You're Dead to Me - Njinga of Ndongo and Matamba

Episode Date: August 19, 2022

Greg Jenner is joined in 17th-century West Africa by Dr Daniel F. Silva and Athena Kugblenu to meet the warrior queen, Njinga of Ndongo and Matamba. One of the most formidable queens in history, Njinga lived a tumultuous life and was able to defy Portuguese colonial rule for decades. For such a successful ruler, not much is known about her. Much of what is said about her in European and Western stories paints a picture of a cold-hearted, bloodthirsty warlord. But how much of that is true?You’re Dead To Me is a production by The Athletic for BBC Radio 4.Research by Rosie Rich Written by Emma Nagouse and Greg Jenner with Rosie Rich Produced by Emma Nagouse and Greg Jenner Assistant Producer: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow Project Management: Isla Matthews Audio Producer: Max Bower

This is the BBC. This podcast is supported by advertising outside the UK. All day long. Taxes extra at participating Wendy's until May 5th. Terms and conditions apply. BBC Sounds. Music, radio, podcasts. Hello and welcome to You're Dead to Me, the Radio 4 comedy podcast that takes history seriously. My name is Greg Jenner. I'm a public historian, author and broadcaster. I was the chief nerd on the BBC comedy show Horrible Histories. And today we are taking a trip back to 17th century West Africa to learn all about the warrior queen who resisted Portuguese colonial rule for decades. It is the inimitable Njinga of Ndongo and Matamba. And a word of warning, this is not a jolly episode. There will be some content warnings for violence and self-harm ahead.

We will give you those at the right times. Right. Let me introduce my guests. In History Corner, he's an associate professor of Luso-Hispanic Studies and director of the Black Studies program at Middlebury College in Vermont, USA. And he's the author of Anti-Empire, Decolonial Interventions in Lusophone Literatures. It's Dr. Daniel F. Silva. Welcome, Daniel. Daniel F. Oh, thank you so much, Greg. It's amazing to be on the program. I just want to clarify for listeners real quick. I am not Daniel Silva, the spy thriller novelist.

Greg Wilpert Oh, no. Daniel F. Totally different people. I get it all the time. And I should even try to claim his books so I could get bigger raises at my institution. Greg Wilpert I'll put half my jokes away about Walter PPKs and various other Bond-related puns. Never mind. It's fine. Okay. In Comedy Corner, she's an award-winning comedian and writer. You'll have heard her loads on BBC Radio 4, including on the News Quiz and her new show with Ali Official.

DMs are open. You may have seen her on Mock the Week or heard her on The Guilty Feminist. And you'll definitely remember her from our previous episodes on the Haitian Revolution and Mansa Musa. It's Athena Kiblenou. Welcome back, Athena. Thank you and thank you for not getting me mixed up with the goddess. I'm constantly being mixed up for the Greek god. I'm through your pain, Daniel. It's like, oh, Athena, make something happen. And I can't. I'm just a human being made of flesh and blood. So thanks for having me back So we love doing this. I mean, Athena, we've, we've loved having you on the pod before you also write for

my old job, horrible history. So I'm officially now declaring you one of us, one of us, you're a history nerd, right? Officially. I'm a nerd. Oh, I'm thrilled. Don't test me on anything historical, but I want the label without the knowledge. Isn't that, isn't that the way, isn't that the way in 2022? We want labels, but no knowledge. So that's great.

All right. And what do you know about Njingot of Ndongo and Matamba? Ever heard of her? I've never heard of her. And the only thing I know about Angola is that I thought they invented Nandos. And then I was told it wasn't them. So terribly, terribly embarrassed by not knowing anything, but also very excited about coming out of this knowing more. Yeah, that's the whole idea behind this show. I mean, I had never heard of her until a couple of years ago. So I'm going to be learning plenty as well. We've got Professor Daniel to help us through.

So what do you know? Right, that brings us on to the So What Do You Know? So, what if you are really clued up on colonial history, you may know that she is a heroic figure in modern Angola, and is one of history's most formidable queens. There are some few things on the internet that are quite keen on her. In 2013, UNESCO added Njinga to its list of notable women leaders in Africa. But she was a contemporary of Elizabeth I of England, and also reigned for four decades, but she doesn't get any of the glitz and glamour of Lizzie. And if you were to read the European or Western stories of her, we would learn that she's a bloodthirsty warlord and a cold-hearted cannibal, which is kind of intimidating language. But what do we know for sure about her? Are these stories fair? And what else can we tell about Queen Inginga's tumultuous life? And how did she defy Portuguese colonial occupiers for so long? Let's find out. Right, Daniel, where is Ndongo? I'm

guessing Angola. And what sort of world, politically speaking, is she born into Njinga? So Ndongo was a kingdom in southern Central Africa, what is now part of northern Angola. Ginga was born in 1582. But to understand her life story, we have to understand the preceding century and the wider region. So around 1483, the Portuguese arrived in Central Africa, and their first target was the huge region of Congo, which covered around 33,000 square miles. And within a decade, it became a Catholic Christian state, but crucially, both the European invaders and the king of Congo, Afonso I, that was his baptized name, began to engage in the trading of enslaved people to sustain their various wars,

until eventually mass enslavement became the very point of these wars. And this vicious circle meant that by the time Jingo was born in 1582, enslavement and the real threat of European invasion were firmly embedded in the politics, structures, and economies of multiple African states, including Ndongo, which was at that time the second largest in Central Africa. So what is the situation with enslavement? Is it a novelty that's been brought by Europeans? Is it something that was already in West African society but has been ramped up? Yes, enslavement existed before European colonialism, but we have to further nuance that as well. So starting around 1441, the Portuguese initiated the transatlantic slave trade throughout the coast of West Africa.

The trade, of course, then became the basis of a globalized economy based on enslaved labor for the extraction of raw materials and making of commodities, etc. for the extraction of raw materials and making of commodities, etc. While African states participated in the slave trade, this was mainly a way of maintaining sovereignty in the face of colonial encroachment. I think people have always been currency. Look at the history of everywhere. There are so many countless examples of people not valuing the lives of their own citizens,

and this would be another example of that and it becomes a case of um the ends justify the means and we have to we have to contextualize that and understand it because we can't always see this as a you know europeans went to africa and they they were so powerful and so irresistible it wasn't always that that that case there was there was collaboration and participation, and that's fair to say because it's true. Yeah. African states did not benefit from slavery anywhere near as much as European colonial projects did. And for African states, this form of enslavement was not a racial endeavor like it was for Europeans, who placed notions of inferiority and exploitability onto skin colour,

and thus elaborated different systems of racial classification and hierarchy through enslavement. And so seven years before Njinga is born, her grandfather, I think his name is Cassenda, he comes to power in Ndongo, and he immediately has to face these Portuguese incursions into his lands, these invasions. But let's focus just for now on Njinga herself. When she's born, is she the latest in a long line of glorious royals? Actually, it's not a long line at all. Ndongo was quite a young state founded in about 1515 by Ngola Kilanjiilongi Kiyasamba, N'gola being the Kimbundu word for ruler, and the people in that state were the Mbundu people. Ginga's grandfather was N'gola K'ilombu Kiyasamba, or Kassenda, the man who first faced the Portuguese invasion, and her dad was Mbande

Aungola. So yeah, she was born into an impressive lineage. Also, her birth was pretty dramatic. According to biographical stories, she was born in the breech position, with her face upturned and with her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. And Mbundu beliefs held that a baby born in this so-called unnatural manner would be extraordinary or would possess rare gifts. So fittingly, Mbande named his daughter Jinga from the Kimbundu root word Kujinga, which means to twist, to turn, or to wrap around. Wow, okay, so she's named after the cord being wrapped around her neck, and they expect her to have powers. Athena you're named after a goddess we've already heard. Were you born with powers? Are you a DP wise? Yes, I can confirm that you do

grow into a name so sorry for everyone out there called Gary. You grew into a Gary and that's on your parents. However, I mean that's a story. And it's a really good way of thinking positively about what is like an awful experience. I had a traumatic childbirth and I wish I'd twisted it by naming my child something positive related to it because I'm still bitter about it, if I'm honest. But that will make you just tell your child she's special

and then you'll just eventually grow up and think, oh, I'm special. I'm going to lead a nation and resist colonization. So Njinga is born into a royal family but in terms of the family dynamics Daniel is it a close-knit family is everyone you know on the same team or are we talking here about you know rival factions within the court? Not quite close-knit the ruler or the Angola resided in an area called the Cabasa, along with his wider family, and it was a patriarchal patrilineal society. And Portuguese diplomatic records from 1560 described the ruler at the time as

having more than 70 children and 400 wives and concubines. Wow, okay. This is from colonial documents, so take it with a grain or ten of salt. And so apparently it wasn't all one big happy family, and competition between rival factions was indeed intense. As for Uringa's father in Bandea Angola, he was already an older man with a large household when he became ruler.

He had a chief wife, numerous concubines and children. His oldest son was born of his chief wife, and he had four children by his favorite concubine, Kingela, Kai and Kombi. The eldest of these children was Jinga's brother, Ngole Mbande, and there were three younger daughters, Jinga, Kambu and Fungi. Okay, so she's one of three sisters and she's got an older brother. And so maybe not happy families around the dinner table, maybe? I don't know if you've got a sibling, Athena?

I've got two brothers. I've got a twin brother and an older brother. And to be honest, I know, you know, in a patriarchal society, my older brother would probably like inherit any kind of royal title. However, in our family, we know who rules the roost. It's me. And, you know, I'm the practical person. I'm the one who does the sealing on the bath when it comes off. You know, these are the ways you battle against patriarchy. You just show on a day to day basis. I know you could be king, but actually, when you think about it, it's better off me being queen. you could be king. But actually, when you think about it, it's better off me being queen.

Okay, all right. Good analogy. And also, you're very welcome to come around my house and put some sealant in my bathroom because I've got a leaky shower at the moment. Let's get back to Ginga's youth because I want to know more about her childhood, this sort of atmosphere of the factions at court, her brother, her sisters. Sounds very competitive. So Athena, do you think she's fighting her corner? Do you think she gets on with competitive so Athena do you think she's fighting her corner do you think she gets on with her siblings do you think she's maybe a bit meek and quiet what's your vibe you don't end up ruling a nation without getting a bit upset when you lose at Ludo you know like I feel like she's the person who can't be the banker at Monopoly I'm going to assume she likes to get her own way I grew up with brothers and I didn't have that kind of gendered upbringing and I always wanted to do what they could do because they were the majority and they seem to be having lots of fun hitting each

other in the head and doing things that boys do with sticks and stuff. So I imagine she just wanted to just replicate what she saw around her. Basically annoying, annoying sibling vibes. Am I right? Yeah. Athena's not far off. Ginga, according to her biographers, exhibited intellectual and physical strengths which set her apart from her peers. She was renowned for outshining her rival brother and other children when it came to fighting with the battleaxe, which was the royal symbol of the Ndongo state. axe, which was the royal symbol of the Ndongo state. She seems to have developed a very strong relationship with her father, which on the surface may sound nice, but it was actually pretty risky because rulers could alienate wives, concubines, and relatives if they seemed to favor a particular

child, and her brother was, after all, the natural heir. However, Jingo was so favored that she received a sort of special blessing, which enhanced her standing in the court. And as she grew into young adulthood, she also seemed to have had a pretty active love life, as well as having many women and enslaved people in her service. She kept a large number of young male concubines, and she is reported to have had multiple lovers throughout her life. Crikey. Yeah, role model. Brilliant. I like her already now. From this point on, she can

do no wrong. Well, I mean, we'll see by the end of the episode if you agree with that statement, because she does quite a lot of wrong. But yeah, axe wielding, various male lovers just, you know, on tap when she wants them. She's definitely her daddy's favorite, but also pretty independent. But then we know that things do change, which is in her mid-thirties. Her father dies quite suddenly. And does that mean the brother takes over? And if so, does that change her situation, Daniel? Her brother became the new ruler, and that's where he received his official title of

Angola Mbande. But there was still a long-standing rivalry between Ginga and the now ruler of Ndongo. And this next bit is really grim. It's really horrible what happens next. And listeners, we are going to have to talk here about extreme violence, including against children and reproductive violence against women. So if you don't want to hear that, skip ahead a couple of minutes, I think, because Daniel, the king now brutalizes his sisters, right? To consolidate power, Zhinga's brother killed many of his political rivals, including his half-brother, his half-brother's mother,

all of her siblings, and many powerful members of the court and their respective families. Also, tragically, Ngo Lembande had Jinga's newborn son killed. There are also sources which suggest that Jinga and her sisters were then forcibly sterilized so they couldn't have more children. And it turns out neither Ginga, Fungi or Kambu did have children. Yeah, it's absolutely horrific. So Ngolo Mbande's rule begins in brutal bloodshed, targeted at his own internal rivals, which unfortunately is his own sisters and nephew. But then his next target is the external threat, which would be Portugal. So I'm guessing a man who would do that to his own family

is not going to pull punches when it comes to the Portuguese. So does he go on the warpath? Does he attack? Very much so. He assembles a large army, attacks the Portuguese. But this did not go well. Portugal at that time were also revitalizing their leadership and strategy under a new governor. And this governor would go on to execute huge military campaigns that involved the sacking of Indongo's capital city, Cabasa, and the enslavement of thousands of Imbundu people. attacked Kabasa for the second time in 1621 and Golan Bande was able to escape but many of his close supporters and family were killed or captured. Only then did he turn to diplomacy

that was the ceasefire following his agreement to one day be baptized. It's a lot of process Athena isn't it? It's a a lot it kind of speaks to the brutality of of kind of years gone past like we often talk about industrialization and capitalism and stuff like that and oh it's all terrible but there's something about the brutality of individuals that existed when we lived slightly more freer lives i mean it's just really difficult and's also, we never talk about kind of African leaders in this brutal way. We think kind of white Europeans own terrorism. But real equality is realizing that we can all be brutal. Isn't that bizarre?

Like we can be just as horrible as you. And we have to learn about that. But not during October in the UK. That's Black History Month. We don't talk about it then. But outside of Black History Month, we can talk about outside of things. But it's important I think to understand that we possess that capacity

it's a human capacity you know yeah absolutely this is a stress moment isn't it I mean N'Golo Mbande he's got the enemy at the gates the Portuguese he's also fearful of a coup within his own family so this is a man who's doing extreme things so in 1622 N'Golo Mbande hears about the arrival of a new governor

from Portugal, who's arrived in the coastal power base of Luanda, which is now the capital of Angola, but wasn't at the time, obviously. And N'Golo Mbande wants to negotiate a peace, but he's not going to go himself. So he's going to send his sister Njinga. She's off to be an emissary, a diplomat, but he's been so horrible to her beforehand. So what do you think she does, Athena? Do you think she follows orders? No, of course not. I mean, this happens a lot in families, especially with brothers and sisters. You always get sent to like buy the milk or do the boring job and then you just do it a bit badly. So like the idea is that you do the job and you're supposed to pretend that your brother did it.

So if you do it badly, you kind of sabotage them, right? So this sounds just like that. I had that many times in my childhood. And I think me and this woman have loads in common. And I suspect she went there and said, oh, my brother's been slagging you off, you know? Yeah, he's been saying all kinds of stuff about you behind your back. Do you want to know what you're saying?

And I'm sure it was very effective. I mean, it's not quite that, although there's elements of what Athena said that are sort of true because she does show up, she does her job but she does also sort of explain her brother as being a sort of hot-headed youngster. I mean Daniel do you want to talk us through this this big delegation? She brings all these people with her. And that huge delegation included soldiers, waiting women, enslaved people to give us gifts. The meeting was very formal. Ginga and the delegation were serenaded by the Portuguese, and she played the role of the calm diplomat. And like you said, explaining that her brother

was hotheaded. She had received her brother's permission to undertake a public baptism as a diplomatic act. And through the baptism, she actually adopts a Portuguese Catholic name, Lady Ana de Souza, after the name of the Portuguese governor at the time and his wife, who were the godparents at the ceremony. And then she used this name throughout her life in political dealings with the Portuguese. And the baptism was a big deal. So she was very strategic

in her diplomatic maneuvering. If your godparents are your enemy, then they no longer can go to war with you, I suppose. It's fairly sensible. The Portuguese do play a power move. Nginc goes to sit down and there's no chair. And they're like, you sit on the floor. Athena, how do you think she gets around this? I think she sits on someone's lap, doesn't she? She must do. Just plunks herself down in the governor's lap. Starts patting his head or something. She gets one of her servants to kneel on the floor and then sits on her. So it's a sort of improvised IKEA flat pack move where you just turn a human into a sofa.

And also, I mean, how is she negotiating with the Portuguese, Daniel? Is she multilingual? Yeah, yeah. Xingu was a super skilled negotiator and she was indeed multilingual. We don't know if she had learned Portuguese by this point in her life, but definitely in later years, she wrote letters in Portuguese and in Latin. And at this moment, she resisted Portuguese demands. She refused to allow her brother to pay annual tribute and enslave people to the Portuguese king. She argued that

this would be an act of a conquered state, which Ndongo had not yet been. As well as being baptized, she offered to formally study Christianity. And by the time she and her delegation left Luanda, she had secured the Portuguese governor's promises of a formal treaty between their nations. So it seemed that her visit to Luanda was a great success. Wow. Injinga for Brexit minister. That's what I'm thinking. Yeah. I just think it's incredible that she became multilingual at that time as well, because it's not an immersive environment. She would have had to really, she shouldn't have Duolingo or like Rosetta Stone or anything like that. I can only imagine how, you know, how determined you have to be to do that and then to like sometimes like i can speak a bit of french but i can i can order a sandwich but i can't negotiate you know diplomacy you know i just don't have the lexicon for that so she hasn't just learned portuguese she's got the

portuguese you need to stop people from enslaving your people that's i couldn't do that so it's it's incredible that she's doing that and not just saying, where is the library? So Njinga has had success on her trade mission, but there is some suspicion about whether to do a deal with the Portuguese. Yeah, she always, and I think her brother also, always suspected that the Portuguese were not going to keep their side of the bargain. And so to have the N'Golo of N'Dongo be baptized seemed like it was playing into the trap. So it wasn't just Ginga convincing her brother not to be baptized. It seems that he also refused on his own volition. So she's not trying to collapse the deal in order to throw her brother under the bus. It's more that she's looking out for the safety of the state. It's debatable.

It's ambiguous. Sure, you haven't got all the sources. I'm firing difficult questions at you. The next thing is a little bit tricky. Again, I'm going to use a content warning here for listeners because we're going to talk about potentially self-harm here so again if you want to jump ahead a minute i think should do the job daniel in jenga's brother in golo and banday dies by poison we're not sure how that poison's got into his body potentially self-harm potentially assassination again this

is another point of ambiguity in the historical record. A Portuguese soldier and writer named António de Cadornega wrote that Ginga, and I quote, helped him to die with the aid of a poison drink, end quote. So is this euthanasia? Is it deliberate assassination we don't know in any case ngolambande's death left a power vacuum that jenga immediately stepped into and she was 42 years old at the time i think we can draw different conclusions based on that yeah so she's 42 and she's the queen. She's the new ruler. Athena? Did anybody like accuse her of being responsible? Because it's, you know, it's quite convenient. And no one could deny that she had suffered because of her brother. So was there like a rumor mill?

Yeah, especially within the court. I think people looked at her a little sideways after that happened, but her brother did not have wide-ranging support, so most members of the court were kind of pleased to see Jenga rising to the throne. Hmm. And she throws a funeral for him. It was a very lavish funeral, And as part of the cultural tradition of ancestor worship, Jinga removed some of his bones,

which were then kept in a small portable chest. And some of the European commentators seemed pretty scandalized by this. Sorry, can I stop you there? Europeans were scandalized. Yeah. These Europeans that wanted to colonize the country. And I've said enough. We can move on. They were scandalized. Yeah. These Europeans wanted to colonize the country. And I've said enough. We can move on. They were scandalized, were they? Yeah.

Where are you now? Okay. Colonialism is many hypocrisies. But really, this wasn't any different, though, from Catholic traditions around like the veneration of saints relics. Like the Catholics would take blood, bone, teeth, flesh, and calleration of saints relics like the Catholics would take blood bone teeth flesh and call them first-class relics however what is a quite difficult part of the story as part of the consolidation of her power she embarked on a kind of bloody campaign similar to her brothers of removing those who did not support her leadership. So basically, she had to be sure of who she could trust. Her nephew, N'Golo Mbande's son,

was at that time in the keeping of the famous warriors of the Ibangala, and they were training him. Ginga may have seduced the Ibangala leader and convinced him to marry her. The moment they tied the knot, she allegedly had her young nephew murdered as vengeance for the death of her own child. It's very Red Wedding Game of Thrones, isn't it? It's a sort of like the moment the ceremony goes through, she sort of grabs the kid and does him in. So it's pretty, I mean, she's pretty brutal, Athena. Yeah.

And I also think that these things replicate each other so if your previous ruler is brutal you feel like you have to behave in the same way in order to be taken seriously it's like being in the godfather like you gotta you know you gotta kill right like it's like it's like how they test you and that's one of the tests that she has to pass um not that i'm excusing murder guys please don't murder people to to prove that you belong in a position of leadership. But yeah, I feel like she was just replicating the behavior that she'd seen. Certainly, a horrible violence would be done to her. So now, yeah, she passed

it on. But she's the first queen of Ndonga. I know it's not an old state. You said maybe 70 years as a state, Daniel. But she is the first woman to rule. Is she accepted? The Portuguese did not see it that way. Surprise. So by 1626, Ginga's rebellion was so widespread that Fernão de Souza, the governor and her godfather, had to justify to the king of Portugal plans for an all-out war against her. So this is some dirty godfather thing. The godfather analogy works then, Athena.

Yes. Thank you, Athena. And this is where we see her gender being discussed by the Portuguese. So the governor chose a close relative of Ginga as an alternative puppet ruler. And de Souza's explanation for picking a guy is, and I quote, because a woman had never governed this kingdom, end quote. Understandably, the following years were difficult for Ginga. She was a remarkable warrior and knew the land far better than the Portuguese, and that made her a tactically sophisticated enemy. But the Portuguese technological firepower was kind of hard to match. There were definitely some close calls,

but after three years, Gingo was still there and still giving the Portuguese a headache. Yeah, I mean, we're talking here the age of gunpowder weapons now in the early 1600s, you know, the Portuguese will have muskets, whereas she's wielding her famous battle axe, which is terrifying up close, but not great from 50 yards probably. Okay, so we've got this amazing story where Ginga gets cornered and somehow escapes. The Portuguese show up and outflank her. She's only got like 100 guards. She is trapped by a cliff face and a deep gully

ravine. You can't go behind and you can't go behind and you can't go forward and you can't go left and you can't go right how do you think she gets away Athena I know because I've seen the fast and the furious and this happens in every in every fast and the furious there's a car chase that ends up at a ravine what happens is a helicopter comes and and and then you jump onto the helicopter obviously helicopters weren't invented yet so I think what she does so she's she basically she jumps but because it's ravine there's like vines that's why they're called ravines because of the vines i don't think that's technically correct but i don't say that and then she jumps and then she like she just it happens in all the it happens in cliffhanger actually i'm sure with um sylvester salome at some point there's quite a lot of

hanging in cliffhanger that's why it's called cliffhanger i'm full of all the spoilers today um anyway she jumps off and then she manages to grab onto something and she uses that to either climb back up or climb down into safety i'm going with that i can't believe you got that right but it's absolutely true helicopter it was a helicopter wasn't it? It was a helicopter you know it's the divine so the story goes I mean Athena that's phenomenal knowledge of Fast and Furious movies who knew that they were so useful so there's a slightly there's an interesting element before that so she escapes first by crawling through a tiny crevice in the rock face they go through one at a time they get out the other side and there's a sort of deep gully the Portuguese fall into the

gully the soldiers behind them so she's climbing over the rocks and then a few days later they catch up with her again and this time yes cliff face ravine vine ropes she swings to safety like Indiana Jones and um her sisters are captured so Kambu and Funji are captured but she makes it out Hollywood escape I mean you're on Athena. I can hear the Hollywood music. Yeah, it's lovely to find these moments of history that you couldn't write yourself. If I'd written that and sent that to a producer, they'd have gone, Athena, do one. This is ridiculous. And also just like, I mean, without wishing to be ageist here, like I'm about to turn 40 and I would literally, I would fall in that gully immediately 47 I would let the

Portuguese take me I would just be like de nada you know I just yeah I wouldn't know not my not my big age you know absolutely not absolutely so we have now Njinga entering a phase where she is resisting the Portuguese and a bit of a mythos is developing around her she's becoming a bit of a unstoppable agent of chaos they can't quite around her. She's becoming a bit of a unstoppable agent of chaos. They can't quite conquer her and they're getting quite frustrated. So externally, she's defending the kingdom, but internally, she has to maintain power,

which is about the branding. So what kind of visual image do you think she is sending out, Athena, to her court? Powerful, really. She's doing set-ups, push-ups know like in the terminator um sarah connor do you know when you first see sarah connor in terminator 2 and she's doing chin-ups on an upturned bed that is the answer i'm going for it certainly would be intimidating uh daniel there's no chin-ups in the historical record i'm aware of yeah unfortunately we don't know her her fitness regime but in terms

of other day-to-day things uh she always sat on a throne which is an actual throne not a toilet yes yeah not the metaphoric one yeah english people oh my god what's in the food no okay okay good Okay, good. Excellent. Thank you for clarifying that. So she had an Italian missionary that was part of a deal that she made with the Vatican, and this guy became her chronicler, and his name was Father Gaeta. I'll quote him here. She was always elaborately dressed in silk drapes, velvet, and brocades imported from Europe, wearing a crown, and she always wore on her hands, feet, and arms several rings made of gold, silver, copper, iron, corals, and various imported beads." She also surrounded herself with impressive textiles like rugs and adorned mats.

And the other people of her court were also held to this high aesthetic standard. She's not doing Sarah Connor chin-ups. She's gone Mariah Carey mega bling. Yeah, this is like Beyonce or the Kardashians. This is like, you know when like, because there's some people who like, they wear makeup every day. And then when you see them without makeup, you're like, oh my gosh, like, who are you? It's like always pretending there's an Instagram filter on you. Yeah.

You know, it's kind of like a heightened version of yourself. I hadn't thought about that as being a powerful thing, but it is very powerful. Yeah. Always looking rich. That's sort of how she communicates power to those around her. There's another aspect here, which is where, again, I think some of the European sources then get into this sort of quite bloodthirsty idea of her, which is that she embraces the Imbangala traditions. Now, we've already mentioned those because she had seduced

the Imbangala leader to then murder her nephew. But do you want to talk us through these, Daniel? Because this, how do we separate kind of European style scaremongering from genuine what we know about their culture? It's hard to sift through the historical records and separate what is European racial fantasies around African leadership and African societies. So we're always dealing with that sort of murkiness of the historical archives. The Imbangala were known for being ruthless warriors and renowned for these extreme acts of ritual violence, and they sometimes worked as mercenaries for the Portuguese, and they attacked Ndongo, and Njinga won them over to her side by adopting some Imbangala traditions. The records say that she may have practiced human sacrifice, took part in cannibalism, smeared her body in oil from a sacrificed child. Again, these are from the colonial records, so they come with a lot of

racism within them. But she did try to find a new identity through the Mbangala after constant problems with the Portuguese. She came in contact with someone named Tembo Andumbo, a daughter of one of the Bangala leaders, who is said to have performed a ritual which degendered Jenga, transforming Jenga from woman into warrior, and thus Jenga became N'gola Jenga N'gombe N'ga, meaning Queen Jenga, Master of Arms, and Great Warrior. Wow. I mean, that's quite the email signature, isn't it? Master of Arms and Great Warrior. I suppose Jenga now is degendered, which means we're sort of talking here about a king or just a ruler,

removing that kind of the femininity from the person and becoming almost the state, I suppose. Oh, that's brilliant. Sorry, I identify as the state. I mean, you can't argue with that, can you? That's great. I'm going to take that one. Njinga's reputation is growing, so is the army. Between 1631 and 1635, Njinga attacks a rival state, another African nation called Matamba, and that's ruled by another female ruler called Queen Muango, and Njinga wins. And so suddenly Njinga has doubled their land and also is now ruler of Ndongo and Matamba, Daniel. And then what? So between 1631 and around 1641, Ginga continued to win battles and take territories,

including lands that the Portuguese had claimed that were previously Ndongo lands. And Ginga is by now probably the most powerful leader in Africa. This is the period when she decides to be referred to as a man by the people in the court. Ginga marries a man called Lord Ntombo, but Ntombo apparently has to wear women's clothes and be known as the queen, whereas Ginga is now going by king. I've got a big smile on my face because I feel like this is exact. She's living what we call in 2022 her best life. That's wonderful.

Brilliant. And is that because as ruler once married, you have to outrank your spouse. Naturally, a man would outrank Njinga. So Njinga sort of swaps it and says, right, I outrank you again because now I'm the king and you're the queen. Yeah, especially in the context of Imbangala societal norms. But this is where Jenga occupies a really complex place in the history of gender. On one level, she was able to subvert gender norms because of her privileged status as a ruler. But like we just discussed, she also reproduced patriarchal ideas that equated

masculinity with power and femininity with subservience. But it's that messiness that's interesting. And I think this dovetails with the question of which gender pronouns should we use for Ginga from this point forward. Ginga did use feminine pronouns later in life, at least in letters that she wrote to the Portuguese court and to the Vatican. I'm pretty reluctant to ascribe pronouns from the vantage point of the present, but would argue that gender nonconformity was an integral part of Ginga combating patriarchal power. So regardless, I think, of the pronouns that we use, I want us to keep gender nonconformity and expression at the foreground of Jenga's story. And maybe Jenga's asking us to mesh masculine expressions with feminine pronouns

in a way that goes beyond the gender binary, so why not? I really love the idea of of gender fluidity but particularly choosing gender when it's most advantageous to you for example you know when you want to rule the country listen i'm a man you can't tell me you're better than me things but i think to have that understanding and that knowledge and also she obviously had a internal kind of ability to be fluid because she probably she sounds like she she was a gender fluid individual so she was able to negotiate those matters because they were as we would say in 2022 her truth yeah so it's king in jenga now or king kijinga i'm trying to find a way of

shortening that down kijinga i don't know kijinga um but yes kijinga's off in 1641 uh we have a shock upset as well, because these battles against the Portuguese have been playing out for ages and ages, 20-odd years, I think. And then suddenly, out of nowhere, player three enters the game. A new European power just shows up out of the blue

and says, hello. Do you want to guess who that is, Athena? Do you know? Oh, God. So this is, I mean, I'm going to say Britain. It's either Britain or France. It's one of them ones. No, it's neither of those two. Oh, is. So this is, I mean, I'm going to say Britain. It's either Britain or France. It's one of them ones. No, it's neither of those two.

Oh, is it Germany? No, not Germany. Not far from Germany. Italy? No, that's the other way. It's the Dutch. It's the Netherlands. The Dutch. Oh, them ones. Okay. They've showed up. And weirdly, they don't attack Njinga, they go after the Portuguese, which is handy. Yeah, no complaints there.

They should have done that more often, you know. They snatch the stronghold of Luanda from the Portuguese, they arrive with this big armada and they boot out the Portuguese and Njinga is delighted, right? She's like, thanks, at last, 20 years of fighting and suddenly I have allies on my side. How does Njinga go about securing this alliance, Daniel? So Njinga wanted the Portuguese out, of course,

and the Dutch wanted a steady supply of enslaved people. So it's not great news. No. I was hoping you'd say she learnt Dutch, if I'm honest. But obviously that was not the case. Maybe she did in the process. But underneath that, there is a grim scenario. So from 1641 to 1644, Ginga reclaimed large sections ofdongo that the Portuguese had taken, but lost a huge battle

in March of 1646. So the Portuguese are still there trying to get their stolen land back. Jinga managed to escape, but her sister Kambu was again captured by the Portuguese. Cambu was again captured by the Portuguese. However, Ginga and the Dutch counterattacked in 1647 and killed around 3,000 Portuguese troops. By 1648, their alliance was incredibly strong, but here came a new Portuguese governor with his own armada of 15 ships and like 900 men. his own armada of 15 ships and like 900 men and so in august of 1648 he quickly took back luanda from the dutch and they left africa without telling their indogo allies and the first jenga knew that the dutch left was when she heard that the portuguese flag was flying over luanda so jenga was trying to go dutch on the portugal problem but the dutch ditched Njinga was trying to go Dutch on the Portugal problem, but the Dutch ditched her.

So Njinga has to go it alone and now focuses on getting sister Cambu back, as well as defeating the Portuguese for good. Njinga's in their 60s at this point. I mean, not old old, but certainly getting old. And Cambu needs to be the heir to the throne, so that's why Njinga needs Cambu back. And so what's the new approach, Daniel? Is it more war with Portugal or something else? Yeah, so something different. Between 1648 and roughly 1656, Njinga had a lot to accomplish and she proved to be, as we've already seen, a great

strategic brain. Njinga knew that the supply of enslaved people was crucial and controlling Matamba was crucial to this. This meant that the new Portuguese governor, Correia de Sá, had to deal with Ginga. So as troubling as we find it, Ginga played the enslavement card as a strategic asset. Ginga also started to use Catholicism and her baptized identity advantageously, and so she replaced Ibangala religious beliefs with Catholicism and developed relationships with other Catholic leaders in Europe. Ginga even got in touch with the Pope Alexander VII who praised Ginga at length in letters and in other correspondence

And Athena, it's quite the pivot isn't it? Having early embraced the Ing Bangala, now embracing Catholicism and writing to the Pope It sounds a bit like desperation, doesn't it? Doesn't it though? And also, by the time you get to 60, you're just like whatever man, I'll just do it do you know what i mean like

come at that age now my knees are going she can't just throw herself down in ravine you might as well just write to the pope although i'm really interested to understand i mean i sometimes when i learn history i think about the practical things like how do you write to the pope you just kind of would you just write his dear pope what's his address you just put vatican like does he get it like i is i i find that extraordinary i mean send a letter through the portuguese i suppose i mean they're the enemy but at the same time that's your route back to europe is it daniel yeah and the missionaries that were a part of her court. They had the direct connection to the Pope.

The good old speed dial. Exactly. When she was baptized all that time ago, it was for this moment. It was just a tool in a bag, wasn't it? It was like, I'm going to pull out the Catholicism tool when I need it. And she needed it then. And right to the Pope. So by 1650, Njinga has been at war with the Portuguese for 25 years and then suddenly takes the advice of Johnny Yoko and starts giving peace a chance because, you know, previously we've had master of arms and great warrior but now

we're getting the great diplomat again. So Njinga is now doing a deal with the Portuguese? Is this a sort of settlement? And why would the Portuguese give up after all that battle? Are they under pressure too? The Portuguese military was pretty debilitated at that time because they were in a war with Spain. So this could have been like the perfect chance for Njinga to put her foot on their neck and take back all the land.

The Portuguese wanted peace within Dungo and wanted to reopen the slave trade. Ginga, on the other hand, was conscious of probably getting a little older and wanting her sister Kambu to be released, and Kambu ended up being the heir. Eventually, a peace treaty was signed in 1656. Some have suggested that Ginga made concessions to Portugal, but there were gains on both sides. Ginga agreed for missionaries to reside in Indongo and to provide military assistance to the Portuguese, while the Portuguese agreed to send an ambassador to Xinga's court.

And Cambu was freed as well. Most challenging to us is once again how Xinga agreed to concentrate the human enslavement trade in a market in Ndongo's capital. Yeah, from our position, you know, we look at the history of enslavement and we are horrified by it. I suppose for Njinga, it's this one tool that she's able to use. Yeah. And this is one of the biggest tragedies of colonialism, is that it creates a world in which anti-blackness is also used to safeguard African sovereignty in this case. So it became a tool, tragically, for the freedom of some Africans over others.

And we also, of course, now have a king, a queen, I mean, let's say a ruler, in their late 70s, early 80s. So does that mean it's a sort of retirement party, put the feet up, do the crossword, potter in the garden? What's the sort of last, the last few acts of Njinga's career and life? She was definitely not finished yet. She worked on institutionalizing Christianity within Ndongo and Matamba, again, as a way of securing and maintaining political freedom from the Portuguese. She died in 1663, aged 81, of a lung infection after 39 years of reign. The death was kept quiet for a while as advisors feared that it could spark mass panic. Ginga had been so powerful for so long that her fate felt too closely intertwined with the larger Ndongo's fate. But eventually, Sister Kambu succeeded to power.

Jenga had requested a Christian burial, but the people wanted to engage in traditional Mbundu funerary rites, which included 20,000 people erecting a temporary village where scenes from Jinga's life were reenacted, ranging from military battles to more intimate portrayals of her character. Athena, you're a young person, we don't have to worry about this yet, but at some point in our lives when we have to plan our funerals, what scenes would you like from your life to be reconstructed by 20,000 amateur extras? Well well there would be the great fight for the remote control you know that's that's always that's always a battle i mean the problem with being a comedian a writer i'm just sat at a desk most of the time you don't really need 20 000 people to pay that

either sat on a desk or sat in my car. So, I mean, I better start doing something more impressive with my remaining days if I want these to... Otherwise, it's 20,000 people just filing their nails, going, well, she was a boring person, wasn't she? I apologise if that question sent you into a spiral of existential sort of terror. What am I doing with my life? Oh, my gosh, my funeral's going to be so dry.

It won't, I'm sure it won't. But that is the end of Njinga's life. Dead at 81 after defeating the Portuguese, agreeing a deal with them and resisting that occupation, which was no main feat. The nuance window! It's time now for the nuance window. This is where Athena and I sit back for a couple of minutes

and practice our ravine swinging. And we let Daniel talk uninterrupted for two minutes about whatever we need to hear about today's subject. So I'll get my stopwatch up. Without much further ado, we have the nuance window, please. All right. So yeah, I want to talk about Jinga's legacy since her death. First and foremost, immediately following her death, her legacy was carried on by later rulers

of Ndongo and Matamba, including other women like Veronica of Matamba, who resisted Portuguese encroachment into the 18th century as well. After the fall of Ndongo, Matamba, and other Kimbundu-speaking kingdoms of current-day Angola, stories of Ginga's resistance to the Portuguese endured. Most recently, as organized anti-colonial movements emerged in the mid-20th century, Ginga became firmly embedded in the mythologies of Angolan liberation, most notably by the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola, or MPLA, which was initially a Marxist collective that became the ruling party. Ginga was sort of articulated as part of the lineage of MPLA's endeavor towards sovereignty. And today, the MPLA, even though they've abandoned nearly all

Marxist, anti-capitalist economic policy, nonetheless, Ginga continues to be a part of the party's populist rhetoric, with a statue of her in Luanda, and a feature film produced by the son of the former president. On the other hand, Ginga has become part of a deeper dismantling of empire and patriarchy while articulating and imagining ongoing Black liberation struggles. So for example, the Afro-Cuban poet Georgina Herrera published a long and powerful poem in Ginga's honor, and it's going to be fascinating to follow how Jenga's legacy is celebrated and utilized moving forward as her story spreads. For instance, here in the US, filming has begun on a drama series on Jenga, apparently produced by Curtis Jackson, aka 50

Cent, and starring Itide Badaki as Jenga. So that'll be interesting. Yeah. Wow, that be interesting. Yeah. Wow, that's amazing. Thank you very much, Daniel. I mean, if anyone's seen 50 Cent's programming, let's not look forward to the show at all. Yeah. I mean, if it's done in the style of his current programming, we should all be very afraid of the news that he's telling the story.

So what do you know now? Well, it's time now for the quiz. This is the So What Do You Know Now? Oh, my God. I've forgotten everything. You can do it, Athena. I believe in you. Athena is currently holding hands up to her face in absolute dread.

I mean, actually, I think your average score on this series is 9.5 out of 10. You are very high scoring. So you've set yourself a benchmark that is potentially difficult to match. But at the same time, I'm expecting good things here. Do you remember in the World Cup when Germany beat Brazil 6-0? Do you remember that? No, I don't.

I've blacked that out. Oh, dear. I'm sorry. Just aigger warning. Brazilian American in the corner, traumatized. It was 7-1, but who's counting? 7-1, right. But anyway, that's the point I'm making. The people who are supposed to be the best at something

occasionally get walloped. Occasionally, but Brazil have bounced back since. So, you know, let's assume bouncing back is possible. Question one. Njinga was born in a breech position in 1582. Do you know what her name meant or translated to? Tangled up. Yeah, exactly.

Twisted. That's it. Twist, yeah. Well done. Question two. Name one of Njinga's sisters. I knew there'd be a name one. And I was like, literally every time you said a name,

I'd go, say it twice, Athena, in your brain, so you remember it. And I genuinely, it's so hot here. Can we please for the record state that it's hot? Was it Nbolo, the one who was kidnapped? No, it would be Kambu who was kidnapped. Kambu was kidnapped, yeah. Sorry.

I'm sorry, I forgot her name. Question three. What was Njinga's favourite weapon of choice and also the royal symbol? Oh, the battle axe. It was battle axe. Question four. As part of early diplomacy,

Njinga engaged in what Catholic religious ceremony? Baptism. It was baptism. Question five. After the death of her brother, King N'Golo Mbande, Njinga respectfully removed what from his body to aid with ancestor worship? Bones. It was some of his bones that he kept in a chest.

Question six. Name three luxurious things Njinga did or wore to signify elite status at court. Was it like bracelets? Yeah, bangles. I believe they were like bracelets, bangles. And she had a crown, didn't she? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, well done. Question seven. After chased down by portuguese soldiers on a cliff how did njinga evade capture it wasn't a helicopter she crawled through a crevice and hid

for three days and then she jumped into the cliff and was saved by vines yeah absolutely brilliantly done question eight after undertaking an in bengala degendering ritual, Njinga acquired what warrior name? It was so long. That's so cruel. It's Master of Arms and Great Warrior. Oh, okay. Question nine. Which European nation did Njinga briefly form a successful alliance with

before they panicked and ran away? The awful Dutch. I mean, goodness me. I'll never go there again. I will know why. Question 10. This is for 8 out of 10, which is a very solid score. At what age did Njinga

die? It was 81. It was 81. 8 out of 10. Very strong score. Honestly, you did really well. Thank you so much to both of you. And listener, if you're anxious for more Athena, then you can tune into our episode on Mansa Musa, one of the richest people of all time. Or you can listen to the Haitian Revolution episode as well. If you want to learn more about another formidable female from history, then listen to our episode on Chung-I-Sau, the Chinese pirate queen. She

was quite the legend in her time. You'll find them all on BBC Sounds. And remember, if you've enjoyed the show, please leave a review, share the show with friends, subscribe on BBC Sounds so you never miss an episode. And I'd like to say a huge thank you really to my guests in History Corner. We had the superior Dr. Daniel F. Silver from Middlebury College in the USA. Thank you, Daniel. Oh, thank you for having me. This was a lot of fun, even though the topics were sometimes bleak. Yes, no, that's a topics were sometimes bleak. Yes. No, that's a regular problem with our show,

but thank you for the same for keeping it light when we could. And in Comedy Corner, we had the awesome Athena Kablenu. Thank you, Athena. Thank you for having me.

I love doing this. I like learning stuff, so I sake it all up. I really do genuinely love doing this podcast. We love having you back on. And to you, lovely listener, join me next time

as we conquer another historical subject. But for now, I'm off to go and practice my gully leaping. Bye! The episode was written by The episode was produced by The assistant producer was The project manager was And the audio producer was Hello, fans of You're Dead to Me. I'm Lucy Worsley, and I'd like to tell you about my Radio 4 series, Lady Killers.

When a woman commits murder, it's always a sensation. Murders committed by women in the Victorian era were no different, and I'm joined by a crack team of female detectives to take a look at these historical crimes from a modern feminist perspective. You can listen to the whole series by searching for Lady Killers on BBC Sounds.