Book review at StrategyPage:
Queen Njinga of Ndongo-Matamba rule her kingdom, a considerable region in what is now northern Angola, for an impressively long period (1624-1663), but is today largely forgotten.
In this, the first ever biography of Njinga, Prof. Heywood (Boston University) reveals an able woman, who was as adept a ruler as any in history.
Njinga effectively combined wily diplomacy,
commercial dealings (including slave trading), military power, and even religious policy, to cope with ambitions of Portuguese colonialists, rival kingdoms, and even some envious kinfolk, keeping herself on the throne and her realm independent in the face of numerous threats, at her realm, at times even maintaining relations with to the courts of Portugal and Spain, and even the Vatican.
To tell this story, Heywood draws upon a large body of documentary evidence, primarily Portuguese, as well as many traditional accounts, some of them recorded long ago. As she tells Njinga’s story, Heywood also offers insights into the origins of the kingdom, its political organization, social structure, culture, dynastic connections, and religion.
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
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