À partir de XVIIᵉ siècle
Kavango River region, northern Namibia
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
The Kwangali and Shambyu polities were political communities along the Kavango River in which monarchies, often ruled by queens, developed before the nineteenth century. Their institutions connected royal authority with land, fertility, production, ritual, and matrilineal succession. The extract emphasizes the prominence of female rulers in this region, especially among the Kwangali and Shambyu, while also describing political instability and contested succession.
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Along the Kavango River, monarchies were established from west to east by the Kwangali, Mbunza, Shambyu, Gciriku, and Mbukushu. The Kwangali and Shambyu polities are especially notable in the account because queens frequently ruled and genealogies preserve substantial numbers of female rulers. Their political systems developed within a broader landscape of migration, incorporation, and contact with neighboring kingdoms.
Royal authority included claims over land, production, fertility, and ritual. Monarchs regulated harvests, stored grain, directed expeditions, and controlled important resources, while initiation ceremonies and sacred practices connected political power to the fertility of the kingdom. Yet rulers did not possess uncontested authority: advisers and royal relatives could influence succession, and the selection of a monarch from matrilineal relatives created recurring instability.
Women held distinctive rights and responsibilities in these matrilineal societies. Inheritance passed from mother to daughter, women exercised autonomy in local politics and ritual, and elite women could hold formal and informal power. Traditions record around seven queens and ten kings in Ukwangali up to the mid-twentieth century, while the account of Queen Mushinga presents a positive image of female rulership in the nineteenth-century Shambyu.
À partir de XVIIᵉ siècle
Kavango River region, northern Namibia
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
The Kwangali and Shambyu polities were political communities along the Kavango River in which monarchies, often ruled by queens, developed before the nineteenth century. Their institutions connected royal authority with land, fertility, production, ritual, and matrilineal succession. The extract emphasizes the prominence of female rulers in this region, especially among the Kwangali and Shambyu, while also describing political instability and contested succession.
Poursuivre l’exploration
Le récit
Along the Kavango River, monarchies were established from west to east by the Kwangali, Mbunza, Shambyu, Gciriku, and Mbukushu. The Kwangali and Shambyu polities are especially notable in the account because queens frequently ruled and genealogies preserve substantial numbers of female rulers. Their political systems developed within a broader landscape of migration, incorporation, and contact with neighboring kingdoms.
Royal authority included claims over land, production, fertility, and ritual. Monarchs regulated harvests, stored grain, directed expeditions, and controlled important resources, while initiation ceremonies and sacred practices connected political power to the fertility of the kingdom. Yet rulers did not possess uncontested authority: advisers and royal relatives could influence succession, and the selection of a monarch from matrilineal relatives created recurring instability.
Women held distinctive rights and responsibilities in these matrilineal societies. Inheritance passed from mother to daughter, women exercised autonomy in local politics and ritual, and elite women could hold formal and informal power. Traditions record around seven queens and ten kings in Ukwangali up to the mid-twentieth century, while the account of Queen Mushinga presents a positive image of female rulership in the nineteenth-century Shambyu.