Njinga a Mona

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Njinga a Mona was a leader of the Imbangala who rose to power as a general serving Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba. In the late 1660s and early 1670s he fought the Ndongo royal clan, led by João Guterres Ngola Kanini and his sons, for control of Matamba, but he was ultimately defeated.

Njinga a Mona became Imbangala after they captured him as a child, and he was brought up in their ways. Though he started lowborn, his name means “child of Nzinga,” showing how closely he was tied to the queen. He became the most senior military commander in Nzinga’s forces. In 1647, after the Battle of Kombi, he led attempts to take the Massangano fortress and rescue Nzinga’s sister Mukambu, but failed because they lacked artillery.

His role in bringing Christianity to Matamba was mixed. In 1655 he reported a scolding vision after discarding a captured Christian cross, then returned it to Nzinga. This helped Nzinga justify introducing Christianity as part of a deal with the Portuguese that began in 1656 and also led to Mukambu’s release from captivity. Njinga a Mona later married Mukambu, who became Nzinga’s heir, and he was the first of Nzinga’s officials to be baptized. Yet adopting Christianity created distance between him and Nzinga. The shift toward Christian and royal-dynastic ideas moved Matamba away from traditional Imbangala ways, which made Njinga a Mona feel sidelined since, by Imbangala custom, he would have been Nzinga’s obvious successor. He then led an Imbangala faction at court.

In 1663, just before the dedication of the largest church in the region, Njinga a Mona’s brother and sister died within hours of each other. Christian missionaries suspected poisoning aimed at weakening Christianity in Matamba. The tensions did not cause open civil war while Nzinga lived or during Mukambu’s reign (1663–1666). After Mukambu died, Njinga a Mona tried to seize power and was declared Nzinga’s legitimate successor by a nganga priest claiming Nzinga’s spirit supported him. The royal council, however, rejected him and installed João Guterres Ngola Kanini, a member of the Christian faction and a relative of Nzinga and Mukambu.

When João Guterres died in 1670, Njinga a Mona returned and forced João’s eldest son Luís into exile. Another son, António Guterres, defeated Njinga a Mona, and in 1671 the council installed a third son, Francisco I Guterres Ngola Kanini, as king.