An authoritative survey of female regency in African kingdoms, from the Kushite Kandake to the Swazi Indlovukazi, examining evidence, political structures, ritual power, military leadership, and modern legacies.
An authoritative examination of the eLangeni chieftaincy, the maternal polity of Queen Nandi, and how its genealogical, political, and ritual resources shaped the contested legitimacy of Shaka kaSenzangakhona in precolonial southeastern Africa.
In the Kingdom of Dahomey (c. 1600–1894), political power was deliberately doubled: every major male office had a female counterpart who monitored, advised, and sometimes overruled the king’s men. This article examines the evidence for this paired bureaucracy, the spiritual and legal authority of female officials such as the kpojito and ahosi, and the system’s transformation under colonial rule. Drawing on oral traditions, palace arts, and critical readings of European sources, it centres Fon concepts of complementary governance.
The Sarauniya was a Hausa title of female sovereignty, ritual authority, and military command in precolonial northern Nigeria and southern Niger. From Magajiya Daurama of Daura to the warrior Queen Amina of Zazzau, its holders shaped state formation, trade, and spiritual life. This article examines the title’s origins, powers, transformations, and contested legacy.
An authoritative overview of the Asantehemaa, the paramount queen mother of the Asante people of Ghana. The article examines her origins, political structure, succession, spiritual authority, regalia, colonial resistance, and modern legacy, centring Akan oral traditions and matrilineal governance.
In Akan states of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, the Queen Mother (Ohemaa) is a co-sovereign whose constitutional authority is indispensable to the selection and destoolment of chiefs. Rooted in matrilineal descent, her power derives from her position as senior woman of the royal lineage, keeper of the ancestral stool, and guardian of dynastic legitimacy. This article examines the political, legal, ritual, and historical dimensions of her role from precolonial times to the present.
This article examines the role of Ceddo women as military commanders within the riverine navy of the Waalo kingdom, focusing on their leadership during anti-colonial resistance in the 19th century. Drawing on oral traditions, colonial records, and recent scholarship, it reconstructs the political, social, and spiritual dimensions of female military authority along the Senegal River. The analysis centres indigenous concepts of power and sovereignty, highlighting the strategic importance of riverine warfare and the enduring legacy of these women in Senegambian memory.
The Kano Chronicle is the most cited written king-list of the Hausa state of Kano, yet its patrilineal focus has long obscured the political agency of women. This article examines how the Chronicle records, silences, and indirectly preserves the memory of women rulers such as Queen Amina of Zazzau, Queen Daurama of Daura, and the holders of the Magajiya office, reading the text alongside oral traditions, praise poetry, and material culture.
The matrilineal belt of Central Africa is a vast region where descent, inheritance, and political succession pass through the mother’s line. This article examines the ecological, economic, and historical forces that shaped this distinctive kinship system, focusing on the absence of cattle, the centrality of female hoe agriculture, and male mobility in trade and warfare. Drawing on oral traditions, archaeology, and comparative ethnography, it offers a nuanced account of why matriliny became so deeply rooted in this part of the continent.
The Iyalode is the most senior female chief in many Yoruba kingdoms, wielding authority over markets, trade networks, and women’s affairs. Distinct from the queen mother, her power rests on economic leadership and collective recognition rather than royal birth. This article explores the origins, governance roles, legal authority, and enduring legacy of the Iyalode institution across Yorubaland.