Nzinga Mbandi of administration He capitalized on the problems of a weakening Ming dynasty to build the foundations that would enable his descendants to rule all China 281 Between 1623 and 1663, Nzinga Mbandi, the Muhongo Matamba of what is modern-day Angola, led her people in major revolts against the Portuguese and served alternately as a valuable ally and a fearsome enemy to neighboring kingdoms Nzinga, who was also known as Jinga, Singa, and Zhinga, was an excellent military strategist Her sisters served as commanding officers in Nzinga’s army, which also included a number of other women warriors Several women also served in Nzinga’s cabinet Above all, Nzinga was a pragmatist who knew when to attack and when to ally herself with stronger forces The Muhongo Matamba was fiercely protective of her own territory, but she was also willing to suspend battling with neighboring monarchs over disputed territory when she deemed it necessary to join forces Despite her loyalty to her own people, Nzinga had no compunctions in advancing the slave trade by selling other Africans from remote areas Nzinga unsuccessfully joined forces with the Dutch to try to oust the Portuguese from southern Africa Imbangala, like the Portuguese, viewed the Ngondo as an obstacle to establishing of a trade route on the coast and to the wealth generated by foreign trade Over the following century, the Mdongo continued to lose ground, but the rise of Queen Nzinga in 1663 proved to be a turning point in the history of the area Using her gift for military strategizing that had been fostered by observing the military advances of her neighbors and the guns and gunpowder procured through her trading partners, Nzinga retreated from the contested area and traveled inland, where she laid claim to Matamba, which was in a vulnerable state after the death of its sovereign In Matamba, Nzinga founded a new state and extended her territory into nearby Luanda in the Kongo She subsequently announced ownership of ngola a kiluanji, but the right to rule both this area and Luanda continued to be hotly contested Nzinga developed Matamba as a major trading center, focused on long-distance slave trading To cut down on competition, she also blocked the trading route that had developed in Kasanji in Luanda In the past, Queen Nzinga had paid tribute to the Kongo kingdom in exchange for European goods By the end of the 16th century, however, Nzinga broke all ties with the Kongo and began exchanging gifts with ngola a kiluanji out of her desire to establish a more direct slave-trading route to the coast At the same time, Nzinga gave the kambole, her chief consort, permission to launch a series of campaigns that broadened the reach of her kingdom In response to a new conflict between Luanda and ngola a kiluanji, the ever-practical Nzinga chose to support ngola a kiluanji Her support included dispatching her considerable forces to Mbaka, where they succeeded in routing the Portuguese By 1591, Nzinga and ngola a kiluanji had strengthened their position against the Portuguese by joining forces with Caculo, a neighboring warlord However, as the war progressed, Nzinga determined that her interests were better served by selling slaves directly to the Portuguese via the chiefdom of Ndembu By 1641, Nzinga was exporting 12,000–13,000 slaves a year She also became extremely adept at siphoning off slaves bound for other trading routes Portuguese invasion In 1576, the Portuguese invaded Luanda, a remote but strategically important area of southern Africa, and began extending their reach into surrounding areas Initially the Ngondo people repelled the Portuguese advance but were ultimately overwhelmed by brutal Imbangala warriors who attacked from the rear The Dutch and Portuguese deals In 1641, Nzinga joined forces with Garcia II, who had declared himself the king of Luanda, and with other neighboring kingdoms to repel a Dutch invasion Over the course of the next year, however, Garcia decided that the Portuguese constituted a greater threat to independence and determined to oust them See also Ming dynasty, late; Qing (Ch’ing) dynasty, rise and zenith Further reading: Elliott, Mark C The Manchu Way, The Eight Banners and Ethnic Identity in Late Imperial China Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001; Michael, Franz The Origin of Manchu Rule in China, Frontier and Bureaucracy as Interacting Forces in the Chinese Empire Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1942; Peterson, Willard J., ed The Cambridge History of China Vol 9, Part One: The Ch’ing Empire to 1800 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002 Jiu-Hwa Lo Upshur Nzinga Mbandi (1580–1663) African military strategist and leader