kingdom · Central and Southern Africa

Kingdom of Matamba

1550 CE – 1909 CE (approx.) · capital Santa Maria de Matamba

An Mbundu kingdom east of Ndongo, often ruled by women, which Queen Njinga made the base of her long resistance to Portugal.

Origins

Matamba lay in the upper Kwango valley and was a tributary of the Kingdom of Kongo in the early 16th century. It was ruled by queens in the later 16th century. Around 1631 Njinga Mbande, driven out of the Kingdom of Ndongo, conquered Matamba and made it the centre of her state.

Rule and society

Njinga ruled with the support of Imbangala warriors, trading captives to the Dutch during their occupation of Luanda and later to the Portuguese after the peace of 1656. She accepted Christian missionaries, and Santa Maria de Matamba became her capital. After her death in 1663 her sister Barbara and later rulers continued the line, and the kingdom served as a slave-trading intermediary between the interior and Portuguese Angola.

Decline and legacy

Matamba remained independent through the 18th and 19th centuries, sometimes at war with Portugal or the Kingdom of Kasanje. Portuguese forces finally occupied it in 1909, and it was absorbed into Portuguese Angola.

Connections (4)

More states of Central and Southern Africa →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Kingdom of Matamba. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-matamba
MLA
“Kingdom of Matamba.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-matamba. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Kingdom of Matamba.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-matamba.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Kingdom of Matamba’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-matamba (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻