Queen Nefertari
Queen Nefertari is also known as Nefertari Meritmut, she was an Egyptian queen and favourite Royal Consort of Pharaoh Ramses II, King of Ancient Egypt in the 19th Dynasty.
Born within 1301 BC in Egypt, Nefertari and King Ramsey were married for at least 25 years during which she gave birth to his first son and first daughter.
Tales have it that she was favoured over the king’s other wives because it is Nefertari who appears prominently on monuments built by him.
A temple was dedicated at Abu Simbel in Nubia in her honour and she is famous for her decorated tomb in the Valley of the Queens.
Queen Nzinga of Ambundu (Angola)
Queen Nzinga received military and political training as a child born into a ruling family. She defeated the Portuguese for the Independence of her people.
Following her death, she became a historical figure in Angola remembered for her intelligence, diplomatic and political wisdom, and brilliant military tactics.
Dedicated to her in Kinaxixi square is a statue where women often go to pray and get married.
Queen Nandi daughter of Bhebhe
Queen Nandi was a past chief of the Langeni nation and the mother of the famous King Shaka of the Zulus who is one of the greatest Zulu chiefs and African military leaders to have lived.
With Queen Nandi who ruled beside her son who never got married, Zulu became a more powerful, even legendary, military force.
An all-female regiment was established in Zulu in Queen Nandi’s honour.
Empress Menem Asfaw
Empress Menen Asfaw was born in Ethiopia, 1869 and married the great regent Ras Tafari in 1911.
Fresh in Ras Tafari’s reign an army revolt happened where he was taken hostage and Empress Menem by herself drove a tank through the garrison gates to free her husband and became Emperor Hailie Selassie III’s closest advisor in 1914.
There are reports that she’s the only monarch in history that the British Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles ever bowed to.
Queen Amina of Zazzau
Queen Amina a warrior Hausa queen of the city-state Zazzau, in today’s north-west region of Nigeria who ruled in the sixteenth century and was born in 1533, Zaria, Kaduna state.
She was the first woman to become queen in a male-controlled society. Even though her father had a peaceful reign, Amina spent her time training her military skills with the warriors of the Zazzau cavalry and landed her people many victories.
Today, there are ancient fortified walls named after her in Northern Nigeria.