WEBVTT - Queenly

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of

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<v Speaker 1>iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of

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<v Speaker 1>the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all

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<v Speaker 1>of these amazing tales are right there on display, just

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<v Speaker 1>waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.

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<v Speaker 1>It was the morning of August ninth of nineteen eighty

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<v Speaker 1>six in the neighborhood of Headington, Oxford. It was an

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<v Speaker 1>unassuming place, suburban with cookie cutter houses lining a quaint street,

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<v Speaker 1>a perfectly ordinary British suburb. On that morning, though, something

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<v Speaker 1>had changed. By eight o'clock, a small crowd had gathered

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<v Speaker 1>outside of a two story brickhouse on New High Street,

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<v Speaker 1>and everyone was looking up. Planted in the roof of

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<v Speaker 1>the building was a twenty five foot tall sculpture of

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<v Speaker 1>a great white shark, its head embedded into the shingles.

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<v Speaker 1>It looked as if it had dropped their head first.

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<v Speaker 1>There was no mystery where the shark came from. Standing

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<v Speaker 1>beside it on the roof for two men, one of

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<v Speaker 1>them an American ex pat named Bill Hayne, who owned

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<v Speaker 1>the house, and the other man was John Buckley, a

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<v Speaker 1>British sculptor who had crafted the shark. The creators of

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<v Speaker 1>this piece of art referred to it only as untitled

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen eighty six. It was, at least according to its creators,

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<v Speaker 1>a political statement set up on the anniversary of the

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<v Speaker 1>bombing of Nagasaki. It was supposed to represent death coming

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<v Speaker 1>suddenly from above onto the heads of innocent civilians, like

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<v Speaker 1>a shark lunging at its prey from the murky darkness

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<v Speaker 1>of the ocean. Of course, not everyone believed that this

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<v Speaker 1>was the intent. Skeptics suspected that Hayn put up the

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<v Speaker 1>artwork in order to hide an antenna of some kind,

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<v Speaker 1>or as a rank for his neighbors. But these loan

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<v Speaker 1>speculators were not the statue's primary enemy. No, that would

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<v Speaker 1>be the Oxford City Council. The council took an immediate

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<v Speaker 1>dislike to the shark. They thought that it was an

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<v Speaker 1>eyesore on the otherwise pleasant looking row of houses. They

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<v Speaker 1>were also annoyed that Hain and Buckley had not gotten

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<v Speaker 1>any permits to put such a visible statue up, and

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<v Speaker 1>for years the city council and Hayne went to war

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<v Speaker 1>over this statue. Council members created a petition to have

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<v Speaker 1>it removed and asked everyone in the district to sign.

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<v Speaker 1>They even solicited signatures from local retirement homes. Meanwhile, Hain

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<v Speaker 1>held a birthday every year for the statue, which his

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<v Speaker 1>neighbors attended in droves. In nineteen ninety, as a peacemaking solution,

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<v Speaker 1>Haynes sent a petition to the council asking for retroactive

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<v Speaker 1>permission for this statue. The council refused, though, stating that

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<v Speaker 1>they could not approve a statue that so disruptive to

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<v Speaker 1>the neighborhood. It must be taking down, they said. After that,

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<v Speaker 1>Haynes's petition went all the way to the Department of

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<v Speaker 1>the Environment. A representative there agreed that the shark was

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<v Speaker 1>quite disruptive visually, but said that this was clearly the

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<v Speaker 1>point of the artwork and allowed it to stay. One

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<v Speaker 1>of the government inspectors set to survey the shark even

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<v Speaker 1>called it unique and brilliant. It had taken six years,

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<v Speaker 1>but after nineteen ninety two, untitled nineteen eighty six was safe. However,

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<v Speaker 1>public pieces of art must be maintained. In the years

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<v Speaker 1>since then, the sculpture referred to by locals as the

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<v Speaker 1>Headington Shark started to show the wear and tear of age.

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<v Speaker 1>The Department of the Environment suggested that it should be

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<v Speaker 1>repainted every nine months and not illuminated after ten thirty pm.

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<v Speaker 1>It's unclear if these suggestions were followed, but a full

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<v Speaker 1>renovation was undertaken in two thousand and seven, even as

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<v Speaker 1>Hain himself grew older and struggled to maintain the same

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<v Speaker 1>enthusiasm for the sculpture that he had shown as a

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<v Speaker 1>younger man. In his later years, as his mortgage ran

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<v Speaker 1>out and his work prospects dwindled, Bill Hayn considered taking

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<v Speaker 1>the Shark down. As of twenty sixteen, it had been

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<v Speaker 1>thirty years since the shark had started standing over the neighborhood,

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<v Speaker 1>which was a long time and he was tired. Fortunately,

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<v Speaker 1>his son was able to buy the house from him

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<v Speaker 1>and takeover maintenance of the sculpture. He found an ally

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<v Speaker 1>in the Oxford City Council, the same body that tried

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<v Speaker 1>to have the Shark taken down in the nineteen eighties

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<v Speaker 1>and nineties. The council lobbied for over a decade to

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<v Speaker 1>get the Headington Shark listed as a local heritage site,

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<v Speaker 1>finally succeeding in twenty twenty two. Hayin didn't live to

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<v Speaker 1>see this, sadly passing away. In twenty nineteen, in his honor,

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<v Speaker 1>gold leaf was added to one of the sharks fins.

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<v Speaker 1>Today the house is available as an airbnb, so if

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<v Speaker 1>you're visiting Oxford, it's entirely possible to stay underneath one

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<v Speaker 1>of the most esoteric pieces of independent art in England.

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<v Speaker 1>The irony is not lost on anyone. A piece of

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<v Speaker 1>art created without permission to protest the way societ is

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<v Speaker 1>blind to the cruelties of war has become a tourist attraction.

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<v Speaker 1>Whether that represents failure or success, though, is entirely up

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<v Speaker 1>to you. When people tell stories, we often sand off

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<v Speaker 1>the rough edges. We try to make people good or

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<v Speaker 1>bad rather than the complex reality. And no figure in

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<v Speaker 1>history better exemplifies this complexity than Queen Najinga of Indango

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<v Speaker 1>and Matamba. Her African descendants often paint her as something

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<v Speaker 1>akin to a saint, while her European rivals tried to

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<v Speaker 1>depict her as a ruthless warlord. In truth, she was

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<v Speaker 1>a complex, curious person from one of the most violent

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<v Speaker 1>settings in human history. Nijinga was born in fifteen eighty three,

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<v Speaker 1>the daughter of the King of Indango in southwestern Africa.

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<v Speaker 1>She had a close relationship with her father from a

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<v Speaker 1>very young age, and this made her brother Embondi quite jealous.

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<v Speaker 1>In Jinga learned everything that she could from her father

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<v Speaker 1>as he waged war against the invading Portuguese and slavers.

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<v Speaker 1>When her father captured one of their missionaries, she made

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<v Speaker 1>the missionary teach her how to read and write in Portuguese.

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<v Speaker 1>And although she was the most fit to rule, her brother,

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<v Speaker 1>of course, took the throne when their father died in

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<v Speaker 1>sixteen seventeen. Now a grown woman of thirty four years old,

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<v Speaker 1>she had to watch in horror as Embondi killed all

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<v Speaker 1>of their male relatives who he saw as a threat

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<v Speaker 1>to his rule, and this included her own son. After this,

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<v Speaker 1>Embandi also forcibly sterilized in Jinga and all other sisters

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<v Speaker 1>so that they couldn't have children that would one day

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<v Speaker 1>grow up to challenge him. Despite this mistreatment, though Embondi

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<v Speaker 1>still relied on in Jinga's superior acumen. When it came

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<v Speaker 1>time to negotiate with the Portuguese, it was her that

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<v Speaker 1>he sent. She arrived at then negotiations, clad in elaborate

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<v Speaker 1>traditional dress. Right away, the Europeans tried to demean her

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<v Speaker 1>by providing only a mat on the floor for her

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<v Speaker 1>to sit on while they had chairs. She looked at

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<v Speaker 1>the mat and then motioned to one of her enslaved people.

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<v Speaker 1>He came forward and went down on all fours, providing

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<v Speaker 1>her a place to sit his back. She spoke Portuguese

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<v Speaker 1>and even offered to convert to Christianity, but she was

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<v Speaker 1>determined that her kingdom would not become a vessel. She

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<v Speaker 1>told the Portuguese that yes, they could enter into the

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<v Speaker 1>human trafficking business, but they had to respect in Bondi's authority.

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<v Speaker 1>The Portuguese were impressed and agreed to her demands, and

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<v Speaker 1>the two parties signed a treaty. But as soon as

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<v Speaker 1>Niginga got back home, she learned that the Portuguese had

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<v Speaker 1>refused to withdraw their troops and were continuing to raid

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<v Speaker 1>to kidnap human lives, and Bondi was weak and indecisive.

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<v Speaker 1>In Niginga's eyes, he wasn't the man to stand up

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<v Speaker 1>to these enslavers. He died under mysterious circumstances in sixteen

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<v Speaker 1>twenty four The official story, if you're curious, was that

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<v Speaker 1>he died by suicide, but others claimed that Najinga had

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<v Speaker 1>finally gotten her revenge. She ascended to the throne, beginning

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<v Speaker 1>a period of political maneuvering between her and the Portuguese. Ultimately,

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<v Speaker 1>though the Portuguese were able to gain the support of

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<v Speaker 1>the nobles of Endogo, who installed a puppet king. The nobles,

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<v Speaker 1>it seems, preferred a male ruler, Najinga was forced to

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<v Speaker 1>flee on foot to the east, where she found unlikely allies.

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<v Speaker 1>She met a band of m Bengala, roving marauders with

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<v Speaker 1>a strict code of military discipline. Various historical accounts described

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<v Speaker 1>them as ruthless. They literally ate their enemies and killed

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<v Speaker 1>and sacrificed any children born within the tribe. The only

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<v Speaker 1>way to join was to prove yourself in combat. The

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<v Speaker 1>tribe had no use for infants, they say, and although

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<v Speaker 1>Najinga was shocked by their way of life, she was

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<v Speaker 1>even more shocked when the tribe leader offered to marry her.

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<v Speaker 1>He was impressed with her abilities and the way she

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<v Speaker 1>handled the Portuguese compared to her brother. She agreed to

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<v Speaker 1>the offer and soon she was personally leading m Bengala

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<v Speaker 1>raiding parties. Keep in mind that she was a woman

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<v Speaker 1>in her forties at this point. Najinga and her new

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<v Speaker 1>allies conquered the nearby kingdom of Matamba, where she became

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<v Speaker 1>the new ruler, and there she grew in power equally

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<v Speaker 1>loved and feared by her people. One of the most

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<v Speaker 1>curious features of her corto was a harem of male concubines.

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<v Speaker 1>She thought that this was only fitting since male rulers

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<v Speaker 1>had their own harems of women. Strangely, though, Najinga had

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<v Speaker 1>the concubine's dress as women, while she dressed as a

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<v Speaker 1>man in order to seem more like a king than

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<v Speaker 1>a queen. With her new kingdom in tow, Najinga attacked

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<v Speaker 1>her homeland, the now Portuguese controlled Kingdom of Endogo. Fighting

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<v Speaker 1>would continue for years, but neither side was ever able

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<v Speaker 1>to truly get the upper hand. Ultimately, Nijinga had to

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<v Speaker 1>settle for a peace treaty in sixteen fifty six, although

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<v Speaker 1>it did recognize her authority in her kingdom of Matamba,

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<v Speaker 1>but it also required her to recommit to Christianity and

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<v Speaker 1>allow the Portuguese slave trade to continue. Matamba, by the way,

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<v Speaker 1>remained independent until the twentieth century, when it was joined

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<v Speaker 1>with Angola. It's also one of the few countries in

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<v Speaker 1>the world to have multiple successive female rulers. In the end,

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<v Speaker 1>it's fair to say that Nijinga was a curious mixture

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<v Speaker 1>of warrior and diplomat, liberator and enslaver, feminist and matriarch.

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<v Speaker 1>She was no storybook queen, and yet her accomplishments were

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<v Speaker 1>absolutely legendary. I hope you enjoyed today's guided tour through

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<v Speaker 1>the Cabinet of Curiosities. This show was created by me

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<v Speaker 1>Aaron Manke in partnership with iHeart Podcasts, researched and written

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<v Speaker 1>by the Grim and Mild team, and produced by Jesse Funk.

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<v Speaker 1>Learn more about the show and the people who make

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<v Speaker 1>it over at Grimandmild dot com slash Curiosities. You'll also

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<v Speaker 1>find a link to the official Cabinet of Curiosity. These

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<v Speaker 1>hardcover book available in bookstores and online, as well as

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<v Speaker 1>ebook and audiobook, and if you're looking for an ad

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<v Speaker 1>free option, consider joining our Patreon. It's all the same stories,

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<v Speaker 1>but without the interruption for a small monthly fee. Learn

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<v Speaker 1>more and sign up over at patreon dot com slash Grimandmild,

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<v Speaker 1>and until next time, stay curious,