Mukambu of Matamba

Mukambu Mbandi (also called Kambu, Barbara) (died 1666) was the queen regnant of the Kingdom of Ndongo and Matamba from 1663 to 1666.^[1]^[2]

She was the younger sister of the famous queen Nzinga, who united the kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba. During Nzinga's wars against the Portuguese, Mukambu was captured on two separate occasions. First, in 1629, while Nzigna attempted to escape from enemy forces, Mukambu and her sister Funji were captured when the Portuguese caught up to and destroyed their camp. They were brought to Luanda and paraded naked before the governor there.^[3] Mukambu was released by the Portuguese several years later, but she and her attendants were recaptured in 1646 when Nzinga's forces were defeated in the Battle of Kavanga. She was sexually abused by a Mbundu soldier in the Portuguese forces before she was placed under a Portuguese guard.^[4]

After years of negotiations between Nzinga and the Portuguese, Mukambu was finally released in 1656. In exchange, Nzinga agreed to convert her realm to Catholicism, and she provided the Portuguese with a ransom of 130 slaves, plus additional slaves given as gifts to Portuguese officials in the course of the negotiations.^[2]

Her sister then appointed Mukambu as her designated heir and successor. Nzinga attempted to arrange for her to marry her general and kinsman João Guterres Ngola Kanini, but he already had a Christian wife, so Mukambu instead married the Imbangala general Njinga a Mona.^[2] After the death of Nzinga at the end of 1663, Mukambu succeeded her on the throne. Following Mukambu's own death in 1666, a period of instability and civil warfare followed in Matamba, as a faction under Njinga a Mona contended against the supporters of João Guterres and his children.^[5]

References

^ Cordeiro-Rodrigues, Luis (2024-02-08). Angolan Political Thought: Resistance and African Philosophy. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-350-24541-9.
^ ^a ^b ^c Heywood, Linda Marinda (2019). Njinga of Angola: Africa's warrior queen (First paperback ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674237445.
^ Heywood, Linda Marinda (2019). Njinga of Angola: Africa's warrior queen (First paperback ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England: Harvard University Press. pp. 108–110. ISBN 9780674237445.
^ Heywood, Linda Marinda (2019). Njinga of Angola: Africa's warrior queen (First paperback ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England: Harvard University Press. pp. 146–149. ISBN 9780674237445.
^ Thornton, John K. (2020). A History of West Central Africa to 1850. Cambridge University Press. p. 186. ISBN 9781316411568.

Anthony Appiah, Henry Louis Gates, Encyclopedia of Africa, Volym 1
From Eve to Dawn: A History of Women in the World Volume II
Fernando Campos: Conflitos na dinastia Guterres através da sua cronologia1, África: Revista do Centro de Estudos Africanos. USP, S. Paulo, 27-28: 23-43, 2006/2007

Regnal titles

Preceded by

Ana I

Queen of Ndongo and Matamba
1663–1666

Succeeded by

Njinga a Mona

[1] Cordeiro-Rodrigues, Luis (2024-02-08). Angolan Political Thought: Resistance and African Philosophy. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-350-24541-9.

[Heywood_2019-2] Heywood, Linda Marinda (2019). Njinga of Angola: Africa's warrior queen (First paperback ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674237445.

[Heywood_108-3] Heywood, Linda Marinda (2019). Njinga of Angola: Africa's warrior queen (First paperback ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England: Harvard University Press. pp. 108–110. ISBN 9780674237445.

[Heywood_146-4] Heywood, Linda Marinda (2019). Njinga of Angola: Africa's warrior queen (First paperback ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England: Harvard University Press. pp. 146–149. ISBN 9780674237445.

[5] Thornton, John K. (2020). A History of West Central Africa to 1850. Cambridge University Press. p. 186. ISBN 9781316411568.

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