Queen Nzingha, also known as Ann Nzingha, was overlord of
portions of both Angola and Zaire. She has been called the
“greatest military strategist that ever confronted the armed
forces of Portugal.” Nzingha’s military campaigns kept the
Portuguese in Africa at bay for more than four decades. Her
objective was nothing less than the complete and total
destruction of the African slave trade. Nzingha sent ambassadors
throughout West and Central Africa with the intent of enlisting
a huge coalition of African armies to eject the Portuguese.
Queen Nzingha died fighting for her people in 1663 at the ripe
old age of eighty-one. Africa has known no greater patriot By
Runoko Rashidi: Lecture notes “The African Woman as
Heroine~Great Black Women in History In the sixteenth century,
the Portuguese stake in the slave trade was threatened by
England and France. This caused the Portuguese to transfer their
slave-trading activities southward to the Congo and South West
Africa. Their most stubborn opposition, as they entered t