rule in Ndongo during her lifetime, and had to 'become

4428-441: Is noted that this claim may be exaggerated. The kingdom of Kasanje remained in a constant state of conflict with its neighbours, especially the kingdom of Matamba , then ruled by queen Nzinga Mbande . The Imbangala state became a strong commercial center until being eclipsed by Ovimbundu trade routes in the 1850s. Kasanje was finally incorporated into Portuguese Angola in 1910–1911. The kings of Kasanje are listed below based on

4551-555: The Ambundu Kingdoms of Ndongo (1624–1663) and Matamba (1631–1663), located in present-day northern Angola . Born into the ruling family of Ndongo , her grandfather Ngola Kilombo Kia Kasenda was the king of Ndongo. Njinga received military and political training as a child, and she demonstrated an aptitude for defusing political crises as an ambassador to the Portuguese Empire . In 1624, she assumed power over Ndongo after

4674-592: The Battle of Agincourt in 1415 which caused the horses of the French knights to panic. During early modern warfare , the use of the tactical formations of columns and lines had a greater effect than the firepower of the formations alone. During the early stages of World War II, the combined effects of German machine gun and tank gun firepower, enhanced by accurate indirect fire and air attack, often broke up Allied units before their assault commenced, or caused them to falter due to casualties among key unit leaders. In both

4797-618: The Burma Campaign but unsuccessful for the Germans at the Battle of Stalingrad . Following World War II, rotary-wing aircraft had a significant impact on firepower and mobility, comprising a fighting arm in its own right in many armies. Aircraft, particularly those operating at low or medium altitudes, remain vulnerable to ground-based air defence systems as well as other aircraft. Parachute and glider operations and rotary-wing aircraft have provided significant mobility to ground forces but

4920-647: The 18th and 19th centuries, personal armour had been largely discarded, until the re-introduction of helmets during World War I in response to the firepower of artillery. Armoured fighting vehicles proliferated during World War II, and after that war, body armour returned for the infantry, particularly in Western armies. Fortifications , which have been used since ancient times, provide collective protection, and modern examples include entrenchments , roadblocks , barbed wire and minefields . Like obstacles, fortifications are often created by military engineers. Shock action

5043-427: The Dutch leaving Angola. Njinga continued to fight the Portuguese until a peace treaty was signed in 1656. In the centuries since her death, Njinga has been increasingly recognized as a major historical figure in Angola and in the wider Atlantic Creole culture. She is remembered for her intelligence, her political and diplomatic wisdom, and her military tactics . Njinga was born into the royal family of Ndongo ,

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5166-707: The Imbangala – themselves engaged in expanding their territory – collapsed. After a series of defeats, the Ndongan royal family was driven out of their court in Kabasa, putting the king in exile and allowing for some of the Imbangala to establish the Kingdom of Kasanje . The Portuguese governor wanted to proceed with the treaty, but refused to aid Ndongo against the Imbangala until the king had recaptured Kabasa and been baptized. King Mbandi retook Kabasa in 1623 and took tentative steps towards Christianity, but remained deeply distrustful of

5289-474: The Imbangalans as mercenaries, and the new threat forced the Ndongan king to give up any attempts to reconquer his lost territory. In 1617, Ngola Mbandi Kiluanji died and Ngola Mbandi, his son and Nzinga's brother, came to power. Upon assuming the throne, he engaged in months of political bloodletting, killing many rival claimants to the throne, including his older half-brother and their family. Thirty-five at

5412-627: The Kingdom of Kaka in the Congo. She also used her army as a political tool, using its influence to sway the outcomes of succession disputes in her favor. Throughout the 1640s and 1650s, Nzinga began to tentatively adopt Christian cultural traditions , following her conversion to the faith in 1623. This began in 1644 when her army captured a Portuguese priest, and expanded when her forces in Kongo captured two Spanish Capuchins in 1648; unlike other European prisoners,

5535-526: The Kingdom of Matamba from 1631 to 1635. In 1641, she entered into an alliance with the Dutch West India Company who had captured Luanda from the Portuguese. Between 1641 and 1644, Njinga was able to reclaim large parts of Ndongo. Alongside the Dutch, she defeated the Portuguese in a number of battles but was unable to take the Fortress of Massangano . In 1648, the Portuguese recaptured Luanda , with

5658-457: The Kituxela region to her. Nzingha also agreed to allow Portuguese traders inside Matamba, while they agreed to intervene if Kasanje or Nogla Hari attacked her. The Portuguese agreed to concentrate the slave trade in a market in her capital (effectively giving her a monopoly on the slave trade) and send a permanent representative to her court. In return, Nzingha agreed to provide military assistance to

5781-442: The Kongo at the time) describing her as being akin to an Amazon queen and praising her leadership. Between 1631 and 1635, Nzingha invaded the neighboring Kingdom of Matamba , capturing and deposing Queen Mwongo Matamba  [ sv ] in 1631. Nzingha had the defeated queen branded but spared her life (Imbangala custom mandated she execute her) and took Mwongo's daughter into her service as one of her warriors. Having defeated

5904-464: The Matambans, Nzinga assumed the throne of Matamba and began settling the region with exiled Ndongans, hoping to use the kingdom as a base to wage her war to reclaim her homeland. Unlike her native Ndongo, Matamba had a cultural tradition of female leadership, giving Nzinga a more stable power base after she overthrew the previous queen. With Matamba under her control, Nzinga worked extensively to expand

6027-491: The Mbundu-dominated nobility of Ndongo – was politically attracted to the Imbangalans, who placed more value on merit and religious fervor as opposed to lineage, kinship (and by extension, sex). Using her new power base, Nzinga remodeled her forces after the highly effective Imbangala warriors. By 1631 she had rebuilt her army and was waging a successful guerilla war against the Portuguese, with one Jesuit priest (living in

6150-415: The Ndongo. As a child, Njinga was greatly favored by her father. Since she was not considered an heir to the throne, she was not seen as direct competition to male members of the family, and so the king could freely lavish attention upon her without offending his more likely heirs. She received military training and was trained as a warrior to fight alongside her father, displaying considerable aptitude with

6273-518: The Portuguese and Mbundu populations held services in her honor. Following Nzinga's death, her sister Kambu (more commonly known as Barbara or Dona Barbara) assumed the throne. A powerful queen who reigned for over thirty years, Nzinga has been the subject of many works. In her native Angola, oral traditions celebrating Nzinga's life began immediately after her death. Though her kingdoms would eventually be incorporated into Portuguese Angola , commemoration of Nzinga and her achievements persisted. In

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6396-473: The Portuguese and allowed for missionaries to reside in her kingdom. A final provision asking that Matamba pay Portugal tribute was proposed, but never ratified. While several sources describe the treaty as making concessions to Portugal, others note that her recognition as a ruler by Portugal gained Nzingha legitimacy and political stability. On 12 October Nzingha's sister arrived at Nzingha's court in Matamba in

6519-451: The Portuguese army at the Battle of Ngoleme. Then, in 1646, she was defeated by the Portuguese at the Battle of Kavanga and, in the process, her sister Kambu was recaptured, along with her archives, which revealed her alliance with Kongo . These archives also showed that her captive sister, Funji , had been in secret correspondence with Nzinga and had revealed coveted Portuguese plans to her. As

6642-457: The Portuguese army. During this time she was contacted by Kasanje, a powerful Imbangala warlord who had established his own kingdom on the Kwanza river. Kasanje and the Imbangala were traditional enemies of Ndongo, and Kasanje himself had previously executed several of Nzinga's envoys. Kasanje offered Nzinga an alliance and military support, but in return demanded that she marry him and discard her lunga (a large bell used by Ndongan war captains as

6765-514: The Portuguese began in 1651, continued in 1654, and culminated in 1656. The negotiations were aided by Nzingha's recent conversion to Christianity and by the pressure Portugal was facing from its war of Independence against Spain . The Portuguese hoped to end the expensive war in Angola and re-open the slave trade, while Nzingha – increasingly cognizant of her age – hoped to have her sister Kambu (often referred to by her Christian name, Barbara, during this period) released. She would not, however, pay

6888-498: The Portuguese governor attempted to make peace with Nzinga, but she refused these overtures. Nzingha moved her capital to Kavanga, in the northern part of Ndongo's former domains. The capture of Luanda also left Nzingha's kingdom as the pre-eminent, if temporary, slave-trading power in the region, allowing for her to build a sizeable war-camp ( kilombo ) of 80,000 (a figure which included non-combatants) members, including mercenaries, escaped slaves, allies, and her own soldiers. Using

7011-404: The Portuguese in European clothing, she chose to wear opulent traditional clothing (including feathers and jewels) of the Ndongan people, to display that their culture was not inferior. According to a popular story, when Nzingha arrived to meet with the Portuguese, there were chairs for the Portuguese officials but only a mat provided for her. This type of behavior from the Portuguese was common; it

7134-491: The Portuguese were able to undermine Nzinga's position as queen of Ndongo. To weaken the Portuguese colonial administration, Nzinga dispatched messengers ( makunzes ) to encourage Mbande slaves to flee Portuguese plantations and join her kingdom, thereby depriving the colony of its income and manpower. When the Portuguese complained about the escapes, Nzinga replied that she would abide by her earlier treaty and return escaped slaves, but that her kingdom had none. Her actions were

7257-440: The Portuguese, with Nzinga personally asking that they be shipped overseas; profits of the sale were then used to furnish a new church. Some of the wanted priests, however, escaped Nzinga's purge and went into hiding, later working to undermine her legitimacy as queen. By 1650 the kingdoms of Matamba and Portugal had been at war for nearly 25 years, with both sides having become exhausted. Tentative peace talks between Nzingha and

7380-430: The Portuguese. In November 1627, Nzinga again attempted to negotiate with the Portuguese, sending a peace delegation and a gift of 400 slaves. She indicated that she was willing to become a vassal of the kingdom of Portugal and pay tribute if they supported her claim to the throne, but was adamant that she was the rightful queen of Ndongo. The Portuguese, however, rejected the offer, beheading her lead diplomat and issuing

7503-456: The Portuguese. An increasingly powerful figure in the royal court, Nzingha (in a possible political ploy) warned her brother that a baptism would offend his traditionalist supporters, convincing him to reject any idea of being baptized. In addition, the Portuguese began reneging on the treaty, refusing to withdraw from their fortresses inside Ndongo and conducting raids for loot and slaves into Ndongo's territory. By 1624, King Mbandi had fallen into

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7626-668: The Portuguese. By the time that Nzingha's father became king in 1593, the region had been devastated by war and the power of the king greatly diminished. The king tried a variety of methods to handle the crisis, including diplomacy, negotiations, and open warfare, but he was unable to improve the situation. The situation grew worse for Ndongo when in 1607 the kingdom was invaded by the Imbangala , tribal bands of warriors known for their ferocity in battle and religious fervor. The Imbangala divided themselves into warbands, occupying Ndongan territory and capturing slaves. The Portuguese hired some of

7749-665: The Yaka Kingdom of the Yaka people . Nbangu a Kutana kwa Mbuku, whose father was the King of Yaka, was for a time a prisoner in Kasanje but later was freed and established more peaceful relations between the states. In the 1650s Kasanje had six major languages as a result of recent conquests. The conquests continued in this decade with significant taking of areas in Bembe in 1657. On the south Kasanje bordered

7872-564: The adjacent "n" is silent). The statue of Njinga now standing in the square of Kinaxixi in Luanda calls her "Mwene Njinga Mbande". During this period, the kingdom of Ndongo was managing multiple crises, largely due to conflicts with the Portuguese Empire . The Portuguese had first come to Ndongo in 1575 when they established a trading post in Luanda with the help of the Kingdom of Kongo , Ndongo's northern rival. Despite several years of initial peace between Ndongo and Portugal, relations soured between

7995-466: The area. Nzinga also established a lucrative slave trade with the Dutch, who purchased as many as 13,000 slaves per year from Nzinga's kingdom. She continued to occasionally send peace overtures to the Portuguese, even suggesting a military alliance with them, but only if they supported her return to Ndongo. She also refused to be re-admitted to the Christian faith, which became a point of contention between

8118-471: The beliefs of her people with those of her new Imbangalan allies. As noted by historian Linda Heywood , Nzinga's genius was to combine her Mbundu heritage with the Imbangalan's Central African military tradition and leadership structure, thus forming a new, highly capable army. To increase her numbers, she granted freedom to escaped slaves and land, new slaves, and titles to other exiled Ndongans. According to some sources, Nzinga – having been disenfranchised by

8241-598: The close-range melee and missile weapons to longer-range projectile weapons. Kinetic effects were generally delivered by the sword, spear, javelin and bow until the introduction of artillery by the Romans . Until the mid 19th century, the value of infantry-delivered missile firepower was not high, meaning that the result of a given battle was rarely decided by infantry firepower alone, often relying on artillery to deliver significant kinetic effects. The development of disciplined volley fire , delivered at close range, began to improve

8364-407: The conflict (50,000 according to one source ) and built forts inside Ndongan territory to control the slave trade. Ndongo rallied against the Portuguese, defeating Portugal at the Battle of Lucala in 1590, but not before the kingdom had lost much of its territory. The conflict eroded the power of the king, with many Ndongan noblemen, sobas , refusing to pay tribute to the crown and some siding with

8487-530: The conquest to her kingdom, an act which greatly offended the Kongolese king, Garcia II. The Dutch, hoping to preserve their alliance with both Kongo and Nzinga, brokered a peace, but relations between Nzinga and other regional leaders remained strained. In addition, her former husband and ally, Kasanje, feared her growing power in the region and formed a coalition of Imbangala leaders against Nzinga, invading her lands in Matamba (though they made little progress). By

8610-467: The counter demand that she retire from public life, renounce her claim to the kingdom of Ndongo, and submit to Ngola Hari as rightful king—these demands were within the diplomatic norm in Europe, but were utterly unacceptable to Nzinga. Faced with the Portuguese rebuke and the realization that many Ndongan nobles stood against her, Nzinga (as had her father and brother) slipped into depression, locking herself in

8733-618: The country's army, police force, government, and public and private economic sectors. Nzingha was embraced as a symbol of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola during civil war. Military tactics Military tactics encompasses the art of organizing and employing fighting forces on or near the battlefield . They involve the application of four battlefield functions which are closely related – kinetic or firepower , mobility , protection or security, and shock action . Tactics are

8856-469: The customary cannibalistic (the drinking of human blood in the cuia , or blood oath ceremony) and infanticidal (through the use of an oil made from a slain infant, the maji a samba ) initiation rites required for a woman to become a leader in the highly militarized Imbangala society. The ritual was in part to prevent a succession crisis amongst the Imbangala in the future. She did not, however, completely abandon her Mbundan cultural roots, instead combining

8979-452: The death for the privilege and duty of spending the night with her. In the morning, the winner was put to death. According to an account by the Capuchin priest Cavazzi, Nzinga maintained her strength well into her later years. Upon witnessing her during a military review in 1662 (the year prior to her death), Cavazzi praised her agility, to which the elder queen replied that, in her youth, she

9102-589: The death of her brother Mbandi. She ruled during a period of rapid growth of the African slave trade and encroachment by the Portuguese Empire in South West Africa. The Portuguese declared war on Ndongo in 1626 and by 1628, Njinga's army had been severely depleted and they went into exile. In search of allies, she married Imbangala warlord Kasanje. Using this new alliance to rebuild her forces, she conquered

9225-495: The development of combined arms tactics has been dogged by costly and painful lessons. For example, while German commanders in World War II clearly understood from the outset the key principle of combined arms tactics outlined above, British commanders were late to this realisation. Successful combined arms tactics require the fighting arms to train alongside each other and to be familiar with each other's capabilities. Beginning in

9348-744: The development of types of soldiers or warriors through history: Greek hoplite , Roman legionary , medieval knight , Turk-Mongol horse archer , Chinese crossbowman , or an air cavalry trooper. Each – constrained by his weaponry, logistics and social conditioning – would use a battlefield differently, but would usually seek the same outcomes from their use of tactics. The First World War forced great changes in tactics as advances in technology rendered prior tactics useless. "Gray-zone" tactics are also becoming more widely used. These include "everything from strong-arm diplomacy and economic coercion, to media manipulation and cyberattacks, to use of paramilitaries and proxy forces". The title "gray-zone" comes from

9471-436: The diplomatic mission with the stipulation that she be granted the authority to negotiate in the king's name and permission to be baptized – an important diplomatic tool she hoped to use against the Portuguese. Nzingha departed the Ndongan capital with a large retinue and was received with considerable interest in Luanda, compelling the Portuguese governor to pay for all of her party's expenses. While Ndongo leaders typically met

9594-568: The dominance between unarmoured and armoured forces and highlight tactical trends in each period. Massed volley fire by archers brought infantry firepower to the fore in Japanese warfare in the second half of the 13th century, preceding the rise of the English longbowman. The mobility and shock action of the Oirat Mongol army at the Battle of Tumu in 1449 demonstrated that cavalry could still defeat

9717-478: The early 1650s, Nzinga sent requests to the Capuchin order for more missionaries and for support against the Portuguese – effectively turning the missionaries into de facto diplomats between her and the Vatican. She pursued closer relations with Catholic leaders in Europe for the rest of her life, even receiving correspondence from Pope Alexander VII in 1661 praising her efforts. In addition to using Christianity as

9840-419: The early modern and World War II examples, the cumulative psychological shock effect on the enemy was often greater than the actual casualties incurred. The development of tactics has involved a shifting balance between the four tactical functions since ancient times, and changes in firepower and mobility have been fundamental to these changes. Various models have been proposed to explain the interaction between

9963-462: The first wife. Nzinga countered this argument, strategically using the claim that she was properly descended from the main royal line through her father, as opposed to her rivals had no bloodline connection. Her opponents, on the other hand, used other precedents to discredit her, such as that she was a female and thus ineligible. In addition, Nzinga's willingness to negotiate with the Portuguese (as opposed to previous rulers, who had fought against them)

10086-606: The hitting power of infantry, and compensated in part for the limited range, poor accuracy and low rate of fire of early muskets . Advances in technology, particularly the introduction of the rifled musket , used in the Crimean War and American Civil War , meant flatter trajectories and improved accuracy at greater ranges, along with higher casualties. The resulting increase in defensive firepower meant infantry attacks without artillery support became increasingly difficult. Firepower also became crucial to fixing an enemy in place to allow

10209-462: The large size of her army, her new wealth and her famous reputation, Nzinga was able to reclaim large parts of Ndongo from 1641 to 1644. However, her expansionism caused alarm amongst other African kingdoms; in one infamous incident, she invaded the Wandu region of Kongo, which had been in revolt against the Kongolese king. Though these lands had never been part of Ndongo, Nzinga refused to withdraw and added

10332-570: The late 1630s, Nzinga had expanded her influence to the north and south of Matamba. Using her forces, she cut other rulers off from the Portuguese-controlled coast, capturing parts of the Kwango River and bringing the region's key slave supplying lands under her control. She also expanded her territory to the north, and in doing so established diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of the Kongo and Dutch merchants, who were increasingly active in

10455-457: The latter stages of World War I, airpower has brought a significant change to military tactics. World War II saw the development of close air support which greatly enhanced the effect of ground forces with the use of aerial firepower and improved tactical reconnaissance and the interdiction of hostile air power. It also made possible the supply of ground forces by air, achieved by the British during

10578-419: The latter years of World War I when the advent of the tank improved mobility sufficiently to allow decisive tactical manoeuvre. Despite this advance, full tactical mobility was not achieved until World War II when armoured and motorised formations achieved remarkable successes. However, large elements of the armies of World War II remained reliant on horse-drawn transport, which limited tactical mobility within

10701-482: The messages terrified Hari, who was forced to call on his Portuguese allies for support, thus greatly diminishing his own prestige while adding to Nzinga's reputation. However, she was still unable to directly face the Portuguese in battle, and was forced to retreat from the advancing Portuguese army. She suffered a series of military defeats, most notably in a Portuguese ambush that saw half of her army, most of her officials, and her two sisters captured, though she herself

10824-539: The mid-1640s, her successes had won her the support of many Ndongan nobles. With the nobility flocking to her side, Nzingha was able to collect more tribute (in the form of slaves) which she in turn sold to the Dutch in exchange for firearms, thereby increasing her military and economic power; by 1644, she considered Garcia II of the Kongo to be her only political equal in the region, while the Portuguese viewed her as their most potent adversary in Africa. In 1644, Nzinga defeated

10947-845: The mid-20th century, Nzinga became a powerful symbol of Angolan resistance against Portugal during the Angolan War of Independence . Nzinga's legacy would outlast the Angolan Civil War and remains an area of interest in the country. The Portuguese, Nzinga's longtime rivals, wrote a number of works relating to her life. The first biography of Nzinga was published by Antonio da Gaeta (a Capuchin priest who had lived in her court) in 1669; Gaeta's work praised Nzinga's diplomatic skills and compared her to famous women from antiquity, but also pointedly noted that she had ultimately been persuaded by divine providence to accept Christianity. Antonio Cavazzi (another Capuchin who had resided in Nzinga's court) wrote

11070-405: The new, Christian kingdom she had established. In October 1663, Nzinga fell ill with infection in her throat and became bedridden. By December of that year the infection had spread to her lungs, and Nzinga died in her sleep on the morning of 17 December. She was buried with great aplomb in accordance with Catholic and Mbundu traditions. Ceremonies were held across Matamba and in Luanda, where both

11193-486: The nineteenth century, many military tactics were confined to battlefield concerns: how to maneuver units during combat in open terrain. Nowadays, specialized tactics exist for many situations, for example for securing a room in a building. Technological changes can render existing tactics obsolete, and sociological changes can shift the goals and methods of warfare, requiring new tactics. Tactics define how soldiers are armed and trained. Thus technology and society influence

11316-430: The overall force. Tactical mobility can be limited by the use of field obstacles, often created by military engineers . Personal armour has been worn since the classical period to provide a measure of individual protection, which was also extended to include barding of the mount. The limitations of armour have always been weight and bulk, and its consequent effects on mobility as well as human and animal endurance. By

11439-544: The queen granted missionaries extended freedoms in her war camp. One of the Spaniards, Father Calisto Zelotes do Reis Mago, would go on to become a longtime resident at her court and her personal secretary. Whereas previous missionaries (either parish priests or Jesuits) had been strongly affiliated with the Portuguese and their colonial administration, the Spanish Capuchins were more sympathetic to Nzinga's positions. During

11562-420: The questions of how best to deploy and employ forces on a small scale. Some practices have not changed since the dawn of warfare: assault , ambushes , skirmishing , turning flanks , reconnaissance , creating and using obstacles and defenses, etc. Using ground to best advantage has not changed much either. Heights, rivers, swamps, passes, choke points, and natural cover, can all be used in multiple ways. Before

11685-466: The ransom the Portuguese demanded for her sister, and so negotiations repeatedly stalled. Despite difficulties, a peace treaty was signed between Nzingha and the Portuguese in late 1656. Under the term of the peace treaty, Nzingha agreed to cede lands on her kingdom's western coast to Portugal, with the Lucala River becoming the new border between Portuguese Angola and Matamba. In return, Portugal ceded

11808-582: The reduced mobility, protection and firepower of troops delivered by air once landed has limited the tactical utility of such vertical envelopment or air assault operations. This was demonstrated during Operation Market Garden in September 1944, and during the Vietnam War , in the latter case despite the additional firepower provided by helicopter gunships and the ability quickly to remove casualties, provided by aeromedical evacuation . Military tactics answer

11931-410: The royal household who survived difficult or unusual births were believed to possess spiritual gifts, and some saw their births as an indicator the person would grow to become a powerful and proud person. Njinga had two sisters, Kambu, or Lady Barbara and Funji , or Lady Grace. She also had a brother, Mbandi, who was heir apparent to throne. When she was 10 years old, her father became the king of

12054-713: The slave trade in her new kingdom, using the profits from slave trading to finance her wars and divert trade income away from the Portuguese. Over the next decade, Nzinga continued to struggle against the Portuguese and their allies, with both sides attempting to limit each other's influence and take control over the slave trade. During this decade, Nzinga took on more masculine traits, adopting male titles and clothing. She established an all-female bodyguard for herself, and ordered that her male concubines wear women's clothing and address her as king. She also instituted communal sleeping quarters at her court, and enforced strict chastity rules for her male councilors and female bodyguards. By

12177-464: The slave trade increased the economic power of Matamba. Despite these successes, the allies' control over Angola remained tenuous. Lacking artillery, Nzinga was unable to effectively break the Portuguese defenses at Massangano, while political infighting and developments in Europe weakened the Dutch forces in Angola. In August 1648 a Portuguese expedition, led by newly appointed governor Salvador Correia de Sá, besieged Luanda . After suffering through

12300-414: The slave trade to them, though she was concerned that the Kingdom of Kongo (her people's traditional northern rivals) was growing too powerful. The Dutch accepted her offer of an alliance and sent their own ambassador and soldiers (some of whom brought their wives) to her court, soon assisting her in her fight against the Portuguese. Having lost large amounts of territory and forced to retreat to Massangano ,

12423-488: The tactical functions and the dominance of individual fighting arms during different periods. J. F. C. Fuller proposed three "tactical cycles" in each of the classical and Christian eras. For the latter epoch, he proposed a "shock" cycle between 650 and 1450, a "shock and projectile" cycle 1450–1850, and a "projectile" cycle from 1850, with respect to the Western and North American warfare. During World War II, Tom Wintringham proposed six chronological periods, which alternate

12546-436: The tactical functions being dominant for a period of time, usually accompanied by the dominance of an associated fighting arm deployed on the battlefield, such as infantry , artillery , cavalry or tanks . Beginning with the use of melee and missile weapons such as clubs and spears, the kinetic or firepower function of tactics has developed along with technological advances so that the emphasis has shifted over time from

12669-423: The tactical mission is known as combined arms tactics. One method of measuring tactical effectiveness is the extent to which the arms, including military aviation, are integrated on the battlefield. A key principle of effective combined arms tactics is that for maximum potential to be achieved, all elements of combined arms teams need the same level of mobility, and sufficient firepower and protection. The history of

12792-438: The time, Nzingha was spared, but the new king ordered her young son killed while she and her two sisters were forcibly sterilized , ensuring that she would never have a child again. According to some sources, Nzingha was singled out for harsh treatment as she had a longstanding rivalry with her brother. Perhaps fearing for her life, Nzinga fled to the Kingdom of Matamba . Having consolidated his power, Mbandi vowed to continue

12915-440: The title of Ngola , conferring a position of great influence among her people. An opulent funeral for her brother was arranged, and some of his remains were preserved in a misete (a reliquary ), so they could later be consulted by Nzinga. One major obstacle to her rule, her 7-year-old nephew, was under the guardianship of Kasa, an Imbangala war chief. To remove this potential pretender to her throne, Nzinga approached Kasa with

13038-569: The transition would be smooth, she appointed her sister Kambu as her heir, forgoing any of the traditional Mbundu elections. However, she grew increasingly concerned that her sister's husband, Nzinga a Mona, was growing too powerful. Nzinga a Mona was a skilled soldier who was raised in the Imbangala tradition, and while he had been a lifelong soldier in Nzingha's army, in his older age he increasingly came into conflict with Nzinga. She feared that Nzinga Mona's adherence to Imbangala tradition would destabilize

13161-413: The two kingdoms and devolved into decades of war between them. Ndongo faced intense military pressure from Portugal and Kongo, both of which seized Ndongan territory. By the 1580s, large parts of Ndongo had fallen under Portuguese control. The Portuguese waged war in a brutal style, burning villages and taking hostages. In addition to territorial conquests, the Portuguese seized large numbers of slaves during

13284-523: The two parties. In 1641, forces from the Dutch West India Company , working in alliance with the Kingdom of Kongo , seized Luanda , driving out the Portuguese and setting up the directorate of Loango-Angola . The fall of Luanda was a major blow to the Portuguese, and Nzinga quickly dispatched an embassy to the Dutch-controlled city. Hoping to form an Afro-Dutch coalition against the Portuguese, Nzinga requested an immediate alliance and offered to open

13407-415: The war against the Portuguese. However, he lacked military skill, and while he was able to form an alliance with the Imbangala, the Portuguese made significant military gains. Faced with the Portuguese threat, in 1621 he contacted Nzingha, asking her to be his emissary to the Portuguese in Luanda. She was the best fit for the job, as she was both of royal lineage and spoke fluent Portuguese. She agreed to lead

13530-638: The wartime Imbangala customs. She also reformed the legal code of her kingdom and established contact with Christian rulers in Europe, hoping to certify Matamba's status as an internationally recognized Christian kingdom. Peace caused major changes at Nzingha's royal court. Whereas in wartime she had adopted the masculine dress and mannerisms of an Imbangala warlord, in the postwar era Nzingha's court became more feminine; she adopted new fashions in court, imported silk and goods from Europe, placed renewed focus on education (replacing military drills) and abolished concubinage, eventually marrying her favorite concubine in

13653-399: Was able to escape. By late 1628, Nzinga's army had been greatly reduced (down to around 200 soldiers according to one source) and she had been effectively expelled from her kingdom. Following her expulsion, Nzinga and her supporters continued to fight against the Portuguese. To bolster her forces, the queen looked to make allies in the region while keeping her battered forces out of reach of

13776-505: Was able to wound any Imbangala warrior, and that she would have stood against 25 armed men – unless they had muskets. Today, she is remembered in Angola as the Mother of Angola, the fighter of negotiations, and the protector of her people. She is still honored throughout Africa as a remarkable leader and woman, for her political and diplomatic acumen, as well as her brilliant military tactics . Accounts of her life are often romanticized, and she

13899-408: Was adamant that Ndongo would not pay tribute to Portugal, noting that only conquered peoples paid tribute and her people had not been defeated. She also expressed a desire for cooperation between the two kingdoms, noting that they could support each-other against their common enemies in the region. When the Portuguese questioned her commitment to peace, Nzingha offered to be publicly baptized, which she

14022-507: Was also critical of Nzinga's (though he did not directly name her) "female state", describing her kingdom as a barren, unfertile land that had eventually collapsed due to her usurping of the natural order. Nzinga's reputation in the West recovered significantly in the 20th century. Nzinga's usage as a symbol in the Angolan War of Independence increased interest in her life, and authors began to take

14145-526: Was also keen to avoid conflict, and both he and Nzinga were eager to re-open the slave trade that was so vital to the region's economy. However, tensions rose between Nzinga and de Sousa. When Nzinga asked for the return of kijikos (a servile caste of slaves traditionally owned by the Ndongan royalty) living in Portuguese controlled territory, as had been agreed in the treaty, de Sousa refused and demanded that Nzinga return escaped Portuguese slaves serving in her army first. De Sousa also demanded that Nzinga become

14268-452: Was also spelled Jinga , Ginga , Zinga , Zingua , Zhinga , and Singa . She was also known by her Christian name, Ana de Sousa. This name—Anna de Souza Nzingha—was given to her when she was baptized. She was named Anna after the Portuguese woman who acted as her Godmother at the ceremony. She helped influence who Nzingha was in the future. Her Christian surname, de Souza, came from the acting governor of Angola, João Correia de Souza. As

14391-420: Was forced to rely on Portuguese soldiers. Ngola Hari and the Portuguese launched a counter-propaganda campaign against Nzinga, hoping to use her gender as a means to delegitimize her strength, but this backfired as she increasingly outmaneuvered Ngola Hari in Ndongan politics. In one notable incident, Nzinga sent Ngola Hari threatening letters and a collection of fetishes, challenging him to combat with her forces;

14514-457: Was not without controversy, and some conservative religious figures pushed back against her policies. In response, Nzinga empowered her Christian priests to burn the temples and shrines of practitioners who opposed her, and ordered that they be arrested and turned over to her for trial. Traditionalists were dismissed from her court, after which she sentenced them to public whippings. Several prominent Mdundu and Imbangala priests were sold as slaves to

14637-437: Was seen as a sign of weakness by some of the Ndongan nobility; specifically, the treaty's allowing of Portuguese missionaries inside Ndongo was seen with distaste. While the succession crisis deepened, relations between Ndongo and Portugal became more complex. Nzinga hoped to fulfill the treaty she had signed with the Portuguese in 1621, and thereby regain Ndongan lands lost during her brother's disastrous wars. Governor de Sousa

14760-422: Was their way of displaying a "subordinate status, a status reserved for conquered Africans." In response to this, Nzingha's attendant formed himself to be her chair while she spoke to the governor face to face. She employed flattery as a diplomatic tool, and according to some sources deliberately chose to contrast her brother's belligerent style with her own diplomatic decorum . As ambassador, Nzingha's main goal

14883-417: Was to secure peace between her people and the Portuguese. To this end, she promised the Portuguese an end to hostilities (describing her brother's previous actions as the mistakes of a young king), allowed Portuguese slave traders inside Ndongo, and offered to return escaped Portuguese slaves fighting in her brother's army. In return, she demanded that Portugal remove the forts built inside Ndongan territory and

15006-401: Was with great aplomb in Luanda. She adopted the name Dona Anna de Sousa in honor of her godparents, Ana da Silva (the governor's wife and her ordained godmother ) and Governor Joao Correia de Sousa. A peace treaty was subsequently agreed upon, and Nzingha returned to Kabasa in triumph in late 1622. Despite her success in the negotiations with the Portuguese, the peace between Ndongo and

15129-474: Was written by French Jesuit Jean-Baptiste Labat in 1732. A heavily edited translation of Cavazzi's earlier biography, Labat's work formed the basis on which many Western sources would depict their image of Nzinga; whereas Portuguese sources focused on Nzinga's capabilities as a leader and conversion to Christianity, Western sources in the 18th and 19th centuries tended to heavily focus on her sexuality, alleged cannibalism, and brutality. Jean-Louis Castilhon wrote

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