This week, historian and author Valorie Castellanos Clark is covering the incredible warrior queen Njinga of Ndongo and Matamba, a woman who resisted Portuguese colonization of her homeland for decades.

If you liked this story, check out⁠Unruly Figures: Twenty Tales of Rebels, Rulebreakers, and Revolutionaries You’ve (Probably) Never Heard Of⁠ [https://bookshop.org/a/79066/9781797223636].

#49 - Njinga of Ndongo and Matamba

This is about the rebels. This is about the ne’er-do-wells. This is about the mutineers, the agitators, the subversives. Unruly Figures is a celebration of history’s biggest rule-breakers. Twice a month, I’m going to dive into the life and times of the greatest rebels the world has known. I will talk about their lives, the society they lived in, the decisions they made, and how their refusal to play by the rules changed the world. Join me as I nerd out and get inspired by history’s favorite risk-takers.