Nzinga of Matamba "She was a fierce anticolonial warrior, a militant fighter, a woman holding power in a male-dominated society, and she laid the basis for successful Angolan resistance to Portuguese colonialism all the way into the twentieth century,” -Aurora Levins Morales A 17th century African Monarch, Nzinga received her name because at birth, the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. It was said that the person who had this particular characteristic would grow to