606:(Ana I was Queen Njinga as Matamba accepted the Christian names of former rulers and their dynasty), who came to power in 1741, faced a Portuguese invasion in 1744. The invasion of Matamba by Portuguese forces in 1744 was one of their largest military operations in the eighteenth century. In the course of their attack, Matamba's army inflicted a serious defeat on the Portuguese, but in spite of this, a remnant of the army managed to reach the capital of Matamba. In order to avoid a long war and to get them to withdraw, Ana II signed a treaty of vassalage with Portugal which renewed points conceded by Verónica in 1683. While the treaty allowed Portugal to claim Matamba as a vassal, and opened up Matamba to Portuguese trade, it had little effect on the real sovereignty of Matmaba, or indeed in the conduct of trade.
27:
416:, in 1530. In 1535 Afonso subsequently mentioned Matamba as one of the regions over which he ruled as king in his titles. There is no further information on the kingdom's early history and modern oral traditions do not seem to illuminate this at the present state of research. However, it does not seem likely that Kongo had any more than a light and symbolic presence in Matamba, and its rulers were probably quite independent. Matamba undoubtedly had closer relations with its south southeastern neighbor
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Angola. The army penetrated to Katole, where
Francisco launched a successful dawn attack on 4 September 1681, inflicting heavy casualties on the Portuguese army. However, Imbangala forces in the Portuguese army managed to stiffen resistance, and in the ensuing battle, Francisco and several of his relatives were killed. The Portuguese army, having suffered heavy losses withdrew to Ambaca and then to Masangano.
612:, like Verónica before her, was interested in developing Matamba as a Christian country, routinely sending letters to the Capuchin prefect of Congo and Angola or the Portuguese authorities requesting missionaries come and establish permanent bases in her country. While the country was visited by missionaries from Cahenda and also from the
580:, agreed to return Portuguese prisoners taken at the battle of Katole, allowed missionaries into the country and permitted agents of Portuguese free passage through her lands. She also agreed to acknowledge the independence of Kasanje and to renounce all claims on the country and to pay 200 slaves over 4 years as compensation.
600:. During his reign, the northern district of Holo seceded from Matamba to form its own kingdom and entered into relations with Portugal. As a result of Matamba's attempts to prevent the secession and Portuguese trade with the rebel province, relations between Matamba and the Portuguese colony deteriorated.
467:, turned the day and allowed Mendes de Vasconcelos' forces to sack Ndongo's capital and pillage the country. During the following two years, Mendes de Vasconcelos' son João led a detachment of Portuguese and Imbangala forces into Matamba where they did great damage. During this time the Imbangala band of
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Guterres
Kandala Kingwanga, whose long rule from 1681 to 1721 consolidated the control of the Guterres dynasty and created a lasting precedent for female rulers. Verónica was apparently a pious Christian, but also a fervent believer in Matamba's independence. In order to forestall another Portuguese
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In 1681 Francisco became involved in a war with neighboring
Kasanje, in which he sought to promote interests of one of the candidates to the throne. The Portuguese intervened in this war and invaded Matamba with a force of over 40,000 troops, the largest military force Portugal had even mobilized in
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After Njinga's death, a period of tension, punctuated by civil war, broke out. Barbara succeeded Njinga, but was killed by forces loyal to Njinga Mona in 1666. João
Guterres managed to temporarily oust Njinga Mona in 1669, but was defeated and killed in 1670. Njinga Mona would rule the kingdom until
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and Murili escaped the civil war, took refuge in the ancient capital of Ndongo on the
Kindonga islands and successfully resisted Francisco II's attempts to oust them. From this base, Queen Kamana created a rival kingdom, and in 1767 tried unsuccessfully to obtain Portuguese help against her rival.
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However, reintegration in the
Christian community did not solve her problems, and there were still troubling succession issues. The church refused to recognize a dynastic marriage between João Guterres and her sister Barbara, because Guterres had a wife at the Portuguese fort of Mbaka where he had
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in 1575 altered the political situation as the
Portuguese immediately became involved in Ndongo's affairs, and war broke out between Ndongo and Portugal in 1579. Although Matamba played a small role in the early wars, the threat of a Portuguese victory stirred the ruler of Matamba (probably a king
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Verónica, however, was not really cowed, and within a few years was advancing claims as Queen of Ndongo and
Matamba that rivaled those of her predecessor Njinga. In the process of asserting her claims she was drawn into wars with Portugal in 1689 and again in 1692–3. She also sought some sort of
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Njinga hoped that a peaceful relationship with
Portugal would allow her to settle her kingdom and determine a successor, as she had no children. She formed a close alliance with a related family, whose leader João Guterres Ngola Kanini, became one of her most important councillors. She was also
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received a
Portuguese peace mission which did not achieve a treaty, but did reestablish relations between her and the Portuguese. When the Dutch took over Luanda in 1641, Njinga immediately sent ambassadors to make an alliance with them. During these years, she moved her capital from Matamba to
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Queen Njinga ruled in Matamba from 1624 until her death in 1663. During this time she integrated the country into her domains and thousands of her former subjects who had fled Portuguese attacks with her settled there. She made several wars against Kasanje especially in 1634–5. In 1639 she
483:(also known as Nzinga) took over as ruler of that country. She continued the war unsuccessfully against Portugal and was forced to flee the country in 1626 and then again in 1629. During her second flight Njinga entered Matamba and her forces routed the army of Matamba's ruler, Queen
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deserted the Portuguese and continued a campaign of destruction in Matamba. Thousands of Matamba subjects were killed and thousands more taken to America as slaves. It is during this period, for example, that the ethnonym "Matamba" appears in slave inventories in
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anxious to remove Imbangala forces, led by Njinga Mona, from her army and place them under her direct control. For this reason she also sought to reconcile with the Catholic Church. This strategy was successful, she signed a peace treaty in 1657 and Italian
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While the Portuguese governor of the time, Francisco Innocencio de Sousa Coutinho granted her asylum and instructed his officials to respect her and her position, he did not favor direct intervention in affairs in the eastern part of the Portuguese zone.
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Verónica appears to have been anxious to re-establish a Christian mission in the country, abandoned following the death of Njinga and the civil war that followed. However, in spite of her various entreaties, the mission was not reestablished.
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named Kambolo Matamba) to intervene. He sent an army to aid Ndongo against the Portuguese, and with these forces, the combined armies were able to defeat and rout Portuguese forces at the
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Ana III was in turn overthrown by Kalwete ka Mbandi, a military leader. Kalwete won the war, and was baptized as Francisco II upon taking the throne. However, two of Ana's daughters,
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once been prisoner. Similarly, although the non-and even anti-Christian Imbanagala allowed Njinga to alter some of their customs, Njinga Mona's power was unchecked in the army.
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Kamana's son and successor did manage to end the division of the country by successfully recovering the capital and being crowned as king of Matamba in around 1810.
431:(1545–1561). Though this queen received the missionaries and perhaps allowed them to preach, there is no indication that the kingdom converted to Christianity.
523:, an island in the Kwanza River where she and her predecessor had ruled, the real capital was at the town of Matamba (Santa Maria de Matamba). Njinga had been
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missionaries began working in her lands. They regarded Njinga in her later days as a model Christian and thousands of Matamba subjects were baptized.
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alliance with Kongo in 1706. These wars and the raiding in between major operations led to serious depopulation on the western edges of her domains.
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507:, where she conducted operations against the Portuguese. Though Ndongo forces won a significant victory over the Portuguese in at the
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invasion, Verónica sent an embassy to Luanda that negotiated a peace treaty, signed 7 September 1683. In it she accepted nominal
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in 1648 drove out the Dutch and forced Njinga to return to Matamba. Although she maintained a symbolic capital at
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Ana II died in 1756 and a civil war broke out at that time among rival contenders for the throne, during which
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The first documentary mention of the Kingdom of Matamba is a reference to it giving tribute to the King of
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Trade and Conquest in Angola: the Mbundu and their Neighbours under the Influence of the Portuguese
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in 1631, the state had many male and female rulers. It was a powerful kingdom that long resisted
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in 1647, nearly forcing them to abandon the country and laying siege to their inland capital of
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as Ana de Sousa while in Luanda in 1622, and in 1654 she began peace overtures to Portugal.
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Njinga, who received missionaries from Kongo, then a Christian kingdom, dispatched by King
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João Guterres' son, Francisco, ousted and killed Njinga Mona becoming ruler in 1680.
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Fernando Campos, "A data da morte de D. Verónica I, Rainha de Ndongo e Matamba,"
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ruled briefly for a time but she was overthrown sometime after 1758, leaving
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Ndongo continued to suffer attacks from Portuguese forces, and in 1624
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allies. The allied Imbangala, mercenary soldiers from south of the
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The joint kingdom of Matamba and Ndongo: Njinga and her successors
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Congo e Angola con la storia dell'antica missione dei Cappuccini
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369:(1631–1744) was an African state located in what is now the
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When Verónica died in 1721 she was succeeded by her son
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During the mid-sixteenth century Matamba was ruled by
420:, then a powerful kingdom as well as with Kongo.
48:but its sources remain unclear because it lacks
571:Francisco Guterres was succeeded by his sister
434:The arrival of the Portuguese colonists under
781:States and territories disestablished in 1744
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616:, a permanent mission was not established.
455:In 1618 the Portuguese governor of Angola,
776:States and territories established in 1631
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79:Learn how and when to remove this message
451:Portuguese attacks and Ndongo's conquest
287:List of The Rulers of the Mbunda Kingdom
94:Historical states of present-day Angola
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7:
688:African military systems after 1800
515:, a Portuguese relief force led by
396:attempts, but was integrated into
209:List of rulers of the Lunda Empire
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791:1744 disestablishments in Africa
683:African military systems to 1800
400:in the late nineteenth century.
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25:
731:Countries in precolonial Africa
592:The Portuguese invasion of 1744
1:
786:1631 establishments in Africa
756:Matamban and Ndongo monarchs
663:Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba
16:Kingdom in modern-day Angola
741:Former monarchies of Africa
710:(3 volumes, Venice, 1982–3)
381:. Joined to the Kingdom of
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736:Former countries in Africa
598:Afonso I Álvares de Pontes
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457:Luis Mendes de Vasconcelos
653:List of Rulers of Matamba
476:in considerable numbers.
404:Origins and early history
658:List of Ngolas of Ndongo
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34:This article includes a
63:more precise citations.
771:18th century in Angola
766:17th century in Angola
301:Portuguese West Africa
445:Battle of the Lukala
436:Paulo Dias de Novais
706:Graziano Saccardo,
620:The divided kingdom
614:Barefoot Carmelites
481:Queen Njinga Mbandi
325:President of Angola
699:David Birmingham,
367:Kingdom of Matamba
318:Republic of Angola
231:Kambamba Kulaxingo
111:Kingdom of Matamba
36:list of references
673:Kingdom of Ndongo
668:History of Angola
414:Afonso I of Kongo
398:Portuguese Angola
371:Baixa de Cassange
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69:August 2009
61:introducing
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694:References
573:Verónica I
391:Portuguese
373:region of
578:vassalage
543:Civil war
513:Masangano
461:Imbangala
447:in 1590.
180:Imbangala
647:See also
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440:Luanda
418:Ndongo
383:Ndongo
379:Angola
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