Editing Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba (section)

==Succession to power==

=== Nzinga's Embassy ===
In 1617, Ngola Mbandi Kiluanji died and Ngola Mbandi, his son and Nzinga's brother, came to power.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Njinga Mbandi biography {{!}} Women|url=https://en.unesco.org/womeninafrica/njinga-mbandi/biography|website=en.unesco.org|access-date=31 May 2020}}</ref> Upon assuming the throne, he engaged in months of political bloodletting, killing many rival claimants to the throne, including his older half-brother and their family.<ref name=":12">Heywood (2017) p. 44, 45</ref><ref name=":4" /> Thirty-five at the time, Nzingha was spared, but the new king ordered her young son killed while she and her two sisters were forcibly [[sterilization (medicine)|sterilized]], ensuring that she would never have a child again.<ref name=":12" /> According to some sources, Nzingha was singled out for harsh treatment as she had a longstanding rivalry with her brother.<ref name=":12" /> Perhaps fearing for her life, Nzinga fled to the [[Kingdom of Matamba]].<ref name=":6" />

Having consolidated his power, Mbandi vowed to continue the war against the Portuguese. However, he lacked military skill, and while he was able to form an alliance with the Imbangala, the Portuguese made significant military gains.<ref name=":13">Heywood (2017) p. 50</ref> Faced with the Portuguese threat, in 1621 he contacted Nzingha, asking her to be his emissary to the Portuguese in Luanda. She was the best fit for the job, as she was both of royal lineage and spoke fluent Portuguese. She agreed to lead the diplomatic mission with the stipulation that she be granted the authority to negotiate in the king's name and permission to be baptized – an important diplomatic tool she hoped to use against the Portuguese.<ref name=":13" /> Nzingha departed the Ndongan capital with a large retinue and was received with considerable interest in Luanda, compelling the Portuguese governor to pay for all of her party's expenses.<ref name=":14">Heywood (2017) p. 51</ref> While Ndongo leaders typically met the Portuguese in European clothing, she chose to wear opulent traditional clothing (including feathers and jewels) of the Ndongan people, to display that their culture was not inferior.<ref name=":17">Heywood (2017) p. 61, 62</ref> According to a popular story, when Nzingha arrived to meet with the Portuguese, there were chairs for the Portuguese officials but only a mat provided for her. This type of behavior from the Portuguese was common; it was their way of displaying a "subordinate status, a status reserved for conquered Africans." In response to this, Nzingha's attendant formed himself to be her chair while she spoke to the governor face to face.<ref name=":17" /> She employed flattery as a diplomatic tool, and according to some sources deliberately chose to contrast her brother's belligerent style with her own [[Decorum|diplomatic decorum]].<ref name=":17" />

As ambassador, Nzingha's main goal was to secure peace between her people and the Portuguese. To this end, she promised the Portuguese an end to hostilities (describing her brother's previous actions as the mistakes of a young king), allowed Portuguese slave traders inside Ndongo,<ref name=":8" /> and offered to return escaped Portuguese slaves fighting in her brother's army. In return, she demanded that Portugal remove the forts built inside Ndongan territory and was adamant that Ndongo would not pay tribute to Portugal, noting that only conquered peoples paid tribute and her people had not been defeated. She also expressed a desire for cooperation between the two kingdoms, noting that they could support each-other against their common enemies in the region.<ref name=":14" /> When the Portuguese questioned her commitment to peace, Nzingha offered to be publicly baptized, which she was with great aplomb in Luanda.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":6" /><ref>Baur, John. "2000 Years of Christianity in Africa – An African Church History" (Nairobi, 2009), {{ISBN|9966-21-110-1}}, pp. 74</ref> She adopted the name ''Dona Anna de Sousa'' in honor of her godparents, Ana da Silva (the governor's wife and her ordained [[Godparent|godmother]]) and Governor Joao Correia de Sousa.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":6" /> A peace treaty was subsequently agreed upon, and Nzingha returned to Kabasa in triumph in late 1622.<ref name=":15">Heywood (2017), p. 52, 53</ref>

Despite her success in the negotiations with the Portuguese, the peace between Ndongo and the Imbangala – themselves engaged in expanding their territory – collapsed.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web|title=Nbandi, Ana Nzinga "Queen Ginga"|url=https://oxfordaasc.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195301731.001.0001/acref-9780195301731-e-74658|access-date=30 March 2021|website=Oxford African American Studies Center|year=2016|language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.74658|last1=Kostiw|first1=Nicolette M.|isbn=9780195301731}}</ref> After a series of defeats, the Ndongan royal family was driven out of their court in Kabasa, putting the king in exile and allowing for some of the Imbangala to establish the [[Kasanje Kingdom|Kingdom of Kasanje]].<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":15" /> The Portuguese governor wanted to proceed with the treaty, but refused to aid Ndongo against the Imbangala until the king had recaptured Kabasa and been baptized.<ref name=":15" /><ref name=":6" /> King Mbandi retook Kabasa in 1623 and took tentative steps towards Christianity, but remained deeply distrustful of the Portuguese. An increasingly powerful figure in the royal court, Nzingha (in a possible political ploy)<ref name=":16">Heywood (2017) p. 54, 55, 61</ref> warned her brother that a baptism would offend his traditionalist supporters, convincing him to reject any idea of being baptized. In addition, the Portuguese began reneging on the treaty, refusing to withdraw from their fortresses inside Ndongo and conducting raids for loot and slaves into Ndongo's territory. By 1624, King Mbandi had fallen into a deep depression and was forced to cede many of his duties to Nzingha.<ref name=":16" />