Ana Nzinga:
Ana Nzinga, leader of Ndongo and Matamba, stood between the Portuguese and their ambitions for around 40 years. She was able to defend her people from the Portuguese colonists since she inherited her rule in 1624. The Portuguese threatened Ndongo in the late 16th and 17th centuries with their desire, establishing a colony. She managed to convince the Portuguese to limit the trade of enslaved people and allied with them. The period of peace ended as the Portuguese once again attacked Ndongo. She flees with her people to the west, where she founded the state of Matamba. There she offered a sanctuary to runaway slaves and formed them with a new military organization called Kilombo; the youths denied their family ties and were raised communally in militias. From Matamba, she was able to fight against the Portuguese in a war for almost three decades. Ana Nzinga allied with the Dutch, who were rivals of the Portuguese by 1641. She eventually died in 1663 in her eighties.
Ana Nzinga’s rule was one of the most-successful resistance to the colonial power, all through her military tactics, religion, politics, diplomacy, and manipulation. Her resistance was the beginning of what eventually resulted at the end of enslaved people trading in Angola in 1836. Ana Nzinga did not accept any rules that were not her own. Therefore, she never accommodated the Portuguese authorities. Being a woman was an obstacle, but did not restrain her from seeking the best for her people. Nzinga was embraced as a symbol of the “People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola” and still admired in Africa for her resistance against colonizers.
Queen Nanny:
Nanny or Granny Nanny was a Maroon leader and Obeah woman in Jamaica in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The Maroons were the slaves in the Americas that escaped and formed independent settlements. She was an escaped slave that was shipped from Western Africa. Her four brothers and she were sold into slavery and then escaped from the plantations to the mountains and jungles in Jamaica. Nanny and Quao founded a village in the Blue Mountains to the side of Jamaica, which was later known as Nanny Town. In this town, she limited the attacks on plantations and the European settlements preferred to trade peacefully with them. She did make numerous successful raids for freeing the slaves and held on plantations that were widely accepted to her efforts, contributing to the escape of almost 1,000 slaves over her life. As Nanny lived, her own thrived and expanded. The British administration was embarrassed and threatened by the Maroons. The plantation owners lost slaves and their equipment was being burnt by the Maroon raiders, who demanded the colonial authorities to act.
Nanny’s accomplishments are recognized by the Government of Jamaica, who was honored her as a national hero and awarded with the title of “Right Excellent”. There are seven National Heroes and Nanny is the only woman. Her face also appears on the Jamaican $500 bill, which is the largest banknote in circulation in Jamaica.
https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/queen-nanny-maroons-1733/
