Portugal's Forgotten African Queen: Nzinga of Ndongo

This episode of The History of Portugal turns away from the familiar narratives of Goa, Malacca, and Brazil to explore a figure who outmaneuvered Portuguese governors at every turn: Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba. While earlier episodes focused on the Estado da Índia and Portuguese dealings in Asia, here we shift to Angola in the early 17th century, where Nzinga used diplomacy, warfare, and even strategic conversion to Christianity to resist Portuguese slave raids and territorial expansion. Lucas and Luna discuss Nzinga's famous 1622 meeting with Governor João Correia de Sousa, where she sat on a servant's back to avoid standing; her alliance with the Dutch; her conversion to Catholicism with the name Dona Ana de Sousa; and her use of Portuguese alliances to strengthen her own kingdom. They also examine the limits of Portuguese control in southern Africa and how Nzinga's legacy looms over Angola today. Listeners will come away with a concrete sense of how Portugal's African empire was contested—and how one woman became a symbol of resistance that endures five centuries later. #Nzinga #Ndongo #Matamba #Angola #PortugueseEmpire #SlaveTrade #QueenNzinga #DonaAnaDeSousa #JoaoCorreiaDeSousa #DutchWestIndiaCompany #Luanda #AtlanticSlaveTrade #17thCentury #AfricanResistance #Ep46 #HistoryOfPortugal #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo