Vol. 3 No. 2 (2024): Warfare and Peacemaking Among Matricultures
Research Articles

Matriarchs in African Societies: Examining the Roles of Queen Amina of Zazzau and Queen Idia in State and Empire Building in Pre-Colonial Nigeria

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  • Daniel Iweze,
  • Umasom Amos
Daniel Iweze
Department of History and International Studies, University of Benin
Umasom Amos
Department of History and International Studies, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria
A bronze sculpture of the head of Iyoba Idia, a queen mother of the pre-colonial Benin Kingdom.

Published 2024-05-09

Keywords

  • matriarchy,
  • Queen Idia,
  • precolonial kingdoms,
  • Nigeria,
  • Queen Amina

Copyright (c) 2024 Daniel Iweze, Umasom Amos (Author)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Matriarchs in African Societies: Examining the Roles of Queen Amina of Zazzau and Queen Idia in State and Empire Building in Pre-Colonial Nigeria. (2024). Matrix: A Journal for Matricultural Studies, 3(2), 14-31. https://doi.org/10.60676/bawcfx62

Abstract

In precolonial African societies, women played an active role in politics, mostly through the position of either queen mother or queen. Queen mothers regularly served as stabilizing factors in the reign of their sons. Equally, women who became queens in precolonial African societies demonstrated wit and valour in the exercise of authority, especially during periods of warfare and crisis. This paper introduces two prominent matriarchs, Queen Amina of Zazzau in Northern Nigeria and Queen Idia of the ancient Benin Kingdom in Southern Nigeria, and explores matriarchal roles they played in the administration of their respective kingdoms. Using qualitative research methodology and close reading of available data, the paper investigates their military leadership, the type of warfare in which they engaged, and the strategies they deployed in restoring peace and order to their societies. The paper further scrutinizes narratives that project only men as warriors; they lead to a false absence of women in the history of warfare and the empire / kingdom or state-building processes in precolonial Africa. The overarching argument of the paper is that women were accepted in positions of political and military leadership, including prosecuting wars, and wielded great power and influence in Africa's precolonial period.

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