Queen Njinga Through Linda Heywood

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

Njinga of Angola by Linda Heywood is a book that narrates the fascinating life of Queen Njinga, a female ruler, who was in power from 1624 to 1663. She ruled the kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba (1631-1663) located in present-day northern Angola. In this book, we learn about Njinga’s lineage, accomplishments, way of ruling, multiple skills, and the many efforts to become a powerful ruler. Heywood writes this book in chronological order providing as much detail as possible making it an accessible book. This book is composed of an introduction, seven chapters, an epilogue, a glossary, a names section, chronology, and notes. Moreover, in this book, the author aims to tell the story and present Queen Njinga as a resilient and strategic ruler, who used her military, diplomatic, and manipulative skills to ensure her power, stability, and the survival of her kingdom. In this account, Njinga is portrayed as a powerful ruler who adapted herself and her kingdom to new circumstances and whose main goals were to strategically retain power and to leave a stable, independent, and well-established kingdom after her death.

First and foremost, I do want to acknowledge that Heywood writes an excellent book that can be understood and appreciated by whoever reads it. On the other hand, I argue that there are strengths and weaknesses in this book. A key strength that I find in this book is that it is not divided into themes, in other words, this book carries out multiple themes throughout the chapters, and I will use religion as one of the themes to prove my claim. On the other hand, one of this book’s weaknesses has to do with Heywood's protection of Njinga. The author does not emphasize or elaborate enough on multiple events and actions where Njinga appears as violent, heartless, and ruthless, instead, these actions are acknowledged but rapidly forgotten.

The introduction and chapter one serve as a roadmap that sets the stage for Njinga. In the introduction, we are presented with Heywood’s claims, and an overall view on religion, trading, geography, social classes, and women. Additionally, in chapter one, we do not see Njinga yet. Instead, Heywood chooses to introduce Ndongo, its geography, the arrival of the Portuguese, and how they brought the Christian religion and sought to spread it.

In chapter two, Heywood still takes the time to introduce other rulers before Njinga like Mbande a Ngola (1592-1617) and Ngola Mbande (1617-1624). In this chapter, we are introduced to the slave trade, the beginnings of diplomacy efforts with the Portuguese, and we see how Njinga is starting to spread her wings. She is sent by her brother to negotiate with the Portuguese, she is also baptized into Christianity, and lastly, her brother dies of poison. Heywood dedicates chapter three to Njinga. In this chapter, we learned about Njinga’s youth and how she has “created a political and military climate [...] threaten[ing] [...] Portuguese economic and political strength” (Heywood, 69) while being strategic about her use of religion and military tactics.

Chapter four is dedicated to Njinga’s time in exile, and what was happening in Ndongo during her absence. The Portuguese chose Ngola Hari to replace Njinga but was never accepted as a legitimate ruler. While away, Njinga started to mobilize popular support, and even though she was physically absent Njinga’s “fearlessness, military skill, and knowledge of her environment were on full display” (Heywood, 107). In chapter five, Njinga is back into Ndongo’s political life and also becomes an Imbangala leader in the 1630s by adopting Imbangala’s rituals, traditions, and lifestyle while still incorporating Christianity. Heywood focuses on Njinga’s warfare and diplomacy efforts by including Njinga’s brief alliance with the Dutch to defeat the Portuguese and the Dutch’s betrayal due to shared distrust and differences in goals.

In chapter six, Njinga signed a peace treaty with the Portuguese. Furthermore, Heywood elaborates on Njinga’s management of internal conflicts, her efforts to maintain a military strategy alive, and her attempts to get attention from the Pope. In this chapter, there is a shift of interest where Njinga strategically tries to come off as more Christian and reconcile with the Catholic Church. Last but not least, chapter seven is all about her last seven years of life where Njinga becomes a Christian ruler, reshapes traditions, customs, and ways of living to fit Christian beliefs, and she and her kingdom gain recognition from the Pope. In this chapter, Njinga dies and her funeral speaks to the new mix of religious traditions; she does leave a stable and recognized kingdom after her passing accomplishing her initial goals. In the epilogue, Heywood brings into conversation the different views on Njinga across cultures and countries, and how her legacy as an anticolonial powerful female ruler is still alive and looked back on.

In this book review, I argue that one key strength is Heywood’s structure of the book where she takes a theme and includes it in every chapter. By not dividing the book into themes, for example, chapter one dedicated to religion, and chapter two dedicated to warfare, Heywood can write chapters that encompass every aspect of Njinga’s life. Furthermore, it allows for a better understanding of the interdependence and relationship across different themes like religion, warfare, diplomacy, etc. For this strength, I want to focus on the theme of “religion” where in every chapter Heywood elaborates on the role that religion played at the time, its connection to Njinga, and how it is transformed.

In chapter two, Njinga “offered to study the catechism and other elements of Christianity and to become baptized. At forty years old, Njinga participated in a lavish public baptism” (Heywood, 52). Religion played a key role both politically and diplomatically because getting baptized was a strategic move; she knew the Portuguese would trust her and would talk peace knowing they converted her to Christianity. Heywood stated that “religion and military might continued to be inextricably linked” (Heywood, 79). Njinga understood that for the Portuguese religion was huge which is why she never saw religion and politics as unrelated topics. In chapter six, “Njinga agreed to reconcile with the Holy Catholic Church, to immediately ask for priests and fathers, to build a church for Father Gaeta, and to allow him to baptize all children born after signing the treaty” (Heywood, 190). In this chapter, religion once again would form a bond and create common ground between Njinga and the Portuguese paving the way to a peace agreement and mutual understanding. Furthermore, religion in this chapter shaped society because people had to leave their traditions whether Imbangala or Ndongo, get baptized, and were encouraged to follow the Christian traditions. In chapter seven, after many attempts to get the Pope’s attention to establish legitimacy for herself and her kingdom, she heard back from the Pope extending his acceptance which shaped the kingdom’s politics and importance among other countries. The Pope’s acknowledgment served as protection and opportunity for complete independence from the Portuguese.

These are only a few examples of how religion was a constant theme throughout the book. We see a pattern where religion has a huge impact individually, politically, socially, and diplomatically. Each example speaks to how religion shaped a variety of events and led to the realization of others. This is why Heywood’s structure of her book in terms of themes is a strength because having the theme “religion” separately would confuse the readers, take away its importance in each event, and can be forgotten.

In this review, my goal is not to question Heywood’s knowledge but instead to question how well she elaborates and informs the readers. I argue that one of Heywood’s weaknesses has to do with her omitting or not elaborating enough on the terrible things that Njinga did. In a way, Heywood’s short elaboration on these bad things seems like an attempt to sugarcoat events. Heywood does not permit the reader to see the other side of Njinga, the one who kills family members, kills those who disobey her, and sacrifices babies and adults. The author does mention these terrible events, but she does not take the time to elaborate on them, instead, she decides to rapidly change topics. I argue that by not dedicating the necessary time to the bad things Njinga did, Heywood does not present us with a full picture of Njinga. As the audience, we only see the attributes that made Njinga a powerful, skilled, diplomatic ruler–not an imperfect ruler.

In chapter three, Heywood states that Njinga “seized the little boy [her nephew], and murdered him, and “threw his body in the Kwanza River and declared that she had revenged her son” In addition, Njinga “killed many of her other relatives” (Heywood 65) This is all Heywood provides us with and then rapidly writes about Njinga efforts to reoccupy the capital. At the end of this same chapter, Heywood mentions how Njinga “honored her brother by sacrificing fourteen young women on his grave” (Heywood, 84). Once again, after a terrible act, this is all the information we get. There are no reactions, no comments, nothing else to help us understand better. Furthermore, in chapter five, we encounter another scene where “she took an infant from one of her female concubines, crushed him in the mortar, made oil from the tissue, and pasted it on her body” (Heywood, 124). There are many more examples of how brutal some of Njinga’s actions were. For instance, it was believed that she killed her brother by poisoning him so that she could become the ruler. She also approved of human sacrifices for a while before she converted to Christianity.

The examples provided are only a few of the many that speak to how these terrible acts are easily disregarded and undermined from the overall history. Heywood acknowledges in the introduction that “Europeans at the time portrayed her as a bloodthirsty cannibal who taught nothing of murdering babies and slaughtering her enemies (Heywood, 1). Furthermore, most of Heywood’s sources are Portuguese sources, which means that there are more accounts out there that speak about the not-too-great side of Njinga’s life, but that Heywood intentionally left alone. It can be argued that Heywood’s omission or lack of detailed information was intentional because it did not align with nor support her claims. On the other hand, that very same undermining of events is a weakness in her book. I argue that for Njinga to be appreciated and understood as the powerful, resilient, skillful ruler she was, Heywood's book should include, emphasize, and expand on the bad and the ugly because that is what ultimately completes the whole story–it is the missing puzzle piece in this book.

Heywood has written a brilliant book that narrates the life of a hero, a strategic, strong, and determined female ruler–Queen Njinga. In this review, I acknowledge the wonderful work that Linda M. Heywood has produced. On the other hand, I take the time to examine a strength and a weakness in this book that I believe are useful to note and take into consideration. The strength I identified was Heywood’s consistency in carrying out themes like religion throughout the book instead of dividing the book into separate categories and themes. On the other hand, the major weakness I identified was the undermining of and lack of elaboration on the events where Njinga can be perceived as a violent and brutal ruler. By not giving it the space each event deserves, I argue that it takes away from the book and can become quite incomplete. After reading this book, I would recommend it to any woman in power or involved in politics. I think that Njinga’s story speaks to the determination, hard work, and resilience of a woman in power in a world ruled by men. Njinga can be a great example of how women can succeed even in difficult times where their authority can be questioned, and how we as women can adapt to any environment or circumstance no matter how difficult it might be, and still thrive. This is a great book for all, but especially for women who are or wish to be in a position of power.

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Jacquelinne Marroquin, Wake Forest University