Njinga of Angola Book Review

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

In the history of Africa, not much has been written about female leaders. This is what makes Njinga of Angola by Linda Heywood such an intriguing book. The book, published in 2017, tells the story of the life of Njinga, a female warrior queen who ruled an area today contained inside Angola. The book was written by Linda Heywood, who is currently a professor of African-American Studies and History at Boston University. In writing this book, Heywood had a point to make, one I believe she tells us right at the beginning of the introduction: “Despite her outstanding accomplishments and her decades-long reign, comparable to that of Elizabeth I of England, she was vilified by European contemporaries and later writers as an uncivilized savage who embodied the worst of womankind” (Heywood 1). This presents two things she is trying to do, one of which is to tell the story of Njinga so that we can learn about her in an unbiased manner. The other, as noted by her careful choice of language (i.e. womankind), is that she specifically wants to un-vilify a woman. Based on my understanding, she wants to not only turn around the perception that Njinga was a savage person, but she wants to make sure we know she is not a savage woman. This is an important distinction, as it makes many of the choices she makes in the book more clear. In my opinion, she does successfully do both of the things she set out to do: she tells us the history of Njinga with sources that appear neutral and she successfully un-vilifies Njinga through the telling of her history. This, however, is where I have a problem. While I feel the book does an excellent job of telling her history, Heywood seemingly leaves certain things out and has other moments where she will go very in-depth on some aspects of Njinga’s life but then chooses to stay zoomed out on others. In short, this is an excellent book, one I would recommend to most people who asked, but it also has flaws that are important to keep in mind as you read. 

First, before jumping into the evidence, I feel a summary of the book would be helpful for any potential readers. The book begins with an introduction, which sets the stage for the rest of the novel. It challenges the European portrayal of Njinga as a savage, instead revealing her as a savvy political and military leader who maintained the independence of her kingdoms against Portuguese colonization in the 17th century. The introduction underscores Njinga's adept use of religion, diplomacy, and an understanding of politics, comparing her reign and political acumen to that of Elizabeth I of England. It also highlights the significance of Njinga's story in the broader context of resistance to colonialism, the transatlantic slave trade, and gender power dynamics, asserting that her life transcends African history and offers insights into global themes of leadership and resistance.

Next, we get into the book's main chapters. It begins with a detailed account of the Ndongo Kingdom's struggle against Portuguese colonial aggression in the late 16th century. It centers on King Kasenda's resistance, highlighting the brutal warfare tactics, including cutting off the noses of the slain Ndongo soldiers by the Portuguese as trophies. Mainly, the first chapter outlines how the Portuguese campaigns served dual purposes of conquest and slave-raiding, with thousands of noncombatant Mbundus enslaved and sent to work on plantations or sold across the Atlantic. Despite some military successes, Kasenda faced internal challenges from provincial lords, which, coupled with the external threat, led to the eventual weakening of Ndongo. It also details how the Portuguese tried to undermine his political authority. 

The next chapter deals with the political turmoil and strategic maneuvering in the wake of King Ngola Mbande's reign. It narrates the Portuguese's relentless push to dominate the Ndongo Kingdom, capturing members of the royal family, including Njinga's mother and sisters. Ngola Mbande, while retreating to Kindonga Islands, sets a guerrilla resistance in motion, negotiating with the Portuguese for his family's release. The chapter reveals Luis Mendes de Vasconcelos's success in subjugating Ndongo sobas and imposing tributes, further detailing his attempt to usurp Ngola Mbande with a puppet leader, Samba Atumba. Amidst these events, Njinga emerges as a pivotal figure, negotiating with the Portuguese on her brother's behalf. This chapter sets the stage for her rise to power. 

The next chapter details Njinga’s strategic defiance and diplomatic negotiations as she consolidates her power in the face of Portuguese challenges. Facing overt sexism that disqualified her as a female ruler, Njinga adeptly dismisses these claims and proves her leadership capability. She learns of a Portuguese plan to wage a “just war” against her, and, in response, sharpens her leadership, surrounds herself with loyal officials, and orchestrates a widespread uprising from her base on the Kindonga Islands. In this chapter, she fully established herself as a very intelligent ruler. 

The next chapter details Njinga’s resurgence.  With Ngola Hari's acceptance of Christianity and his submission to Portuguese demands, Njinga finds an opportunity to rebuild her support base. She reaches out to her old allies and starts to reassemble her political and military power. The chapter captures Njinga's ability to navigate the complex socio-political environment of Ndongo, outmaneuvering both her brother Ngola Hari and Portuguese colonial forces.

The next chapter focuses on more of Njinga’s political movements as the book moves into the 1630s.  It details her transformation into an Imbangala leader, rejecting her imposed status as an exile, and adopting Imbangala leadership styles and rituals, which included the controversial cuia blood oath ceremony. Njinga's adaptation of these cultural practices solidified her power and helped her lead a successful conquest of the Kingdom of Matamba. This chapter portrays Njinga's rise in military might, her strategic expansion of territory, her complex diplomatic relations, and the consolidation of her power through the adoption and transformation of cultural and religious practices. 

Chapter 6 details more of Njinga's tactics as a leader. She navigates complex alliances with the Dutch and Kongo, and despite a betrayal by the Dutch who sign a peace treaty with the Portuguese, Njinga remains a significant political and military force. The chapter details her military tactics, including guerrilla warfare, and her diplomatic endeavors to maintain her power and influence. 

Finally, we come to chapter 7 and the epilogue. Chapter 7 details the final few years of her life, specifically her focus on Christianity. Having secured peace with the Portuguese after years of conflict and complex diplomacy, she sought to reaffirm the noble ideals she was raised with and worked towards establishing an independent Christian kingdom to be succeeded by her sister Barbara. The epilogue details the evolution of Njinga's legacy posthumously, showing how it diverged in European accounts versus those of Africa and the Americas. In Europe, she was vilified, while in Africa and the African diaspora she was seen as a strong leader who successfully stood against colonialism by the Europeans.

Next, let's examine some of the strengths and weaknesses of Heywood’s novel. Some of these are both strengths and weaknesses, so they will be examined simultaneously. One thing I found very well done was the usage of sources and evidence. Despite blatant biases from many of the European sources at the time, Heywood managed to sort through them and offer the reader a very detailed account of Njinga’s life. However, as good a job as she did, she was only able to work with what was available. Many of the sources, as indicated by this quote, “By that time, Portuguese and Brazilian essayists and pamphleteers were competing to present their versions of Njinga. The Portuguese writers had several aims. In particular, they wanted to correct what they denounced as “the absurd legend of the missionary Cavazzi” (Heywood 251), which may have been written with blatant biases in mind. While I do praise her effort to sort through some of those biases, I have to wonder whether some of the sources that were positive towards Njinga, such as those from Father Cavazzi (which were essentially just Njinga retelling her life to him), were used without as much scrutiny as some of the others. While I trust Heywood was fairly unbiased, it is important to note that this book is as much a biography as it is a story told to fix the image of Njinga, which leaves me with questions about this.

The next point I want to look at is the interpretations and concepts. Again, I want to reiterate that I do feel Heywood did a good job, in general, of interpreting those sources as closely as possible to be unbiased. However, as I stated earlier, I believe there may be a few places where the focus on reclaiming her image takes precedence over being faithful. I don’t claim to speak Portuguese, so I can’t know for sure, but I have to imagine there are at least a few areas where certain words in Portuguese that can be translated into multiple words in English may be translated one way or another to benefit Njinga. One place this is apparent is when talking about some of the nastier things Njinga did, as seen here: “Stung by the refusal, she organized and participated in tambos that included the human sacrifice that she had condemned and declared illegal” (Heywood 232). From this quote, it is hard to gather exactly what Heywood is saying. To me, it seems like she is deliberately trying to avoid directly saying that Njinga participated in and perhaps directly ordered human sacrifice of some time. Again this source is most likely in a language I don’t understand, but to me, it appears to have been organized in a way to make Njinga look not as bad instead of being objective and acknowledging her faults. 

  The final aspect of the novel I wanted to discuss was the clarity of some of the sources and the structure of the novel itself. I found the structure of the novel to be a very strong aspect of it. The novel is well-organized and follows the path of Njinga’s life in a way that makes it easy for any interested parties to follow. However, despite the structure overall being quite good, I found the clarity, specifically that of the sources, to be a bit confusing. For example, take this quote: In a dramatic move, she made them promise that they would not conduct tambos after her death. Many people resented these proclamations, hiding their ritual objects and continuing to perform the traditional rites in secret at the graves of their ancestors” (Heywood 218). While we can figure out where this quote came from by looking at the footnotes, I think it would be useful to provide the reader with some context, as not everyone is interested in looking at or for the footnotes, especially not casual readers. Also, I take issue with some of the parts of this quote; Who is ‘many people?’ We have no context into who these people are or how many of them were asked if any at all. What social status were they? These questions pertain only to this quote, but they reinforce a problem I had when reading, which is that as the reader I have to take something as fact without any way of knowing where it came from or if there is evidence to support the statement being made. To be fair, not all of this is Heywood’s fault. As I said earlier, she could only use what was available to her. However, I do wish there was some more added context for a few of the sources.

Despite all of that, however, I maintain that this is an excellent biographical work. Most of the problems I pointed out should not stop a casual reader from enjoying some very good coverage of a female leader in a part of the world that is not well known for having much written down about women in general. This book has flaws; it’s biased in some places; it probably has some not one-hundred percent accurate translations to prove a point and some of the quotes are quite vague. Despite all of that, this book would be extremely valuable for anyone interested in the history of powerful women, the rejection of colonialism in Africa, or even those who are interested in learning about an unmistakably brilliant leader. Njinga’s story should appeal to anyone interested in reading about a leader who, despite her back being up against the wall, managed to outmaneuver powerful foreigners to reestablish her kingdom. If you want to read a simple biography of a leader’s life, this book is unfortunately not for you. If, however, you are keen to see how the image of a so-called cannibal is turned into that of a brilliant military and political leader, I would wholeheartedly recommend this text to you.

-Coby Friedman

Wake Forest University