Long before and during the European colonization of Africa, ancient kingdoms and empires thrived for centuries on the continent. Some were led by women, including female warriors who led armies against invading European powers to defend their people from conquest and enslavement.
Although Black women have been at the forefront of impressive feats in combat, their stories are often overlooked. The following African warrior queens and all-female armies are among those who fought for freedom from colonial occupation.
1. Queen Amanirenas, around 40 BC
An illustration of a statue of Queen Amanirenas, who ruled the Kingdom of Kush.
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Queen Amanirenas ruled the Kingdom of Kush from 40 BC. C. until 10 a. C., in the region of Nubia, what is now Sudan. When the Roman Emperor Augustus conquered neighboring Egypt in 30 B.C. With plans to invade Kush next, Amanirenas launched a surprise attack on the Romans.
Leading an army of 30,000 from the front, Amanirenas successfully captured three Roman-ruled cities. But it wasn’t long before Rome retaliated, invading Kush, destroying the Kingdom’s capital, and selling thousands into slavery. After years of bitter fighting and significant casualties on both sides, negotiations to end the war began in 24 BC. C. and culminated in a peace treaty five years after the fighting began.
Although the hostilities ended in a stalemate, Queen Amanirenas, unlike many of her neighbors, was victorious by resisting Rome’s conquest, without ceding large tracts of territory or paying taxes to the empire. Amanirenas is remembered throughout the Nile Valley and beyond as the Nubian queen who conquered the Romans.
2. Queen Nzinga Mbande (c. 1583-1663)
Queen Nzinga Mbande was a monarch of the Mbundu people who fought against the Portuguese and their expanding slave trade in the 17th century.
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An adept politician and skilled military strategist, Queen Nzinga Mbande was the ruler of the Mbundu people in what is now Angola.
With the growing demand for slave labor, Portugal had established a colony near the land of Mbundu to expand the slave trade. Nzinga became queen in 1626 after her brother, the former king, committed suicide in the face of the growing Portuguese invasion. But before becoming queen, at the request of her brother, Nzinga met with the Portuguese to negotiate peace.
A skilled negotiator, she formed a strategic alliance with Portugal in 1622. Facing attacks by rival African aggressors seeking to capture people for the slave trade, Nzinga’s pact with the Portuguese allowed her to fight enemy tribes to enslave Portugal to exchange of arms and an agreement that the Portuguese would cease slave raids on the Mbundu people.
But when she became queen in 1626, Portugal had broken her end of the bargain. Nzinga refused to give in to the Portuguese without a fight. In 1627, she formed a temporary alliance with the Dutch, enemies of the Portuguese, and led an army against them.
Through his leadership, Nzinga held off the Portuguese forces for decades, personally leading his troops into battle, even as a sixty-year-old. Despite multiple attempts by the Portuguese to capture Nzinga, they never succeeded. He died peacefully at the age of 80, after a long life defending his people from colonial rule.
Queen Nanny (c. 1685-c. 1750)
Queen Nanny of the Maroons, as she appears on the Jamaican $500 bill.
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Queen Nanny was the leader of the Jamaican Maroons, a community of formerly enslaved Africans who fought against the British for their freedom.
As a child, Nanny was kidnapped in Ghana and enslaved in Jamaica. She escaped and joined other formerly enslaved people who sought refuge in the Blue Mountain region of the island. By 1720, thanks to her exceptional leadership and her military skills, she became the head of the Cimarrón settlement. That year she began training her people in guerrilla warfare.
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Queen Nanny led the Maroons in dozens of successful battles, freeing more than 800 enslaved people. Her ingenious strategies allowed the Maroons to catch the heavily armed British by surprise and decimate their numbers.
In 1740, the British were forced to sign a peace treaty with the Maroons, guaranteeing their freedom. In 1975, the Jamaican government declared the Nanny Queen a national hero and awarded her the title of “Excellent Righteous” for her strength and courage. Her portrait appears on the Jamaican $500 bill.
Dahomey Amazons (1600s–1890s)
Member of the Dahomey Amazons, which were an all-female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey.
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Named after the race of female warriors from Greek mythology, the Dahomey Amazons were an all-female military regiment in the Kingdom of Dahomey, now present-day Benin.
Reportedly assembled in the mid to late 17th century, the Amazons were known for their indifference to pain and ferocity in battle, as well as having great sociopolitical influence over their realm. To protect and enrich their own empire, there were periods when the Amazons cooperated with European colonialists, selling off enemies captured in regional fights for weapons and goods.
In the mid-19th century, they numbered between 1,000 and 6,000 women. When the French invaded Dahomey in 1892, the Amazons put up aggressive resistance. French soldiers subsequently noted his “incredible courage and daring” in combat, as quoted by the African American Register, an online consortium of black history educators.
Fierce fighting between the Amazons and the Europeans continued, but the female African warriors were ultimately outnumbered and outgunned and, within a few years, largely wiped out.
While the Amazons were certainly powerful fighters, Leonard Wantchekon, a professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University, argues that it’s important to look beyond the shock value of their warrior status when considering the Amazons’ legacy in history.
“The most important characteristic of the Amazons was not that they could kill like men,” says Wantchekon, originally from Benin. “They were also normal people with normal lives, as well as highly respected cultural and political leaders in their communities.”
There is a widespread misconception that gender equality is a Western value, Wantchekon adds, when in fact, European colonization was detrimental to women’s rights in Benin, where the French dismantled the Amazons and outlawed education and female political leadership.
“When we reject this misconception and embrace the culture of gender equality that thrived in Benin and similar places before colonization,” Wantchekon adds, “it is a way of embracing the legacy of this exceptional group of African women leaders that Europeans history tried so hard to erase.”
Yaa Asantewaa (c.1840-1921)
Yaa Asantewaa was queen of the Ashanti Empire in what is now Ghana.
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Yaa Asantewaa was queen of the prosperous Ashanti Empire, also called Asante, in present-day Ghana. As queen, she was the official protector of the empire’s most sacred object, the Golden Stool. Made of solid gold and believed to house the soul of the nation, the stool represented the royal and divine throne of the empire. When British troops invaded in 1886 and demanded possession of the sacred object, she Asantewaa refused. Instead, she led an army against them.
“I’ll call my mates. We will fight against the white men. We will fight until the last of us fall on the battlefields,” said Yaa Asantewaa.
For months beginning in 1900, Asantewaa’s troops besieged the British occupying forces, which came close to collapsing. Only after the British brought up several thousand additional troops and pounds of artillery were they able to defeat Asantewaa’s army. Asantewaa, who fought alongside her people to the end, was captured and exiled to the Seychelles until her death in 1921. Her bravery and resilience despite impossible odds have made her one of the most famous warrior queens in history to date. the present day.
