In the ancient Africa,before colonization happened, leaders of Africa are laced with so much powers; that history cannot forget the marks they left.
In the ab Initio, the African Queens are leaders of wars, they incite wars, wage wars, decide and manage the affairs of the kingdom.
Here are 6 Ancient African Queens you should know:
QUEEN AMINA
Queen Aminatu, daughter of Bakwa Turunku, was a great Hausa warrior. She is well known as a warrior princess, having inherited her mother’s assertive and precise nature. Amina grew up in her grandfather’s court and was favored by him. He carried her around court and instructed her carefully in political and military matters.
At age sixteen, Amina was named Magajiya (heir apparent), and was given forty female slaves. Amina had a number of suitors attempt to marry her, at an early age. Attempts to gain her hand included “a daily offer of ten slaves” from Makama and “fifty male slaves and fifty female slaves as well as fifty bags of white and blue cloth” from the Emir of Kano.
After the death of her brother Karami in 1576, Amina ascended to the position of queen. Three months after her crowning, Amina waged a 34-year campaign against her neighbors, to expand Zazzau territory. Her army, consisting of 20,000 foot soldiers and 1,000 cavalry troops, was well trained and fearsome. One of her first announcements to her people was a call for them to “resharpen their weapons.”
To mark and protect her new lands, Amina had her cities surrounded by earthen walls. These walls became commonplace across the nation until the British conquest of Zazzau in 1904, and many of them survive today, known as ganuwar Amina (Amina’s walls).
QUEEN NEFERTITI OF KEMET
Queen Nefertiti was a queen of the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten. Nefertiti and her husband were known for a religious revolution, in which they worshipped one god only, Aten, or the sun disc.
During Akhenaten’s reign, Nefertiti enjoyed unprecedented power. By the twelfth year of his reign, there is evidence she may have been elevated to the status of co-regent: equal in status to the pharaoh. During her reign, she made sure Egypt became monolatry- the belief of one god.
History recorded that Queen Nefertiti vanished at the 12th year of Akhenaten’s reign.
KANDEKE AMANIRENAS OF ETHIOPIA
Kandake or Candace was regarded as one of the most dreaded war generals of her time.
Kandake, often Latinised as Candace was the sister of the king of Kush. She had her own court, probably acted as a landholder and held a prominent secular role as regent. She was best known for defending her kingdom against the armies of the Roman Empire. Amanirenas was probably born between 60 and 50 B.C. and was the second of the eight Kandakes (Kandake or Candace meaning “great woman”.
QUEEN YAA ASANTEWAA
Yaa Asantewaa was the African queen mother of Ejisu in the Ashanti Empire – now part of modern-day Ghana – appointed by her brother Nana Akwasi Afrane Opese, the Edwesuhene, or ruler, of Edwesu. In 1900 she led the Ashanti war known as the War of the Golden Stool, also known as the Yaa Asantewaa War, against British colonialism.
NANDI BHEBHE
was a daughter of Bhebhe, a past chief of the Langeni nation and the mother of the famous Shaka, King of the Zulus. She is widely considered to be one of the greatest single parents who ever lived. During the reign of Shaka, she was in charge of the military.
QUEEN MOREMI
Moremi Ajasoro was a legendary Yoruba queen and folk heroine in the Yorubaland region of present-day southwestern Nigeria who is fabled to have assisted in the liberation of the Yoruba kingdom of Ife from the neighbouring Ugbo Kingdom. Queen Moremi” is based on the story of a major figure in Yoruba history in the 12th century, Moremi of Ile-Ife. Moremi is reputed to have led her city to victory over an enemy kingdom. Moremi is one of the African Queens that is still been honoured by the people if Ile-Ife.