Passion or Profession: queen

Period: c. 1582–1663

Celebrated today as an Angolan heroine, Jinga was the sister of Ngoli Bbondi, the king of the Ndongo, and ascended to the throne upon his death in 1624. She spent most of her rule fighting against the expansion of the Portuguese slave trade, at one point allying herself with the Dutch. After crucial defeats, Jinga eventually signed a treaty with the Portuguese in the late 1650s.