Page Updated Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Cleopatra 
proved that her youth was no measure of her
capabilities as a leader. At 19 years she was surrounded by adversaries, foreign and
domestic. Over her years on earth she seduced two Roman Emperors into supporting her
Egyptian causes, raised armies, established libraries of knowledge, and fed a hungry
people. Nubian by birth she remains both the subject of serious historical study and
romantic thoughts of love conquering all; including the might of Rome.
Queen Nzinga
You'll get no slaves here, but you might get your butt kicked.
AMAZON QUEEN OF MATAMBA WEST AFRICA (1582-1663)
A very good military leader who waged war against the savage slave-hunting Europeans. This war lasted for more than thirty years. Nzingha was of Angoloan descent and is known as a symbol of inspiration for people everywhere. Queen Nzingha is also known by some as Jinga by others as Ginga. She was a member of the ethnic Jagas a militant group that formed a human shield against the Portuguese slave traders. As a visionary political leader, competent, and self sacrificing she was completely devoted to the resistance movement. She formed alliances with other foreign powers pitting them against one another to free Angola of European influence. She possessed both masculine hardness and feminine charm and used them both depending on the situation. She even used religion as a political tool when it suited her. Her death on December 17, 1663 helped open the door for the massive Portuguese slave trade. Yet her struggle helped awaken others that followed her and forced them to mount offensives against the invaders. These include Madame Tinubu of Nigeria; Nandi, the mother of the great Zulu warrior Chaka; Kaipkire of the Herero people of South West Africa; and the female army that followed the Dahomian King, Behanzin Bowelle.
Shaka 
(1787-1828). The son of the Zulu chieftain but
born of a repudiated wife, Shaka spent his childhood and youth in exile, stigmatized and
humiliated. In his twenties he distinguished himself for six years as a warrior in the
service of Chief Dingiswayo of the Mthethwa. When Shaka's father died in 1816, Dingiswayo
sent Shaka to rule the Zulu. He immediately reorganized the Zulu fighting force and, with
innovations in tactics and weaponry, shaped it into a formidable military machine geared
to total warfare. Within a year, Shaka had quadrupled the number of his subjects and army
members by absorbing conquered groups into his Zulu nation.
By the time his overlord, Dingiswayo, was killed in 1817, Shaka was ready to take on all other groups in the area. This he did in annual campaigns during the next ten years. The result was a wave of migrations by uprooted peoples as far north as modern Tanzania and as far south as the Cape Colony. At the same time, the Zulu grew by the addition of other groups, all of which were politically integrated and culturally assimilated. A decade of warfare, however, had taken a heavy toll on the Zulu. Shaka became a tyrant after the death of his mother in 1828. Later that year, he was killed by his half-brother, Dingane, who succeeded him as ruler.
There can be no greater example of tolerance than Nelson Mandella . Over a score of years imprisoned under the most harsh conditions did not shake his faith in his fellow man, or dampen his desire for freedom for his people. As a national leader he demonstrated loyalty by maintaining relationships with Fidel Castro of Cuba, and Kadfi of Libya when western allies wanted otherwise. If he did not forgive he certain put aside his differences with his former captures to form a coalition government that was the opposite of the apartheid that dominated South Africa during its darkest days.
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