Tembandumba was a ruler of the Jaga of what is now

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

. Tembandumba's mother was

Mussasa Mussasa was a 17th-century Jaga queen. Biography Mussasa was the wife of Donji, the governor of Matamba. Mussasa was known to be a fierce warrior and even to rival men of her time. Soon after the death of the King Zimbo, Mussasa's husband Donji ...

, whom she rebelled against and declared herself

queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

. After taking power, she organized the Jaga for war by demanding that infants be killed by their mothers and their bodies pounded into ointment, which was mixed with herbs. In order to enforce this decree, she assembled the tribe and pounded her own infant son to death on a mortar and prepared the ointment. She then rubbed it on her body, declaring that it would make her invulnerable. The women of the tribe immediately imitated her actions with their own children. She eventually encountered resistance to this practice in the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...

, and had to resort to using only male infants captured in war for the ointment. Tembandumba was described as being repulsive and having only one eye, having lost the other in battle. According to a 1910 European source, she would take lovers, but would kill them after a brief dalliance. She was eventually

poisoned A poison can be any substance that is harmful to the body. It can be swallowed, inhaled, injected or absorbed through the skin. Poisoning is the harmful effect that occurs when too much of that substance has been taken. Poisoning is not t ...

by one of her lovers.

External links

"The Amazons: Chapter VII: Amazons of Africa" URL accessed 08/04/06
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Succession

{{s-end African women in war 17th-century monarchs in Africa 17th-century women rulers Angolan rebels Women rulers in Africa Queens regnant in Africa Rebellions in Africa Women in 17th-century warfare Deaths by poisoning