One of the great women rulers of Africa, Queen Anna Nzinga (circa 1581--1663) of Angola fought against the slave trade and European influence in the seventeenth century. Known for being an astute diplomat and visionary military leader, she resisted Portuguese invasion and slave raids for 30 years. A skilled negotiator, she allied herself with the Dutch and pitted them against the Portuguese in an effort to wrest free of Portuguese domination. She fought for a free Angola until her death at age 82, after which weak rulers left the country open for the Portuguese to regain control.

Negotiated with Portuguese Slave Traders

In the late sixteenth century and early seventeenth century, Europeans were negotiating interests in the African slave trade. The Portuguese wanted slaves for their new colony in Brazil. Threatened by English and French interests in northeast Africa, the Portuguese moved their slave-trading activities further south to what is...