The Warrior Queens — Teacher Resources

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The Warrior Queens

Seven Queens Who Led Their People Across Three Thousand Years — Teacher Resources

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

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Quiz — The Warrior Queens

PART A — MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. What does the stela of King Ahmose say Queen Ahhotep did?

B) She cared for the soldiers, brought back those who had fled, and restored order in the south.

Students should be able to state what the stela actually says: she cared for the soldiers of Kemet, brought back those who had fled, and restored order in the south. These words come from her own son, King Ahmose, on a stone stela he raised in the temple of Karnak — a public, official record of a queen’s role in wartime. [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. Students who answer A, C, or D are attaching events from other eras or other queens to Ahhotep: the first pyramid was built more than a thousand years before her, the peace with Rome belongs to Kush, and the lesson records no march into Kush by Ahhotep.

2. What royal title did the ruling queens of Kush hold?

C) Kandake.

Students should be able to identify Kandake as the royal title of a ruling queen of Kush. Roman writers turned the title into the name Candace, which is why Strabo calls the queen who fought Rome “Candace” rather than 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. Students who answer A, B, or D are naming titles from other kingdoms or other eras, not the title of the queens of Kush.

3. How did the war between Kush and Rome end?

C) Kushite envoys met Augustus, and Rome canceled the tribute it had demanded.

Students should be able to describe how the war ended: Kushite envoys traveled to meet Augustus on the island of Samos, and Augustus granted their requests and canceled the tribute Rome had demanded. Even after Petronius attacked Napata, Kush did not give up — the Kandake herself marched against the Roman fort with many thousands of troops. [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. Students who answer A, B, or D are contradicting Strabo’s own account: Rome did not conquer Kush, a settlement was reached, and the tribute was canceled, not doubled.

4. According to the Kano Chronicle, how many years did Amina’s conquests extend over?

B) 34 years.

Students should be able to state the Kano Chronicle’s figure precisely: “Her conquests extended over 34 years.” The Chronicle also records that Zazzau under Queen Amina conquered all the towns as far as Kwararafa and Nupe and that every town paid tribute to her. Students should note that the 34 years refers to her conquests as the Chronicle records them. [9]Palmer, H.R., trans. “The Kano Chronicle.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 38 (1908): 58–98. Queen Amina’s conquests. Students who answer A, C, or D are giving figures that do not appear in the source.

5. Which two kingdoms did Nzinga rule?

C) Ndongo and Matamba.

Students should be able to name both kingdoms and explain how they connect: Nzinga Mbande became ruler of Ndongo in the 1620s, and when Portuguese forces and their allies drove her from her capital, she took control of Matamba and made it the base of her resistance. [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. Students who answer A, B, or D are naming kingdoms and places from other parts of this lesson — Kush and Kemet, Asante and Ejisu, Zazzau and Kano.

6. What did the 1740 land grant give to Nanny and her people?

A) Five hundred acres of land.

Students should be able to state that the 1740 land grant gave five hundred acres to Nanny and the people living with her. The grant is held in the Jamaica Archives at Spanish Town (Patent Vol. 22, Folio 15B). It is a written record that a free Maroon community had secured land of its own after years of resisting British forces. [15]Land Patent to Nanny, 1740. Patent Vol. 22, Folio 15B. Jamaica Archives, Spanish Town. Grant of five hundred acres. Students who answer B, C, or D are describing rewards that do not appear in the record.

7. In 1900, what did the British governor demand from the Asante?

B) The Golden Stool.

Students should be able to identify the Golden Stool and explain why the demand mattered: the Golden Stool is the sacred symbol of the Asante nation, and the Asante hold that it carries the soul of the nation. When Governor Frederick Hodgson demanded it in 1900, Yaa Asantewaa, Queen Mother of Ejisu, led the war that followed. The British exiled her, but they 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.[18]Rattray, R.S. Ashanti. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1923. The Golden Stool and the office of the Queen Mother. Students who answer A, C, or D are missing the specific object at the center of the War of the Golden Stool.

PART B — SHORT ANSWER KEY POINTS

Question 8. Using at least two specific details from the lesson, explain how Amanirenas and the armies of Kush brought Rome to the negotiating table — and explain why the bronze head of Augustus buried beneath a temple stairway matters.

A strong answer should include:

  • At least two specific details: around 25 BCE the armies of Kush struck first, attacking the Roman frontier at Aswan and pulling down statues of Augustus; Petronius marched against thirty thousand Kushite troops and attacked Napata; the Kandake herself then marched against the Roman fort with many thousands of troops; Kushite envoys met Augustus on Samos, and he canceled the tribute Rome 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.
  • How Kush reached the negotiating table: Kush kept fighting after Rome’s counterattack. Continued pressure on Rome’s southern frontier ended not in conquest but in a settlement in which, as Strabo writes, the envoys “obtained everything they pled for”
  • Why the bronze head matters: it is physical evidence that matches Strabo’s account of statues being taken. Burying the emperor’s head beneath the steps of a temple meant that every person who climbed those steps walked over it. The head was excavated in 1910 and is now 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.
  • Strong answers will note: Strabo was writing from the Roman side, yet even his account records Kush taking the initiative and Rome canceling the tribute

Question 9. Using at least two specific details from the lesson, explain how Mmanthatisi and Nanny each kept their people together. What do their stories show about leadership that goes beyond the battlefield?

A strong answer should include:

  • At least two specific details: Mmanthatisi became regent for her young son Sekonyela in 1813, led the Batlokwa through the upheaval that followed the war of 1822, and kept them together as a people; Nanny led the Windward Maroons of Jamaica’s Blue Mountains, a town carried her name, the British agreed to treaties of peace in 1739, and a 1740 land grant gave five hundred acres to Nanny and the people living with 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.”[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.
  • Leadership beyond the battlefield: both women kept a people intact under pressure — through displacement in Mmanthatisi’s case, and through years of attack followed by a secured land grant in Nanny’s. Holding a community together, and securing a place for it to live, is leadership as much as winning a fight
  • Strong answers will compare: Mmanthatisi held authority on behalf of her son as regent; Nanny led a free community of Africans who had escaped slavery. Both faced powerful outside forces
  • Strong answers will note: each woman’s name became attached to her people or her land — English writers called the whole Batlokwa nation the Mantatees, and a Maroon town was named Nanny Town — which shows how central each leader was

Question 10. Using at least two specific details from the lesson, explain why the lesson calls these seven queens a pattern and not a set of rare exceptions — and explain who benefits when women like them are left out of history.

A strong answer should include:

  • At least two specific details: the seven queens span about three thousand years and two continents — Ahhotep around 1550 BCE, Amanirenas around 25 BCE, Amina in the 1400s or 1500s, Nzinga in the 1600s, Nanny in the 1720s and 1730s, Mmanthatisi in the 1810s and 1820s, and Yaa Asantewaa in 1900 [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.[14]Bilby, Kenneth M. True-Born Maroons. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2005. Nanny, the Windward Maroons, Nanny Town, and the 1739 treaties.[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.
  • Why a pattern: they come from different peoples, regions, and centuries and faced different powers — the foreign rulers in Kemet, Rome, Portugal, and Britain — yet each led her people through war or the threat of it. One example can be dismissed as an exception; seven across three thousand years cannot
  • Who benefits when they are left out: strong answers will consider whose version of history survives. Many written records about these women were produced by the powers they fought — Strabo’s Roman account, Portuguese records about Nzinga, and British records of the War of the Golden Stool. A history that leaves these women out keeps the focus on those powers and presents African women as absent from leadership
  • Strong answers will connect: this question to the Extension Activity — tracing who wrote each record, when, and whose side the writer was on

Sources & Footnotes

  1. [1] Budge, E.A. Wallis. An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary. London: John Murray, 1920. Documentation of Kemet (km.t) as The Black Land.
  2. [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.
  3. [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.”
  4. [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.
  5. [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.
  6. [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.
  7. [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.
  8. [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.
  9. [9] Palmer, H.R., trans. “The Kano Chronicle.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 38 (1908): 58–98. Queen Amina’s conquests.
  10. [10] Sweetman, David. Women Leaders in African History. London: Heinemann, 1984. Queen Amina and the walls credited to her.
  11. [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.
  12. [12] Ellenberger, D. Fred. History of the Basuto, Ancient and Modern. London: Caxton Publishing, 1912. The Batlokwa and Queen Mmanthatisi.
  13. [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. [14] Bilby, Kenneth M. True-Born Maroons. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2005. Nanny, the Windward Maroons, Nanny Town, and the 1739 treaties.
  15. [15] Land Patent to Nanny, 1740. Patent Vol. 22, Folio 15B. Jamaica Archives, Spanish Town. Grant of five hundred acres.
  16. [16] Jamaica Information Service. “National Heroes.” Nanny of the Maroons, Jamaica’s only female National Hero.
  17. [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. [18] Rattray, R.S. Ashanti. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1923. The Golden Stool and the office of the Queen Mother.

Note on This Lesson

In their own words: Ahmose’s stela at Karnak says of his mother: “She has looked after Egypt’s troops and she has guarded them. She has brought back the fugitives and collected together the deserters. She has pacified Upper Egypt and expelled her rebels.” (“Egypt” is the translator’s word for Kemet.) [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.

Strabo writes that the Kushite forces “pulled down the statues of Caesar,” that Petronius set out “against thirty thousand men,” and that among the captured were “the generals of Queen Candacê, who was ruler of the Aethiopians in my time — a masculine sort of woman, and blind in one eye.” Of the envoys at Samos he writes: “when the ambassadors had obtained everything they pled for, he even remitted the tributes which he had imposed” (Geography 17.1.54). [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.

The Kano Chronicle: “At this time Zaria, under Queen Amina, conquered all the towns as far as Kworarafa and Nupe. Every town paid tribute to her. … Her conquests extended over 34 years.” [9]Palmer, H.R., trans. “The Kano Chronicle.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 38 (1908): 58–98. Queen Amina’s conquests.

The 1740 land patent to Nanny is held in the Jamaica Archives at Spanish Town (Patent Vol. 22, Folio 15B). [15]Land Patent to Nanny, 1740. Patent Vol. 22, Folio 15B. Jamaica Archives, Spanish Town. Grant of five hundred acres. Yaa Asantewaa’s words at the 1900 council come down through Asante oral tradition. [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.

The images in this lesson are illustrations created for teaching. They are not photographs of historical people or documents.

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