Editing Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba (section)

=== Expansion and Dutch alliance ===
By the late 1630s, Nzinga had expanded her influence to the north and south of Matamba. Using her forces, she cut other rulers off from the Portuguese-controlled coast, capturing parts of the [[Kwango River]] and bringing the region's key slave supplying lands under her control. She also expanded her territory to the north, and in doing so established diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of the Kongo and Dutch merchants, who were increasingly active in the area. Nzinga also established a lucrative slave trade with the Dutch, who purchased as many as 13,000 slaves per year from Nzinga's kingdom.<ref name=":8" /><ref>Pieter Mortamer, report published in S. P. l'Honore Naber, ''<nowiki/>'Nota van Pieter Mortamer over het gewest Angola, i643''<nowiki/>', Bijdragen en Medeelingen van het Historisch Genootschap gevestigd te Utrecht, LIV, (1933), pp 1–42.</ref> She continued to occasionally send peace overtures to the Portuguese, even suggesting a military alliance with them, but only if they supported her return to Ndongo. She also refused to be re-admitted to the Christian faith, which became a point of contention between the two parties.<ref>Heywood (2017) p. 128-133</ref>

In 1641, forces from the [[Dutch West India Company]], working in alliance with the [[Kongo Empire|Kingdom of Kongo]], [[Capture of Luanda|seized Luanda]], driving out the Portuguese and setting up the directorate of [[Dutch Loango-Angola|Loango-Angola]]. The fall of Luanda was a major blow to the Portuguese, and Nzinga quickly dispatched an embassy to the Dutch-controlled city. Hoping to form an Afro-Dutch coalition against the Portuguese, Nzinga requested an immediate alliance and offered to open the slave trade to them, though she was concerned that the Kingdom of Kongo (her people's traditional northern rivals) was growing too powerful. The Dutch accepted her offer of an alliance and sent their own ambassador and soldiers (some of whom brought their wives) to her court, soon assisting her in her fight against the Portuguese. Having lost large amounts of territory and forced to retreat to [[Massangano]], the Portuguese governor attempted to make peace with Nzinga, but she refused these overtures.<ref name=":24">Heywood (2017) p. 133-136</ref> Nzingha moved her capital to Kavanga, in the northern part of Ndongo's former domains. The capture of Luanda also left Nzingha's kingdom as the pre-eminent, if temporary, slave-trading power in the region, allowing for her to build a sizeable war-camp (''kilombo'') of 80,000<ref name=":24" /> (a figure which included non-combatants)<ref name=":40">Thornton, John K. "The Art of War in Angola, 1575–1680." ''Comparative Studies in Society and History'' 30, no. 2 (1988): 360–78. {{JSTOR|178839}}.</ref> members, including mercenaries, escaped slaves, allies, and her own soldiers.<ref name=":8" />

Using the large size of her army, her new wealth and her famous reputation, Nzinga was able to reclaim large parts of Ndongo from 1641 to 1644.<ref name=":24" /> However, her expansionism caused alarm amongst other African kingdoms; in one infamous incident, she invaded the Wandu region of Kongo, which had been in revolt against the Kongolese king. Though these lands had never been part of Ndongo, Nzinga refused to withdraw and added the conquest to her kingdom, an act which greatly offended the Kongolese king, Garcia II.<ref name=":25">Heywood (2017) p. 138, 139, 142</ref><ref name=":39"/> The Dutch, hoping to preserve their alliance with both Kongo and Nzinga, brokered a peace, but relations between Nzinga and other regional leaders remained strained.<ref name=":25" /> In addition, her former husband and ally, Kasanje, feared her growing power in the region and formed a coalition of Imbangala leaders against Nzinga, invading her lands in Matamba (though they made little progress).<ref name=":25" /> By the mid-1640s, her successes had won her the support of many Ndongan nobles. With the nobility flocking to her side, Nzingha was able to collect more tribute (in the form of slaves) which she in turn sold to the Dutch in exchange for firearms, thereby increasing her military and economic power; by 1644, she considered Garcia II of the Kongo to be her only political equal in the region, while the Portuguese viewed her as their most potent adversary in Africa.<ref>Heywood (2017) p. 143, 144</ref>

In 1644, Nzinga defeated the Portuguese army at the Battle of Ngoleme. Then, in 1646, she was defeated by the Portuguese at the Battle of Kavanga and, in the process, her sister Kambu was recaptured, along with her archives, which revealed her alliance with [[Kongo people|Kongo]].<ref>Heywood (2017) p. 148</ref> These archives also showed that her captive sister, [[Funji of Ndongo|Funji]], had been in secret correspondence with Nzinga and had revealed coveted Portuguese plans to her. As a result of the woman's spying, the Portuguese reputedly drowned the sister in the [[Cuanza River|Kwanza River]].<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Masioni |first=Pat |display-authors=etal |date=2014 |title=Njinga Mbandi: Queen of Ndongo and Matamba |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000230103 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191015215226/https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000230103 |archive-date=15 October 2019 |website=UNESCO Digital Library}}</ref> The Dutch in Luanda sent Nzinga reinforcements, and with their help, Nzinga routed a Portuguese army in 1647 at the [[Battle of Kombi]].<ref name=":0" /> Nzinga then laid siege to the Portuguese capital of Massangano, isolating the Portuguese there; by 1648, Nzingha controlled much of her former kingdom, while her control over the slave trade increased the economic power of Matamba.<ref name=":9" /><ref name=":8" />

Despite these successes, the allies' control over Angola remained tenuous. Lacking artillery, Nzinga was unable to effectively break the Portuguese defenses at Massangano, while political infighting and developments in Europe weakened the Dutch forces in Angola.<ref name=":39" /> In August 1648 a Portuguese expedition, led by newly appointed governor Salvador Correia de Sá,<ref name=":38">{{Cite book|last=Heywood|first=Linda|title=Nzinga of Angola: Africa's Warrior Queen|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2017}}</ref> [[Recapture of Luanda|besieged Luanda]]. After suffering through a major Portuguese bombardment, on 24 August 1648 the Dutch commander sued for peace with the Portuguese and agreed to evacuate Angola.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Boxer|first=C. R.|date=1948|title=Salvador Correia de sá e Benevides and the Reconquest of Angola in 1648|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2507790|journal=The Hispanic American Historical Review|volume=28|issue=4|pages=483–513|doi=10.2307/2507790|jstor=2507790|issn=0018-2168|url-access=subscription}}</ref> When Nzinga's army and the remaining Dutch forces arrived outside Luanda, the peace between Dutch and Portuguese was signed, and unbeknownst to Nzinga, the Dutch forces sailed for Europe.<ref name=":38" /> Faced with a bolstered Portuguese garrison, Nzinga and her forces retreated to Matamba.<ref name=":8" /> Unlike previous decades however, after 1648 Nzinga concentrated her efforts on preventing a Portuguese push inland (as opposed to trying to re-conquer Ndongan territory), disrupting their soldiers and fomenting wars between smaller tribes and kingdoms.<ref name=":26">Heywood (2017) p. 160-165</ref><ref name=":8" />