Powerful Queens of Africa: Untold Heroines

Today, we're diving into a part of history that doesn't get nearly enough attention: the powerful Queens of Africa. These women ruled Empires, led armies, and shaped the continent in ways we're only now starting to fully appreciate. Let's kick things off with Queen Amarus of Kush in what's now Sudan back in 24 BC. She went toe-to-toe with the Roman Empire! Yeah, you heard that right. When the Romans tried to take over her kingdom, she fought back hard and even led troops into battle herself despite losing an eye in the fighting. In the end, she forced Rome to sign a peace treaty on her terms - not bad for a forgotten queen!

Moving down to Angola, we've got Queen Nzinga who ruled in the 1600s and was a master diplomat and military strategist. When the Portuguese tried to turn her people into slaves, she outmaneuvered them at every turn. There's a famous story about how when they didn't offer her a chair at a meeting, she had one of her servants act as a human chair - talk about a power move! Now let's head up to Egypt and talk about Hatshepsut who ruled as Pharaoh for over 20 years way back in the 15th century BC.

Hatshepsut oversaw huge building projects and sent trading expeditions all the way to Somalia. But after she died, her successor tried to erase her from history by destroying her monuments and scratching out her name - it didn't work though! We still know how great she was today.

In West Africa, we've got Amina of Zaria who lived in the 15th-18th centuries in what's now Nigeria and was a fierce warrior queen. Amina led a huge army and expanded her kingdom's borders further than ever before; she is still remembered as a hero in Nigeria today.

Last but definitely not least, there's Kandake Amanitore of Nubia who ruled around the time of Jesus. Like a lot of these queens, she wasn't afraid to fight. Amanitore rebuilt temples destroyed in a war with Rome and left behind tons of pyramids and other monuments - yeah, African queens built pyramids too, not just the pharaohs!

So why don't we hear more about these amazing women? Well, a lot of it comes down to who's been writing the history books. For a long time, it was mostly European men who didn't pay much attention to African history, let