Linda Heywood. Njinga of Angola: Africa’s Warrior Queen (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2017). 310pp.

Dr. Linda M. Heywood is an African-American Studies researcher, historian, and professor who wrote the book Njinga of Angola: Africa’s Warrior Queen. Her aim in writing this is to argue that Njinga stood up to the trials brought upon her in a predominantly male European world and became a good example of a strong female African leader. To do this, Heywood makes use of primarily Portuguese documentation of Njinga. She also takes notes from biographers Giovanni Cavazzi da Montecuccolo and Gaeta. The book follows African queen Njinga throughout her life to her rise to power, as she starts in Ndongo and later Angola. To achieve her narrative goals, Heywood uses a multitude of techniques ranging from providing a summary of the events that a chapter will cover at the beginning, as well as making use of different images and terminology. Heywood, in proving her point of view, makes great use of getting into very minute details, especially with the sources she used to obtain her knowledge. Heywood also makes good use of narrative storytelling that not only stays engaging but also makes it so that one can easily connect all the dots even when Njinga is not the center of attention. However, Heywood, in her attempt to portray Njinga in a particular light, actively skims over key details that might contradict her argument, as well as fails to make an active effort to disprove or combat those events. Overall, Heywood has a strong use of sources that allow her to create a cohesive and easy-to-follow narrative with details that help prove her argument on Njinga but fail to bring to light and actively disprove any opposition.

A Brief Summary

Heywood’s book is composed of seven chapters, an introduction, and an epilogue. Within the introduction, Heywood brings to attention the multiple views of Njinga. She notes that the European perspective of Njinga was that of savagery and brutality and notes that beyond that viewpoint Njinga’s story applies to all histories, not just African. Heywood also provides the political and environmental backgrounds of Ndongo. Finally, she takes a deep dive into the female role in the politics of Ndongo.

The first chapter consists of Njinga’s childhood within Ndongo under the rule of Ngola Kilombo kia Kasenda. It was during this period that the Portuguese had already made heavy advancements within Ndongo. It is in this chapter that the Portuguese made military and religious advancements in Ndongo despite the wars fought against them by Kasenda.

The second chapter continues after the death of Kasenda and continues with his two successors, Mbande a Ngola and then Ngola Mbande, both of whom are related to Njinga. This chapter is heavily filled with military conflicts that keep leaning in favor of the Portuguese. Heywood also notes that the slave trade was also playing a role in the hindrance of Ndongo, as its people would be split up into free and unfree. Christianity was also starting to increase its influence throughout the territory. Due to the failing state of Ndongo, Mbande would become reliant on Njinga, starting her rise to power.

The third chapter begins Njinga’s true rise to power. It is here where her history and proficiency in battle are recognized, as she is said to have surpassed her siblings. This would result in her leading revolts against the Portuguese. It is also mentioned that she led to her brother’s, Mbande’s, depression towards the end of his rule. Upon becoming leader, she rid her court of anyone who disagreed with her. It was also during this period that she also made efforts to push back Christianity. Despite those efforts, however, Njinga did get baptized.

The fourth chapter concentrates on Njinga after she fled from the Kingdonga Islands. It is at this point in her life, about mid-forties, that Njinga has a bounty on her head. Njinga, despite being absent, was in power during this period. However, the Portugues would try to have a new king rule Ndongo. It was during this period that many of the issues occurring were connected to Njinga despite her absence, like Ngola Hari’s, the new king, failure to repopulate Ndongo by Portuguese request. It was during this period that Njinga lost many of her followers and offered to work with the Portuguese king to regain power. That effort would fail, and she would return to the islands where she maintained power. However, to organize trade, the Portuguese would chase her.

The fifth chapter focuses on Njinga’s rise to diplomacy through her war efforts. Here the Portuguese had captured her sisters. Njinga had allied with the Dutch. It was also during this period that Njinga established her rule in Imbangala by adopting their political traditions and rituals. To secure a leadership role in Imbangala, Njinga had to take part in human sacrifice. It was also in Imbangala where Njinga took part in a ritual that would change or remove her gender. After establishing her power in Imbangala, Njinga made efforts to secure alliances with Coutinho in addition to the Dutch. After months of fighting, the Dutch betrayed Njinga.

The sixth chapter focuses on the diplomatic movements Njinga made during her sixties. Njinga had multiple goals that included saving her sister and returning to power in Ndongo. To do this, she took power in Matamba and the lands close by which held many slaves. Allied with the Capuchins to gain missionaries and imported Catholic beliefs. This resulted in mandatory negotiations with the Portuguese and acknowledgment as a Christian state from European nations.

The seventh chapter and epilogue focus on the successes that came from successful negotiations with the Portuguese. Njinga put much of her time into integrating Christianity into her kingdom. One of the many ways she did this was by building multiple churches that helped her gain recognition from the Pope. Upon her death, she enforced new laws that would allow the transition of power to be more peaceful and diplomatic.

Heywood’s Strengths

Throughout the retelling of Njinga’s life, Heywood does a multitude of things correctly. One of the many things she did correctly was highlighting Njinga’s miniature victories and course of action. It’s stated in the third chapter that Njinga took part in roles in teachings that were reserved for males and even was “outshining her brother Ngola Mbande… with a battle ax, the royal symbol of the Ndongo people” (Heywood, 58). From the beginning, it is established that Njinga is a prodigy both in school and on the battlefield. Even when out on the run and away from active politics and combat, Heywood makes it a point that Njinga had the skills and the resources to maneuver effectively with whatever information was given to her. Heywood states that Njinga had “many officials who traveled between the Kingdonga Islands and Luanda, [who helped Njinga keep] direct contacts with both Portuguese officials and the Mbundu people” (Heywood, 67). Furthermore, when officially in a secure position of power, she knew she had to ensure its security for generations to come, so she went through efforts to form alliances with European nations by integrating Christianity into her culture and politics to ensure that she would be viewed as an ally, which would only be reinforced by the acknowledgment of the Pope on the outside and the integration of marriage laws on the inside. Overall, Heywood’s strengths lie in her ability to find and elaborate on minute details and tie them back to major victories in ways that emphasize Njinga as a strong and capable female leader.

Heywood’s Weaknesses

In writing the story of Njinga, Heywood’s goal was to portray the warrior queen as a good, strong, and smart female African leader. By highlighting Njinga’s tactics in warfare and her decision-making in diplomacy, Njinga proves that Njinga was a good leader and incorporates segments that might question her legitimacy as a female leader as well. This weakness in Heywood’s writing dwindles her argument because she has a habit of passing up details that would otherwise make the audience question how Njinga could be portrayed in a positive light.

At the start of the text, Heywood states that the Portuguese, and general European, view of Njinga was “a bloodthirsty cannibal who thought nothing of murdering babies and slaughtering her enemies” (Heywood, 1). Despite her efforts to disprove this notion, Heywood ultimately falls short due to her tendency to gloss over and not disprove or justify any of Njinga’s more questionable scenes.

Towards the end of the second chapter, it was stated that there was a chance that Njinga killed her brother by feeding him poison. It is after this is mentioned that Heywood makes no effort to disprove this theory, and instead goes on to explain how Njinga had to fill the power void. Furthermore, when it came time to elect a leader, the Portuguese were also making efforts to capture Njinga. To get the Portuguese of her trial, Heywood states that Njinga was traveling with a band of sickly slaves and that to get the Portuguese to leave her alone she “abandoned many of the slaves who had escaped with her” (Heywood, 87). To a 21st-century audience, for whom this book was intended, this would not be the greatest example of proper leadership. Heywood, with the opportunity to defend Njinga’s actions, immediately states that “this was a brilliant tactical maneuver” (Heywood, 87). Heywood then goes on to explain that it bought Njinga more time, which does appropriately display her competence as a smart leader, and lessens her credibility on moral grounds.

Furthermore, when describing the rise to power in the Mbundu empire, Heywood states that the rise to and transition of power was often violent. It was this violence that Njinga grew up with that would help her rise to power within Imbangala. Heywood states that within Mbundu, human sacrifices and rituals were done with deceased ancestors. Immediately after this comment, Heywood states that

“when Njinga sacrificed the young woman to invoke her deceased brother’s goodwill, she was participating in a tradition her own Mbundu ancestors had practiced. When Njinga murdered her nephew to secure the crown of Ndongom, she had as her model the legendary Mbundu queen Zundu, who had carried out the same deed” (Heywood, 120).

In introducing this fact, Heywood states that “adopting Imbangala ideals about leadership might have been easier than for [Njinga] than becoming a Christian” (Heywood, 119). The Portuguese sources that Heywood uses would paint anything Christian in a positive light. Despite, Heywood, being aware of this, still comments that Christianity may have been harder for Njinga to come to terms with than killing her nephew, which would go against Christian values and negate her argument that Njinga was a good leader on good morals.

Conclusion and Recommendation

Overall, this text offers light on a part of African history that is not often discussed, and this is especially true when the fact that it focuses heavily on a female African leader. Heywood does a stellar job at going through the events of Njinga’s life and tying them to overall themes constantly discussed in history like war, politics, and culture. Heywood writes this book for 21^st-century history students. With that in mind, I would highly recommend this book for students looking for an introductory text into African history. However, due to Heywood’s fatal flaw of never properly disproving contradictory statements or actions done by Njinga, I cannot recommend this book to anyone wanting to write any academic writings on purely good African leaders.

Michael Reese

Wake Forest University