The public is eager to understand as much as they can about Queen Njinga’s origins and legacy given how eloquently Netflix’s “African Queens” presents her narrative
Viewers can learn a lot about the functioning of the Kingdom of Ndongo from the historical program’s investigation of the life and accomplishments of the African ruler.
Together with Njinga’s respect and affection for her father, the female king’s relationship with her own father is thoroughly examined.
The public’s attention has also been drawn to the topic of just who assumed the throne when the famous queen passed away. If you’re in the same situation, don’t be concerned—we’ve got you covered!
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Table of Contents
Queen Njinga: Father
Njinga (also known as Nzinga Ana de Sousa Mbande) was born into the royal family in the late sixteenth century; her father was most likely known by the alias Mbande a Ngola Kiluanje. Nonetheless, some sources assert that Ngola Kilombo kia Kasenda was her father.
Some sources, however, concur that the latter was in fact the prince who presided over Ndongo before Kiluanje and ruled from 1575 until 1592.
Njinga, however, is generally believed to have been around 10 years old when her father assumed the title of Ngola, the local word for the King.
Njinga benefited from the privileges that came with being a princess as a member of the royal family. Her mother, Kengela ka Nkombe, was her father’s concubine rather than a wife, therefore her claim to the throne was never taken seriously.
With relation to Njinga’s birth, it is a well-known urban legend that she was delivered with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck.
The name Njinga, derived from the Kimbundu term “kujinga,” which means “to twist or turn,” is thought to have been given to her as a result.
At the time, it was believed that any royal kid who had a difficult birth procedure was destined for greatness and had spiritual gifts.
Njinga did have her father’s favour, as Netflix show viewers may already be aware, and he permitted her to receive warrior training.
Njinga was never thought to be a genuine contender for the throne, which allowed her father to lavishly love her without worrying about being seen as partial.
Her father had two boys in addition to Njinga, who would become Mbande. His other two daughters were named Kambu and Funji.
Queen Njinga: Who Ruled After Her?
It was essential that Njinga’s successor be able to preserve the power she had attained for the people of Ndongo given the great exploits she had completed during her lifetime.
The only heir for Njinga was her sister Kambu because of the battles between the Portuguese and the Ndongo as well as internal problems within the royal family of the country. Njinga’s sister, Barbara Mukambu Mbandi, also went by that name after being baptised as a Catholic Christian.
Due to her abduction by the Portuguese amid the struggles between the European powers and the Ndongo, Kambu’s own life was anything but simple.
Yet after a shaky peace agreement, her sister was able to get her back. Njinga designated Kambu as her heir and successor prior to her death in 1663. This was not in accordance with accepted customs, which said that a king had to be chosen following a vote by the council.
It’s possible that Njinga Mona’s growing power played a role in Kambu’s unusual selection as the next queen. The renowned queen had battled beside the Imbangala warrior, who she reportedly treated like a son.
Njinga Mona was afraid that her efforts to have her kingdom recognised in the eyes of the Catholic Church may be undone by Njinga’s determination to hold on to the ways of his people.
Kambu did assume the throne of Ndongo and Matamba upon the death of Queen Njinga; the latter kingdom had been seized by Njinga in the 1630s.
Njinga Mona, on the other hand, challenged her leadership, which resulted in a civil war between the two sides and a throne exchange that lasted for almost two decades.
It’s interesting to note that some reports claim Njinga Mona was wed to Kambu. Only after Francisco I Guterres Ngola Kanini, Kambu’s son and the new king in 1680, could the war be settled. Even though Kanini only had a brief reign, his crowning put an end to the civil war and made sure that Njinga’s legacy would endure.
Queen Njinga: Who Was She?
Njinga became the new queen of the West Central African nation of Ndongo in 1624 (current-day Angola). The narrative of African Queens, a new Netflix docudrama series executive produced and narrated by Jada Pinkett Smith, is based on her life as the first female monarch (or lady king) of the area.
Njinga (Adesuwa Oni), 42, rules from a military outpost on the Kwanza River with the assistance of her sisters, Kambu (Chipo Kureya) and Funji (Marilyn Nnadebe).
She has come to the realisation that she needs the populace to oppose Portuguese settlers, who invaded the area thirty years before she was born.
Njinga incites rebellion by dispatching emissaries throughout the districts of Ndongo. Portuguese plantation slaves are able to elude capture. Portuguese slave soldiers flee the country. Portuguese slave markets are disrupted by Njinga’s roadblocks.
Queen Diambi Kabatusuila, the reigning female king of the Bakwa Luntu people, is quoted in the book African Queens as saying, “She’s establishing shelter for people—not only hers, but people of other tribes.”
(Kabatusuila and Rosa Cruz e Silva, the former head of the National Archives of Angola, are both among the African historians interviewed in the series).
Queen Njinga: Life Explained
Njinga’s life of perpetual movement over the course of four episodes that combine documentary and narrative storytelling. Power changes are visible in the first half of the season, first from her father to her brother, Mbande, and then from Mbande to Njinga.
The second part shows her leadership over Ndongo and eventually Matamba, a neighbouring province, as well as her tenacious resistance to the Portuguese.
Njinga, the woman king, had to make many difficult choices during her reign, including choosing to get baptised in order to be taken seriously by the Portuguese, persevering after her brother killed her son to get rid of threats, and later ordering the murder of her late brother’s son to establish legitimacy.
Njinga’s political and military prowess paralleled that of Elizabeth I and Catherine the Great, despite his profound flaws and complexity as a human being.
According to Pinkett Smith, these accounts of women who served as kings or queens “should be as accessible as a narrative about Queen Elizabeth, all the many different Queen Elizabeth stories that we have access to.”
“There are a great deal more astonishing tales of this kind that we are not aware of. That wasn’t covered in our education.
Although Pinkett Smith may not have known about Njinga when she was younger, she made sure her kids did. Conversations with her daughter, Willow Smith, she claims, inspired the concept for African Queens, a television series that will focus on the life of Cleopatra in its second season.
“Willow and I were discussing what qualities and characteristics make a queen,” says Pinkett Smith. The phrase “trying to raise a young Black woman” is used frequently in popular culture. “Queen,” please. Let’s take a closer look at this, it seems to say.
Queen Njinga: More Details
- Becoming queen required Njinga to walk a fine diplomatic line in the face of peril. Once she challenges him, Ferno de Sousa, the new Portuguese colonial governor, is furious about his loss of revenues and sends an embassy to face her.
- Njinga enters the meeting with slick diplomacy and a honeyed voice while being flanked by her sisters. Yet when the envoy demands that Njinga quickly return the governor’s “property,” everything changes.
- Njinga asks with a low fire, “Please tell the governor I would be pleased to restore his “property,” his slaves. “The only issue is that I don’t have any. There aren’t any slaves here. Never did I own any slaves. Search the area. Is there evidence of slaves here?
- She says, “If you see any, let me know and I’ll be happy to return them to the governor. “Go on. What about slaves here? Inform the governor that this is my kingdom and there are no slaves.
- The scenario perfectly reflects Njinga’s personality, according to Adesuwa Oni. She read a passage from the audition script and thought, “This is it.” She is exactly like this.
- According to Oni, the arc of the scene from deceit and flattery to danger and absolute strength is beautiful. You can clearly see the essence of her as a politician, a warrior, and a danger.
- To be clear, the series doesn’t shy away from the reality that the kingdom of Ndongo also held many of the people they defeated as slaves.
- It does, however, draw attention to the sharp contrast between Ndongo slavery, where individual slaves were frequently treated as members of the family, and the heinous cruelty of European chattel slavery.
Queen Njinga: Chronicles
African Queens: Njinga chronicles the life of the title character, who through time gained notoriety for fusing military power with skillful diplomacy.
Yet, Njinga’s ascent to power and her rule are inextricably linked to European colonisation and the transatlantic slave trade, two forces she fought valiantly against.
Nnenne Iwuji, a diplomat who collaborated on the show’s script with Peres Owino, noted in the press notes that “often I don’t think people have an appreciation of what the ‘trade’ meant in slave trade.” “I consider the price it exacted, the PTSD we discuss now.”
Owino stated in the press notes that “this story of Njinga is the critical juncture in history where the African American, the African, and the Black people’s story—is situated in that one space.”
“The separation is where our narrative starts. Just there, where people are being removed off the continent and spreading, is the problem.
As a person of Nigerian origin, Oni stated it came easy to balance the docudrama’s historical truth with narrative plot (her first name, Adesuwa, means “born in the middle of wealth” in native Nigerian languages).
According to Oni, historically speaking, history is essentially the same as any script. “Because all you’re looking for is the reality, a human interpretation of what’s happening. Why did they decide what they did?
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