Kingdom of Matamba

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 )

Historical nation-states of
present-day Angola

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Kingdom of Matamba

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Kingdom of Ndongo

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Kingdom of Kongo

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Imbangala

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Lunda Empire

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Baixa de Kassanje

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Mbwila

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 Ngoyo

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Mbunda Kingdom

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Portuguese West Africa

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Republic of Angola

● v
● t
● e

The Kingdom of Matamba (1631–1744) was a pre-colonial African state located in what is now
the Baixa de Cassange region of Malanje Province of modern-day Angola. It was a powerful
kingdom that long resisted Portuguese colonisation attempts and was only integrated into Angola
in the late nineteenth century.

Contents

● 1
● Origins and early history
●
● 2
● Portuguese attacks and Ndongo's conquest
●
● 3
● The joint kingdom of Matamba and Ndongo: Njinga and her successors
○ 3.1
○ Civil war
○
○ 3.2
○ Battle of Katole
○
● 4
● Queen Verónica
●
● 5
● The Portuguese invasion of 1744
●
● 6
● The divided kingdom
●
● 7
● See also
●
● 8
● References
●
Origins and early history[edit]
The first documentary mention of the Kingdom of Matamba is a reference to it giving tribute to
the King of Kongo, then Afonso I of Kongo, 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 Ndongo, then a
powerful kingdom as well as with Kongo.

During the mid-sixteenth century Matamba was ruled by queen Njinga, who received
missionaries from Kongo, then a Christian kingdom, dispatched by King Diogo I (1545–1561).
Though this queen received the missionaries and perhaps allowed them to preach, there is no
indication that the kingdom converted to Christianity.

The arrival of the Portuguese colonists under Paulo Dias de Novais in Luanda 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 Matamaba (probably a king
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 Battle of the Lukala in 1590.

Portuguese attacks and Ndongo's conquest[edit]

In 1618 the Portuguese governor of Angola, Luis Mendes de Vasconcelos, launched a large-
scale attack on Ndongo, using newly acquired Imbangala allies. The allied Imbangala, mercenary
soldiers from south of the Kwanza River, 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 Kasanje 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 Spanish America in
considerable numbers.

Ndongo continued to suffer attacks from Portuguese forces, and in 1624 Queen Njinga Mbandi
(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
Mwongo Matamba, capturing her and taking her prisoner. From at least 1631 onward, Njinga
made Matamba her capital, joining it to the Kingdom of Ndongo.

The joint kingdom of Matamba and Ndongo: Njinga and her

successors[edit]
Queen Njinga ruled in Matamba from 1631 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 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 Kavanga, where she conducted operations against the
Portuguese. Though Ndongo forces won a significant victory over the Portuguese in at the Battle
of Kombi in 1647, nearly forcing them to abandon the country and laying siege to their inland
capital of Masangano, a Portuguese relief force led by Salvador de Sá in 1648 drove out the
Dutch and forced Njinga to return to Matamba. Although she maintained a symbolic capital at
Kindonga, 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 baptized as
Ana de Sousa while in Luanda in 1622, and in 1654 she began peace overtures to Portugal.

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 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 Capuchin
missionaries began working in her lands. They regarded Njinga in her later days as a model
Christian and thousands of Matamba subjects were baptized.

However, reintegration in the Christian community did not solve her problems, and there were
still troubling issues of succession. 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 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.
Civil war[edit]
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 João Guterres' son, Francisco, ousted and killed Njinga Mona becoming
ruler in 1680.

Battle of Katole[edit]
Main article: Battle of Katole

In 1681 Francisco became involved in a war with neighboring Kasanje, in which he sought to
promote the 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 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.

Queen Verónica[edit]
Francisco Guterres was succeeded by his sister Verónica I 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 invasion, Verónica
sent an embassy to Luanda that negotiated a peace treaty, signed 7 September 1683. In it she
accepted nominal vassalage, 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.

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 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.
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.