By Yadira Cruz Varela
Editor-in-Chief for Africa and the Middle East
The “involuntary” omissions of women’s legends and their fitting into traditional roles has been a constant in all cultural manifestations for years, cinema being no exception. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why director Izu Ojukwu’s Nigerian film Amina the Warrior Queen became one of the blockbuster films of 2021 and later became a Netflix hit.
It tells the life of Princess Amina de Zaria or Aminatu, who lived in a region of Nigeria between 1533 and 1610 and who was interested in the use of weapons of war from childhood, although it was very frowned upon. .
However, the intelligent and stubborn girl knew how to use the privileges of her social caste to convince her father to devote herself to what she really liked, which was fighting.
The old legends say that she managed to have an army of 20,000 infantry and a thousand cavalry following her in the campaign of territorial expansion and conquest of large tracts of land.
She is considered the first Sarauniya, or queen, of a previously male-led society, and is credited with many military and economic achievements that made her a symbol of this African nation.
MTRIARCHY AND COLONIZATION
But Amina’s story, visualized thanks to the popular virtual platform, is no exception on the continent, where many queens, warriors and common women have taken important roles in military, political and social life.
Contrary to what we know, in the so-called matrilineal societies, where maternal lineage was the one of greatest weight and respect for creation and fertility reigned, it was exclusive attributes of the female sex, as legends and ancient scriptures revealed . .
Studying the continent’s ancestral cultures, we see not only the representation of God as a woman, but also the main guardian spirits, deities symbolizing fertility and prosperity, as well as the equal participation of both sexes in community work.
For some anthropologists, the spread of monotheistic religions in antiquity and the Middle Ages marked the first break that succeeded in modifying these traditional patterns, but the final blow came after colonization.
The socialist philosopher Frederick Engels, in his work The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, illustrated this break and the consequences it had for them not only in Africa but in all matriarchal societies of the world in a masterly sentence:
“The overthrow of maternal rights was the great historical defeat of the female sex… The man held the reins in the house too; the woman found herself degraded, made a servant, a slave to man’s lust,” she said.
But long before all these social and political changes, women in various African societies played crucial roles in military conflicts, and their participation as warriors alongside men has been documented since ancient times.
AMANIRENAS
One of the oldest legends that has survived to this day is that of Amanirenas, who resided between the years 60-10 BC in Nubia, the most coveted region by the Egyptians, known for its brave warriors and great wealth is .
It was a famous Kandake, Queen of Kush (a powerful Nubian kingdom founded around the 8th century BC) who led the army against Rome.
Although the meaning of Kandake or Candance is not yet clear, the name seems to refer to the sisters of the king of Kush, a monarchy of matrilineal succession in which they served as queen mothers or regents, and distinguished themselves as fierce warriors leading his men onto the battlefield .
According to legend, when the Roman prefect Aelius Gallus was leading a campaign in Arabia (24 BC), the Cushites successfully attacked the north, with Amanirenas leading the troops, defeating the Roman troops at Aswan and reaching Elephant Island.
They later returned to Kush with prisoners and loot, including several statues of Emperor Augustus, which they are said to have buried under the entrance of their palace so that they and all who came and went could step on the enemy’s head.
KAHINA, THE BERBER QUEEN
Her name was Dihia or Dahia, but she went down in history as Kahina (al kahina means priestess or sorceress in Arabic); Admired for her beauty in her youth, she took command of the tribe as a widow.
In 690, an Arab expedition led by Zuhayr ibn Qays defeated the Byzantine-Berber coalition at the Battle of Mems, killing the Berber leader Kusayla and restoring Muslim power in Ifriqiya.
Kahina was then elected leader of the Berber Confederation and resistance to the Muslim world.
As Muslims and Byzantines confronted each other, the Berber queen reinforced her army and defeated the Arabs in the great battle of Wadi Niskiana in 698 on what is now Algeria.
But in 702 the Muslims returned again, defeated the Byzantines and finally drove them out of the city of Carthage.
Around the year 702, the Arab troops led by al-Numan completely defeated the queen’s army and she perished at the Battle of Tarfa, which the Arabs renamed Bi’r al-Kahina (Kahina Oasis) in her honor.
Contemporary cultures recognize her as a defender of female emancipation and power, a heroine of Berber resistance and independence.
THE QUEEN POKOU
Abla Pokou was born in the early 18th century, the niece of King Osseï Tutu, founder of the Ashanti Confederation of Ghana; After his death, she succeeded him to the throne by maternal line, succession by maternal lineage.
Fleeing a merciless fraternal struggle for the succession to the throne, circumstances forced her to lead her people from Ghana to the Ivory Coast.
According to legend, on reaching the Comoé River, the Queen and her tribe found a raging river that they could not cross. Those who pursued her would be here soon.
Desperate at the situation, Abla Pokou raised her arms to the sky and asked the fortune teller what she could do to cross the river; He replied that it wouldn’t happen if they didn’t offer him something in return, the most precious thing they had.
The women began to part with their gold and ivory jewelry, but the magician told them that the most precious thing was their own children, from whom no one wanted to part.
The queen then decided that she should make the sacrifice, believing that before becoming a mother or wife she was responsible for the safety of her tribe.
Immediately the water of the river calmed down and its level sank as if by magic to the knees of the trunk; When she reached the far bank, the sovereign turned and cried Bâ wouli (the child is dead), and it was her words that gave the Baulé their name.
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