Queen Regnant Binao of Bemihisatra, Madagascar (1879/80-1923)

Succeeded her mother Safy Mozongo of Bemihisatra (1869-79/80). In 1883, the French began a war of punitive expedition against the Merina, the fortresses of Anorontsanga and Ambodiladiro were bombed and destroyed, and Majunga was taken in turn with the help of her fighters.

In 1895, the French launched yet another war of annexations and colonial conquest against Merina again with her the assistance and the following year General Galliéni was appointed by the French Governor of Madagascar. She was succeeded by her brother, Amada I (1923-1963). She (d. 1923)

Source: www.guide2womenleaders.com/wome…/Womeninpower1870.htm

Queen Ohan Akenzua

Queen Ohan Akenzua, royal wife of Oba Akenzua II, on trip to London, England Photographer unknown, c. 1956 Modern print from glass plate copy negative Chief S.O. Alonge Collection EEPA 2009-007-0016

Her Majesty Queen Mother Ntombi of Swaziland

Queen Ntombi of Swaziland, born c. 1950, has been the Indlovukazi (Great She-Elephant) and Joint Head of State of Swaziland since 1986. She was also regent of Swaziland from 1983 to 1986. She was born Ntombi laTwala. She is the mother of King Mswati III.

Queen Mothers of Africa and Their Daughters on Facebook

Yaa Asantewaa Ghana

Yaa Asantewaa (c. 1840–17 October 1921) (pronounced YAA A-san-TE-WAA) was appointed queen mother of Ejisu in the Ashanti Empire—now part of modern-day Ghana—by her brother Nana Akwasi Afrane Okpese, the Ejisuhene—or ruler of Ejisu. In 1900, she led the Ashanti rebellion known as the War of the Golden Stool, also known as the Yaa Asantewaa war, against British colonialism.

Prelude to rebellion

During her brother's reign, Yaa Asantewaa saw the Asante Confederacy go through a series of events that threatened its future, including civil war from 1883 to 1888. When her brother died in 1894, Yaa Asantewaa used her right as Queen Mother to nominate her own grandson as Ejisuhene. When the British exiled him in the Seychelles in 1896, along with the King of Asante Prempeh I and other members of the Asante government, Yaa Asantewaa became regent of the Ejisu-Juaben District. After the deportation of Prempeh I, the British governor-general of the Gold Coast, Frederick Hodgson, demanded the Golden Stool, the symbol of the Asante nation.

This request led to a secret meeting of the remaining members of the Asante government at Kumasi, to discuss how to secure the return of their king. There was a disagreement among those present on how to go about this. Yaa Asantewaa, who was present at this meeting, stood and addressed the members of the council with these now-famous words: Now I see that some of you fear to go forward to fight for our king. If it was in the brave days of Osei Tutu, Okomfo Anokye, and Opoku Ware I, chiefs would not sit down to see their king to be taken away without firing a shot.

No European could have dared speak to chiefs of Asante in the way the governor spoke to you this morning. Is it true that the bravery of Asante is no more? I cannot believe it. It cannot be! I must say this: if you, the men of Asante, will not go forward, then we will. We, the women, will. I shall call upon my fellow women. We will fight! We will fight till the last of us falls in the battlefields.[2]

With this, she took on leadership of the Asante Uprising of 1900, gaining the support of some of the other Asante nobility.

The rebellion and its aftermath

Beginning in March 1900, the rebellion laid siege to the fort at Kumasi where the British had sought refuge. The fort still stands today as the Kumasi Fort and Military Museum. After several months, the Gold Coast governor eventually sent a force of 1,400 to quell the rebellion. During the course of this, Queen Yaa Asantewaa and 15 of her closest advisers were captured, and they too were sent into exile to the Seychelles.[3] The rebellion represented the final war in the Anglo-Asante series of wars that lasted throughout the 19th century. On 1 January 1902, the British were finally able to accomplish what the Asante army had denied them for almost a century, and the Asante empire was made a protectorate of the British crown.

Yaa Asantewaa died in exile in the Seychelles on 17 October 1921. Three years after her death, on 27 December 1924, Prempeh I and the other remaining members of the exiled Asante court were allowed to return to Asante. Prempeh I made sure that the remains of Yaa Asantewaa and the other exiled Asantes were returned for a proper royal burial. Yaa Asantewaa's dream for an Asante free of British rule was realized on 6 March 1957, when the Asante protectorate gained independence as part of Ghana, the first African nation in Subsaharan Africa to achieve this feat.

Social roles of Asante women

The confrontation of a woman, serving as political and military head of an empire, was foreign to British colonial troops in 19th century Africa. Yaa Asantewaa's call upon the women of the Asante Empire is based upon the political obligations of the Akan women and their respective roles in legislative and judicial processes. The hierarchy of male stools among the Akan people were complimented by female counterparts. Within the village, elders known as (mpanyimfo) heads of the matrilineages, constituted with the village council known as the ôdekuro.

These women known as the mpanyinfo referred to aberewa or ôbaa panyin, to look after women's affairs. For every ôdekuro, an ôbaa panyin acted as the responsible party for the affairs of the women of the village and served as a member of the village council. The head of a division, the ôhene and the head of the autonomous political community, the ômanhene, had their female counterparts known as the ôhemma: a female ruler who sat on their councils. The ôhemma and ôhene were all of the same mogya, blood or localized matrilineage.

The occupant of the female stool in the Kumasi state, the Asantehemma, and therefore, the united Asante, since her male counterpart was ex officio of the Asanthene, was a member of the Ktôtôkô Council, the Executive Committee or Cabinet of the Asanteman Nhyiamu, General Assembly of Asante rulers. Female stool occupants participated in not only the judicial and legislative processes, but also in the making and unmaking of war, and the distribution of land.

Source: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaa_Asantewaa

Queen 'Masenate Mohato Seeiso Lesotho

 

 

Queen 'Masenate Mohato Seeiso (born June 2, 1976) is the Queen Consort of King Letsie III of Lesotho. She was born as Anna Karabo Mots'oeneng in Mapoteng in the Berea District the eldest child of Theki...so Mots'oeneng and his wife 'Makarabo. In 1990 Queen 'Masenate enrolled at the Machabeng International College in Maseru and studied there until 1996. In 1997 she attended the National University of Lesotho and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree.

King Peggy Ghana

Peggielene Bartels was born in Ghana in 1953 and moved to Washington, D.C., in her early twenties to work at Ghana's embassy. She became an American citizen in 1997. In 2008, she was chosen to be King of Otuam, a Ghanaian village of 7,000 souls on the west coast of Africa.

Mission:

An important part of my mission as King of Otuam is to bring empowerment to women. I truly believe that the future of Africa lies in the hands of its women. Women, who nurture the children and take care of resources for the entire family, must be educated to bring these gifts to their communities. In Africa, more and more women each year are entering university, politics, and business. I hope that more women will become kings like me.

My main mission is to bring Otuam into a prosperous future, to make it a modern, healthful place to live and work. It already has many advantages: beautiful weather, lovely beaches, an ocean teeming with fish, rich soil, and friendly, hardworking people. But it needs greater access to clean water, improved medical care and educational institutions, repaved roads, hygienic toilets, and many other basic necessities of life.

We in the United States often take for granted all the blessings we have. We can turn on our taps and have water, hot or cold, instantly. We can push the toilet handle and boom! There it goes. We can call 911 and have an ambulance at our door within minutes providing the best medical care on the planet. Children, no matter how poor their families, receive a free education through high school. We can all go to the local library and choose from among thousands of books to read for free. But many people in the world don't have these blessings. They suffer needlessly, and in some cases, they die young for lack of basic resources and medical care.

Helping the world's poorest people is a double blessing; certainly the people in need are blessed when they receive food, vaccinations, clean water, and education. But it is perhaps even more of a blessing to those who give.

You can endeavor to bring blessings to others. There is so much suffering in this world, so much scarcity and injustice, that there is no lack of work for you to do and countless worthy organizations you can help in a variety of ways. So please, when reading my story, ask yourself how you can help your less fortunate brothers and sisters. For we are all brothers and sisters, spiritually and genetically. If you are born to some prosperity, you are fortunate for two reasons: you have many physical comforts, and you are in a position to help others who do not.

Source: www.kingpeggy.com

Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem II Ghana

The most honoured guest at the Asantehene (King of Asante) jubilee is the queen mother, she arrives surrounded by fan bearers. She is known as Asantehemaa, the true mother of the nation, the most powerful woman in matrilineal society, and is responsible for the selections of the heir apparent.

Source: www.aluka.org/action/showContentImage?doi=10.5555%2FAL.CH.DOCUMENT.BFACP1B10175

Queen Yodit Gudit Ethiopia

Gudit (Ge'ez: Yodit, Judith) is a semi-legendary, non-Christian, Beta Israel queen (flourished c.960) who laid waste to Axum and its countryside, destroyed churches and monuments, and attempted to exterminate the members of the ruling Axumite dynasty[citation needed]. Her deeds are recorded in the oral tradition and mentioned incidentally in various historical accounts.

Abreha and Atsbeha Church

Information about Gudit is contradictory and incomplete. Paul B. Henze wrote, "She is said to have killed the emperor, ascended the throne herself, and reigned for 40 years.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gudit

The Warrior Queens of Dahomey

The kingdom of Dahomey, now called Republique du Benin is located in Western Africa, bordered by Togo on the west and Nigeria on the east. Dahomey has a unique feature in its history that reads like something out of Greek mythology – they had Africa’s most well known corps of female warriors.

The origins of the female warrior corps of Dahomey called the Mino, is traced to the 1600s when they were established by King Wegbaja who originally recruited and trained them to be elephant hunters. They later became part of the King’s elite personal guards and then served as community police, palace guards and later transforming into warriors by dint of bravery and training during the 1800s. The women were selected out of groups of volunteering women who wanted a way out of the difficult marriages. Their numbers later swelled by those taken prisoners during war. The women were said to be married to the King to ensure their allegiance and loyalty. They defended him with their lives. The Mino women were tough and accustomed to suffering, fighting fearlessly and never beating a retreat.

Mino Warriors of Dahomey

According to some history, the women spoke of their lives thus: ‘We are men not women. Whatever town is to be attacked we must overcome it or we bury ourselves in its ruins’.

In his 1891 account “Three months in captivity in Dahomey” E. Chaudoin describes them as follows:

“There they are, 4,000 warriors, the 4,000 black virgins of Dahomey, the monarch’s bodyguard, motionless in their war garments, with gun and knife in hand, ready to leap forward at the master’s signal.

Old or young, ugly or beautiful, they are wonderful to look at. They are as well built as the male warriors and their attitude is just as disciplined and correct, lined up as though against a rope“. Other accounts placed their numbers at about 6000.

The fighting skills of the Mino warriors were first recorded by Missionaries in Abeokuta, western Nigeria who observed them in battle when they attacked that city in the Old Oyo Empire in 1851. Although the armies of Dahomey lost their expedition against the walled city of Abeokuta, the Mino warriors distinguished themselves from their male counterparts by being the only regiment to breach the walled city. They were also observed in battle by the colonial French military, who routed the armies of Dahomey with their fire power in 1892. The colonial army noted the capability of the female warriors. “Armed with double-bladed knives and Winchester rifles, [the Warrior Queens of Dahomey] perform wonders of bravery…” (Captain Jouvelet, 1894). The Mino corps was disbanded by King Agoli Agbo, the last monarch of the kingdom of Dahomey soon after the war when he went into self exile.

Source: www.Feelnubia.com