Looking out: Queen Nzinga
By Brandon Astor Jones
Like just about every other European nation, the Portuguese waged war upon blacks in Africa. Contrary to popular historical belief, the various black peoples of Africa have been defending themselves from conquest by the slave buying/selling greed of more than a few European nations for at least 6000 years.
European historians down through the ages have created images of childlike ignorance and docile passivity when writing about blacks. But the notion of the black Africans' ignorance and passivity is patently absurd.
In the 1600s, Portuguese men found the slave trade to be extremely lucrative, as did the Dutch, British and a host of others. Being both racists and sexists, such men despised even more the natural leadership and courage demonstrated by a black woman known to her followers as "Queen Nzinga the Unconquerable". They made war on Queen Nzinga and all the regions and peoples under her democratic reign.
Unlike those pretentious so-called "leaders" of today who sit in padded armchairs while their young fighters wade into the jaws of death and battle, Queen Nzinga led her forces into the field during the heat of battle. She was a fearless, wise, resourceful and formidable adversary.
Because of the continual intra-ethnic fighting among blacks (the direct result of thousands of years of European slave trading), the Portuguese gathered large armies of black soldiers that were most often commanded by whites who occupied positions of authority/safety far away from the raging battles.
The queen would order several phalanxes of her heavy infantry to pretend to desert from her army and allow themselves to be taken in defeat by the Portuguese army. Once they were firmly situated within the Portuguese ranks, and armed by them (often with good firearms given to them by the Portuguese commanders), they would subvert an entire Portuguese force. Then that force would pledge its allegiance to the queen and turn on its Portuguese commanders. It was not long after a series of such subversions that the Portuguese had to sue for peace with Queen Nzinga.
In 1662, she went to negotiate the terms of peace with the Portuguese governors in Luanda (which was then a part of the Congo). The governor and his courtly followers were all seated in royal chairs before her when she entered their midst. There was no chair for her, and none was offered. Undaunted, and seeing the less than subtle attempt to belittle her presence, she turned to her attendants, one of whom came forward immediately and got down on her hands and knees. Queen Nzinga lightly sat down upon her back.
It should be noted here that the attendant was not a slave. That is to say, she was the queen's attendant by choice, not by the queen's command. It was a huge privilege to serve as the queen's attendant. The amazed Portuguese governor reluctantly accepted Queen Nzinga's terms for peace, and he signed a treaty. As queen of Matamba, and later Ndongo, Nzinga reigned for 40 years. Queen Nzinga is one of many figures who don't fit into the racists' and sexists' view of history.
[The writer is a prisoner on death row in the United States. He is happy to receive letters commenting on his columns. He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, EF-122216, G2-51, GD&CC, PO Box 3877, Jackson, GA 30233, USA.]