The Warrior Queens

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

• Identify seven women who led their people through war across three thousand years: Ahhotep of Kemet, Amanirenas of Kush, Amina of Zazzau, Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba, Mmanthatisi of the Batlokwa, Nanny of the Maroons, and Yaa Asantewaa of Asante.
• Explain how Queen Ahhotep held Kemet together during its war against foreign rulers — and what the stone record of her son, King Ahmose, says about her.
• Describe how Kandake Amanirenas led Kush against Rome — and how that war ended in a peace that freed Kush from Roman tribute.
• Explain what the Kano Chronicle records about Amina of Zazzau — and why city walls across Hausaland still carry her name.
• Compare how Nzinga, Mmanthatisi, and Nanny each protected their people under pressure from powerful outside forces.
• Explain why the lesson calls these seven queens a pattern and not a set of rare exceptions.

Key Vocabulary

• Kemet — The name the ancient people of the great river valley in northeast Africa gave their own land. It means the Black Land. [1]Budge, E.A. Wallis. An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary. London: John Murray, 1920. Documentation of Kemet (km.t) as The Black Land.
• Ahhotep I — A queen of Kemet who lived around 1550 BCE. She was the mother of King Ahmose — the king who drove the foreign rulers out of the north. [2]Stela of Ahmose I, temple of Amun-Re at Karnak. English translation quoted in Gay, Louise. “Ahhotep I.” Team Queens, 2022. Ahmose’s praise of Queen Ahhotep.
• Stela — A carved stone slab with writing on it. The kings of Kemet raised them to record great deeds. [2]Stela of Ahmose I, temple of Amun-Re at Karnak. English translation quoted in Gay, Louise. “Ahhotep I.” Team Queens, 2022. Ahmose’s praise of Queen Ahhotep.
• Kush — A powerful African kingdom south of Kemet along the same great river, in what is now Sudan. [8]Török, László. The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization. Leiden: Brill, 1997. The title Kandake and the ruling queens of Kush.
• Kandake — The royal title of a ruling queen of Kush. Roman writers turned the title into the name Candace. [6]Strabo. Geography, Book XVII, 17.1.54. Translated by Horace Leonard Jones. Vol. 8. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1932. The war between Kush and Rome.[8]Török, László. The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization. Leiden: Brill, 1997. The title Kandake and the ruling queens of Kush.
• Strabo — A Greek geographer who wrote about the war between Kush and Rome. He described the Kushite queen as blind in one eye. [6]Strabo. Geography, Book XVII, 17.1.54. Translated by Horace Leonard Jones. Vol. 8. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1932. The war between Kush and Rome.
• Kano Chronicle — A history of the Hausa city of Kano. It records the conquests of Queen Amina. [9]Palmer, H.R., trans. “The Kano Chronicle.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 38 (1908): 58–98. Queen Amina’s conquests.
• Ganuwar Amina — Hausa words meaning Amina’s walls — the name still given to earthen city walls across Hausaland that are credited to her. [10]Sweetman, David. Women Leaders in African History. London: Heinemann, 1984. Queen Amina and the walls credited to her.
• Ndongo and Matamba — Two kingdoms in what is now Angola. Nzinga ruled both. [11]Heywood, Linda M. Njinga of Angola: Africa’s Warrior Queen. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2017. Nzinga’s wars against Portugal, her alliances, and her death in 1663.
• Regent — A person who rules on behalf of a king who is too young to rule. Mmanthatisi ruled the Batlokwa as regent for her son. [12]Ellenberger, D. Fred. History of the Basuto, Ancient and Modern. London: Caxton Publishing, 1912. The Batlokwa and Queen Mmanthatisi.
• Maroons — Africans who escaped slavery in the Americas and built free communities, often in mountains and forests. [14]Bilby, Kenneth M. True-Born Maroons. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2005. Nanny, the Windward Maroons, Nanny Town, and the 1739 treaties.
• Golden Stool — The sacred symbol of the Asante nation. The Asante hold that it carries the soul of the nation. [18]Rattray, R.S. Ashanti. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1923. The Golden Stool and the office of the Queen Mother.
• Queen Mother — A powerful office in Asante society. A queen mother helps choose the chief and advises him. [18]Rattray, R.S. Ashanti. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1923. The Golden Stool and the office of the Queen Mother.

The Full Lesson

Part 1 — Ahhotep: The Queen Who Held Kemet Together

Around 1550 BCE, Kemet was a divided kingdom. Foreign rulers controlled the north. The people of Kemet called them heqa khasut — rulers of foreign lands. Greek writers later turned that phrase into the name Hyksos. From the southern royal city of Waset, the royal family fought to take the north back. [3]Ryholt, K.S.B. The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, c. 1800–1550 B.C. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 1997. The title heqa khasut, “rulers of foreign lands.”

King Seqenenre Tao went to war. His mummy still shows the battle wounds to his head. Then King Kamose carried the war forward. Then a young king named Ahmose took the throne. Through all of it, one woman stood at the center: Queen Ahhotep. [2]Stela of Ahmose I, temple of Amun-Re at Karnak. English translation quoted in Gay, Louise. “Ahhotep I.” Team Queens, 2022. Ahmose’s praise of Queen Ahhotep.[4]Saleem, Sahar N., and Zahi Hawass. “Computed Tomography Study of the Mummy of King Seqenenre Taa II: New Insights Into His Violent Death.” Frontiers in Medicine 8 (2021). The head wounds on the king’s mummy.

Ahmose later raised a great stone stela in the temple of Karnak to honor his mother. It says she cared for the soldiers of Kemet. It says she brought back those who had fled. It says she restored order in the south and drove out the rebels. These are the words of a king about a queen who held his kingdom together in a time of war. [2]Stela of Ahmose I, temple of Amun-Re at Karnak. English translation quoted in Gay, Louise. “Ahhotep I.” Team Queens, 2022. Ahmose’s praise of Queen Ahhotep.

In 1859, a royal burial of a queen named Ahhotep was found near Waset. It held a ceremonial axe and a dagger bearing the name of Ahmose — and three golden flies. In Kemet, golden flies were awards given for service in the army. Many scholars connect this burial to her. [5]“Egypt’s First Queen.” Archaeology, July/August 2026. The 1859 Dra Abu el-Naga burial, its ceremonial weapons and golden flies, and the scholarly debate over its owner.

"These are the words of a king about a queen who held his kingdom together in a time of war."

Part 2 — Amanirenas: The Kandake Who Made Rome Negotiate

Fifteen centuries later, Rome took control of Kemet, and Roman armies looked south toward Kush. Kush was ruled by a Kandake — a ruling queen. Her name was Amanirenas. [8]Török, László. The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization. Leiden: Brill, 1997. The title Kandake and the ruling queens of Kush.

Around 25 BCE, the armies of Kush struck first. They attacked the Roman frontier at Aswan and captured the region. They pulled down statues of the Roman emperor Augustus and carried them off. Rome sent a general named Petronius south. Strabo wrote that Petronius marched against thirty thousand Kushite troops. He pushed deep into Kush and attacked the city of Napata. [6]Strabo. Geography, Book XVII, 17.1.54. Translated by Horace Leonard Jones. Vol. 8. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1932. The war between Kush and Rome.

But Kush did not give up. The Kandake herself marched against the Roman fort with many thousands of troops. Strabo described the Kushite queen as blind in one eye. In the end, Kushite envoys traveled to meet Augustus himself on the island of Samos. Augustus granted their requests. He canceled the tribute Rome had demanded from Kush. [6]Strabo. Geography, Book XVII, 17.1.54. Translated by Horace Leonard Jones. Vol. 8. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1932. The war between Kush and Rome.

Then, in 1910, archaeologists digging in the Kushite capital found the bronze head of one of those statues of Augustus. It had been buried beneath the steps of a temple. Every person who climbed those steps walked over the emperor’s head. Today, that bronze head sits in the British Museum. [7]British Museum, London. Bronze head of Augustus, excavated by John Garstang in the Kushite capital in 1910. Buried beneath the steps of a temple.

"Every person who climbed those steps walked over the emperor’s head."

Part 3 — Amina of Zazzau: The Queen of the Walls

In West Africa, the Hausa kingdom of Zazzau produced a queen whose name still marks the land. Her name was Amina. Hausa traditions and later writers place her reign in the 1400s or the 1500s. [9]Palmer, H.R., trans. “The Kano Chronicle.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 38 (1908): 58–98. Queen Amina’s conquests.[10]Sweetman, David. Women Leaders in African History. London: Heinemann, 1984. Queen Amina and the walls credited to her.

The Kano Chronicle records that Zazzau, under Queen Amina, conquered all the towns as far as Kwararafa and Nupe. It says every town paid tribute to her. It says her conquests extended over thirty-four years. [9]Palmer, H.R., trans. “The Kano Chronicle.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 38 (1908): 58–98. Queen Amina’s conquests.

Earthen city walls across Hausaland are still called ganuwar Amina — Amina’s walls. Many of those walls still stand today. [10]Sweetman, David. Women Leaders in African History. London: Heinemann, 1984. Queen Amina and the walls credited to her.

"Earthen city walls across Hausaland are still called ganuwar Amina — Amina’s walls."

Part 4 — Nzinga: Decades of War Against Portugal

In the 1600s, Portugal was pushing inland from the coast of what is now Angola, hunting for captives to sell into the slave trade. The kingdom of Ndongo stood in its way. In the 1620s, Nzinga Mbande became ruler of Ndongo. [11]Heywood, Linda M. Njinga of Angola: Africa’s Warrior Queen. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2017. Nzinga’s wars against Portugal, her alliances, and her death in 1663.

Portuguese forces and their allies drove her from her capital. She did not surrender. She moved east. She took control of the kingdom of Matamba, and she made it the base of her resistance. She welcomed runaways from Portuguese territory into her forces. [11]Heywood, Linda M. Njinga of Angola: Africa’s Warrior Queen. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2017. Nzinga’s wars against Portugal, her alliances, and her death in 1663.

In the 1640s, she joined forces with the Dutch against Portugal. In her sixties, she was still leading her troops in the field. She fought Portugal for about thirty years. A peace treaty finally came in the 1650s. Nzinga died in 1663, around eighty years old — still a ruling queen. [11]Heywood, Linda M. Njinga of Angola: Africa’s Warrior Queen. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2017. Nzinga’s wars against Portugal, her alliances, and her death in 1663.

"Nzinga died in 1663, around eighty years old — still a ruling queen."

Part 5 — Mmanthatisi and Nanny: Keeping a People Together

In southern Africa, a queen named Mmanthatisi led the Batlokwa. When her husband died in 1813, she became regent for her young son, Sekonyela. In 1822, war swept across the highveld. The Batlokwa were attacked and driven from their land. [12]Ellenberger, D. Fred. History of the Basuto, Ancient and Modern. London: Caxton Publishing, 1912. The Batlokwa and Queen Mmanthatisi.[13]Lye, William F. “The Difaqane: The Mfecane in the Southern Sotho Area, 1822–24.” Journal of African History 8, no. 1 (1967): 107–131. The wars of 1822–24 and the name “Mantatees.”

For years, Mmanthatisi led them through that upheaval, and she kept them together as a people. Her name spread so far that early English writers called the whole Batlokwa nation the Mantatees — after her. [12]Ellenberger, D. Fred. History of the Basuto, Ancient and Modern. London: Caxton Publishing, 1912. The Batlokwa and Queen Mmanthatisi.[13]Lye, William F. “The Difaqane: The Mfecane in the Southern Sotho Area, 1822–24.” Journal of African History 8, no. 1 (1967): 107–131. The wars of 1822–24 and the name “Mantatees.”

A century earlier and across the Atlantic, another woman led a people who refused to be broken. Her name was Nanny. She led the Windward Maroons of Jamaica — Africans who had escaped slavery and built free communities in the Blue Mountains. [14]Bilby, Kenneth M. True-Born Maroons. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2005. Nanny, the Windward Maroons, Nanny Town, and the 1739 treaties.

In the 1720s and 1730s, British forces tried again and again to destroy them. A Maroon town in those mountains carried her name: Nanny Town. In 1739, the British agreed to treaties of peace with the Maroons. In 1740, a land grant gave five hundred acres to Nanny and the people living with her. Today, she is the only woman among Jamaica’s National Heroes. [14]Bilby, Kenneth M. True-Born Maroons. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2005. Nanny, the Windward Maroons, Nanny Town, and the 1739 treaties.[15]Land Patent to Nanny, 1740. Patent Vol. 22, Folio 15B. Jamaica Archives, Spanish Town. Grant of five hundred acres.[16]Jamaica Information Service. “National Heroes.” Nanny of the Maroons, Jamaica’s only female National Hero.

"Today, she is the only woman among Jamaica’s National Heroes."

Part 6 — Yaa Asantewaa and the Pattern

In 1896, the British removed the Asante king and sent him into exile. In 1900, the British governor Frederick Hodgson went further. He demanded the Golden Stool — the sacred symbol of the Asante nation. [17]Boahen, A. Adu. Yaa Asantewaa and the Asante-British War of 1900–1. Accra: Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2003. The demand for the Golden Stool, the war, and her exile.[18]Rattray, R.S. Ashanti. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1923. The Golden Stool and the office of the Queen Mother.

The Asante leaders met to decide what to do. Yaa Asantewaa was the Queen Mother of Ejisu. Asante tradition remembers her words at that meeting: if the men of Asante would not go forward, the women would. She led the war that followed. [17]Boahen, A. Adu. Yaa Asantewaa and the Asante-British War of 1900–1. Accra: Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2003. The demand for the Golden Stool, the war, and her exile.

In the end, the British captured her and sent her into exile in the Seychelles. She died there in 1921. But the British never took the Golden Stool. [17]Boahen, A. Adu. Yaa Asantewaa and the Asante-British War of 1900–1. Accra: Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2003. The demand for the Golden Stool, the war, and her exile.

Now look at all seven together. Seven queens. Two continents. Three thousand years. Ahhotep held Kemet together. Amanirenas made Rome negotiate. Amina carried the power of Zazzau across Hausaland. Nzinga fought Portugal for decades. Mmanthatisi kept the Batlokwa together. Nanny won land for a free people. Yaa Asantewaa defended the soul of a nation. [2]Stela of Ahmose I, temple of Amun-Re at Karnak. English translation quoted in Gay, Louise. “Ahhotep I.” Team Queens, 2022. Ahmose’s praise of Queen Ahhotep.[6]Strabo. Geography, Book XVII, 17.1.54. Translated by Horace Leonard Jones. Vol. 8. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1932. The war between Kush and Rome.[9]Palmer, H.R., trans. “The Kano Chronicle.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 38 (1908): 58–98. Queen Amina’s conquests.[11]Heywood, Linda M. Njinga of Angola: Africa’s Warrior Queen. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2017. Nzinga’s wars against Portugal, her alliances, and her death in 1663.[13]Lye, William F. “The Difaqane: The Mfecane in the Southern Sotho Area, 1822–24.” Journal of African History 8, no. 1 (1967): 107–131. The wars of 1822–24 and the name “Mantatees.”[15]Land Patent to Nanny, 1740. Patent Vol. 22, Folio 15B. Jamaica Archives, Spanish Town. Grant of five hundred acres.[17]Boahen, A. Adu. Yaa Asantewaa and the Asante-British War of 1900–1. Accra: Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2003. The demand for the Golden Stool, the war, and her exile.

"This was never one exceptional woman. This was a pattern."

Critical Thinking Discussion Questions

1. The stela raised by King Ahmose honors his mother for caring for the soldiers and restoring order. [2]Stela of Ahmose I, temple of Amun-Re at Karnak. English translation quoted in Gay, Louise. “Ahhotep I.” Team Queens, 2022. Ahmose’s praise of Queen Ahhotep. What does it tell us that a king chose to give a queen public credit for holding his kingdom together in wartime?
2. Kush struck Rome first, and the war ended with Rome canceling the tribute it had demanded. [6]Strabo. Geography, Book XVII, 17.1.54. Translated by Horace Leonard Jones. Vol. 8. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1932. The war between Kush and Rome. Why do you think this war is so rarely taught when Rome’s victories are taught so often?
3. Amina’s name lives on in the walls of Hausaland. [10]Sweetman, David. Women Leaders in African History. London: Heinemann, 1984. Queen Amina and the walls credited to her. What can place names and landmarks tell us about history that written records might leave out?
4. Nzinga, Mmanthatisi, and Nanny each led a people under pressure from powerful outside forces. [11]Heywood, Linda M. Njinga of Angola: Africa’s Warrior Queen. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2017. Nzinga’s wars against Portugal, her alliances, and her death in 1663.[13]Lye, William F. “The Difaqane: The Mfecane in the Southern Sotho Area, 1822–24.” Journal of African History 8, no. 1 (1967): 107–131. The wars of 1822–24 and the name “Mantatees.”[14]Bilby, Kenneth M. True-Born Maroons. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2005. Nanny, the Windward Maroons, Nanny Town, and the 1739 treaties. Compare how each one protected her people. Which strategies were similar, and which were different?
5. The lesson calls these seven queens a pattern. Do you agree? What would change in how history is taught if women like them were treated as a pattern and not as exceptions?

Quiz — The Warrior Queens

Part A: Select the best answer and check your work instantly. Part B: Write in complete sentences.

Part A — Multiple Choice

Part B — Short Answer

Extension Activity

Trace the Record: Choose one of the seven queens. Find one early source about her: the stela of Ahmose at Karnak, Strabo’s Geography, the Kano Chronicle, Portuguese records about Nzinga, the 1740 land grant to Nanny, or British records of the War of the Golden Stool. Then describe three things: (1) who wrote the source and when, (2) what the source says about her, and (3) whether the writer was on her side or against her. Then write two to three sentences explaining how the writer’s position shapes what the record says.