African Queens: Njinga (2023) s01e02 Episode Script

Njinga, a princess far from home
for three long years.
We have to be simultaneous.
The moment one camp gets word
from the other camp, it's over.
I'm going to trust you
and your men to lead this charge.
Aware of her kingdom's state of despair,
she forges an alliance
with the Imbangala leader Kasa,
making the enemy
of her enemy a brother in arms.
Back home, Kabasa is falling
into the hands of their rivals.
Don't touch her, I said!
Hey, hey!
- Fu Funji!
- Funji!
- You need You need to get out of here.
- What's happening?
- We must do something!
- We will!
No, no!
Funji! Funji!
But Njinga remains steadfast
and determined to do whatever it takes
to protect the future
and safety of her people.
Or die trying.
May your ancestors welcome you home.
Njinga is in self-imposed exile.
She has formed alliances
with the Imbangala.
With them, she's been fighting
against the Portuguese.
Njinga works with Kasa
to disrupt the slave trade routes,
to help to get slaves from the interior
of West Central Africa to the coast.
She's still, I think, heartbroken
because of the death of her son,
and she still feels resentful
towards her brother, Mbande.
But now,
King Mbande is in a desperate situation.
His capital, Kabasa,
has been sacked by the Portuguese.
And he's been forced to flee
to the Kindonga Islands.
The islands are a defensive stronghold
located in the middle of the Kwanza River.
And now he's summoned Njinga
for a meeting.
Where are his guards?
Njinga, you should know
the past three years have changed him.
I can see that.
Let's cross.
What have you done?
Are you immortal now?
Walking around here unprotected.
What if the Portuguese had got here
before I did?
Didn't you hear?
They already have.
Kabasa is lost.
Now I've lost more than Father ever did.
What of my sisters?
Where are Funji and Kambu?
I got them out.
- This can't be our end.
- It isn't.
We're still here.
Why did my King call me?
Peace.
I want you to negotiate peace
with the Portuguese.
What?
Your successes with the Imbangala
have reached us in Kabasa.
You put order to their chaos.
Use them to cut
Portuguese communication lines.
Njinga, your skills are undeniable.
It makes you the best person
to negotiate peace on our behalf.
I've been fighting them for years.
- Yes, I know.
- And even if I hadn't,
this is not the time to negotiate peace.
Not when you
Not when the throne is so weak.
We must keep fighting.
Njinga.
I have no more blood left to spill.
It won't be your blood we're spilling.
It will be theirs.
Until we drive those murderous thieves
out of this kingdom.
Please, Njinga!
You're our only hope!
I am not asking as your king.
I'm asking as your brother.
When Njinga's brother
comes to look for Njinga,
she doesn't just have her brother,
the one who killed her son.
She has the King,
the one who's seated
on the throne of her people.
He's an entity that she has to serve.
Hey.
The King of Ndongo does not bow to anyone
except the ancestors.
What does my brother need?
It might seem unimaginable
for us today
to think about her still having
a relationship with her brother.
She does not trust him,
but this was so much bigger than him.
Really at the heart
of every decision she's making,
she's thinking
about protecting her people,
and keeping as many people
out of the slave trade as possible.
The Portuguese raid on Kabasa
was a show of military force
to intimidate Mbande and his people.
So when the Portuguese troops
move elsewhere,
Mbande and his sister
are able to return to their home city,
but they know that their battle
with the Portuguese is far from over.
West Central Africa
is going through a massive turmoil.
The Portuguese are going in villages
and in towns and cities,
destroying and pillaging,
ravaging society.
The Portuguese
have even built a fort at Ambaca,
a site threateningly close
to Mbande's capital, Kabasa.
He knows that they can attack at any time.
Mbande is absolutely exhausted.
He doesn't have the military capacity
to take on the Portuguese.
There is chaos in the region.
It's really now or never
if he's going to remain on the throne
and keep even just a tiny bit of power.
I've called you both here
because I need to tell you that
I've made peace with Mbande.
What?
And I've also agreed
to be his ambassador to the Portuguese.
So we are going to Luanda.
Why are you letting Mbande
hide behind you?
He is the king after all.
A king who has lost his feet.
Mbande
He's not himself right now.
He believes
the Portuguese want peace, but
I know this enemy.
He is cunning and ruthless,
and he wants our complete subjugation.
Why don't we send a war party?
Kambu.
Battles aren't won in the field
until they're won in the mind.
Father used to say that.
Yes, he did.
So that's why I'm going.
Because I wanna look
that governor in the eye
when he gives me back everything
that he's taken from us.
How are you so sure he will?
Because I won't rest until he does.
What Njinga is taking on
is a formidable challenge,
the largest official peace delegation
ever undertaken
since the arrival of the Portuguese.
Njinga
and a huge group of attendants
make the 200-mile journey
from Kabasa to Luanda.
Njinga arrives
in Luanda with a retinue
and makes a splendid display
of Ndongo aristocracy
and Ndongo royalty.
She speaks Portuguese.
She's very knowledgeable of the politics.
And she's a strategic thinker.
She will be a perfect envoy
to show the Portuguese,
you know, that, "We are mighty people,
we are grand, and we are honorable."
At this point,
the governor in this region is de Sousa,
who acts on behalf
of the Portuguese State.
He is intent on putting Njinga firmly
in her place.
She's older than I expected.
Don't underestimate her.
I don't intend to.
No one's brought her to heel yet.
I don't think that the Portuguese
were at all prepared
to receive a woman as their diplomat.
And I think they thought,
because she was a woman,
that they might be able
to trick her or undermine her.
While the Portuguese understand
that Mbande
and his sister
are key players in the region,
this is a powerful kingdom.
For the time being, what they want
is to appear to show respect.
Princess Njinga,
my pleasure.
I'm sure it is, Governor.
It's rare to behold a princess of Ndongo,
let alone three.
You really didn't need
to come all this way.
I could easily have sent
a messenger with our terms.
A messenger
on these dangerous roads.
That would have been unwise.
Njinga wants three key things
from these negotiations,
the release of Ndongo enslaved captives,
protection from mutual enemies,
and the promise from the Portuguese
to remove their fort from Ambaca.
The question is, how much will she have
to give up to get what she wants?
Please
sit.
What the Portuguese do
when they first meet her
is to try and humiliate her.
She's not provided a chair.
The Portuguese are trying to show her
that whatever negotiations
are gonna happen
is gonna be on their terms.
You didn't need to inconvenience yourself
on my behalf.
I always come prepared.
It's such a power move.
It's such a boss move, to be able to say,
"I will not allow you
to make me have a lower status.
We are equal partners
in these conversations.
And if I have to create my own chair,
I will do so."
I had hoped to have this conversation
with your brother and not an envoy.
My King delegates duties
however he sees fit.
Clearly.
Well, our terms are quite simple.
Our King is willing
to offer your brother peace
on condition that he lay down his weapons,
helps us fight our mutual enemies,
and he returns our property.
Property?
Slaves.
The Portuguese
are the first to really start
using Africa as a place
in which they will get
their enslaved human cargo.
Njinga is aware
that they're losing thousands of people
because of this insatiable appetite
that the Portuguese have
for the slave trade
and colonization in the New World.
My King believes
friendship would be better
for all.
Surely, your king believes in friendships.
No?
Yes, he does.
My King wishes to live peacefully
with the Portuguese,
but we keep running into a problem.
Kasanje.
Kasanje is an Imbangala leader
with a fearsome reputation.
He's an unpredictable force
in and around Ndongo.
He's a threat to both Njinga
and the Portuguese.
The Ghost in the Mist.
So, you're familiar with him?
We can take care of Kasanje
as long as your brother
pays tribute to the King
to make up
for all the property we'd be losing.
The Portuguese wanted Ndongo
to pay yearly tribute to them,
which means that they would have to bring
a certain number of slaves to Luanda
to pay to the Portuguese State.
Governor,
my people have a saying,
"He who is born free
should maintain himself in freedom
and not submit to others."
Tribute can only be paid
by those who have been conquered.
My King Mbande has never been conquered.
Njinga refuses
to give tribute that is actually people,
to give people to slavery,
because Njinga deeply believes
that is against what she thinks is right.
She does not believe
that the Portuguese slavery is okay.
The Portuguese wanted
to impose conditions of submission,
of servanthood.
She said that there was no way
the ruler of Ndongo
would be subordinate
to the King of Portugal,
because they hadn't won any war,
and because they hadn't conquered Ndongo.
Njinga
is an incredibly savvy political operator.
She will take on aspects of
political cultures foreign to her
in order to get what she wants.
I believe she entered those negotiations
with a sense that she could prevail.
Captain Cardoso,
if you keep emptying out our lands,
my King will have no one left to govern.
And what is a king without subjects?
Well, you would make a formidable ally.
Now, uh, if we may,
the captain and I are needed elsewhere.
Milady.
- Any progress?
- They're still toying with us.
Trying to figure out
how much we're willing to give
and how much
he's gonna have to take by force.
What does that mean for peace?
Peace isn't even on the table yet.
But at least they remembered
to get me a chair this time.
Mm.
And sometimes,
to understand a man
you have to go through a woman.
Ana da Silva is the wife
of a prominent Portuguese official
in Luanda.
Like most of the Portuguese,
she's a devout Catholic.
From the records, we can tell that
she and Njinga were fond of each other.
You've been gone from home for so long.
How do your children cope?
My people are my children.
They understand I serve them
wherever I go.
Yes.
Your men
they say one thing, they mean another.
Why?
I guess it depends.
On what?
Whether they trust you or not.
Mm, for my people,
a man's honor is his word.
Unless he breaks it, you trust it.
Where I come from,
trust is earned through service
and communion with one another.
- Through a shared belief in our values.
- For us too.
A shared belief in our God,
and our baptism
into one Catholic family.
Mm.
So
in this baptism,
you see yourselves as the same?
Yes.
The Portuguese,
they didn't imagine themselves
as undertaking this violent conquest
for purely selfish motives.
They thought that they were
Christianizing barbarians.
They thought that they had
a religious justification
for this conquest.
They believe if they can convert
as many people as possible,
that they can maintain spiritual
and political control over the region,
that they can gain
a foothold of influence.
If you don't trust them,
why are you even considering baptism?
Because we can use it
to force them to keep their word.
Convince them
we're one big Catholic family.
Then why are you hesitating?
Kambu, I'd still be taking
the hand of an enemy that I don't trust,
with no guarantees.
So, you'd be taking a leap of faith.
I don't want to see it again.
You must.
The Portuguese
practiced chattel slavery,
which is an extremely violent form
of exploitation,
in which you get as many people
as you possibly can
and you cram them into ships
in horrific conditions
and then you send them
to work on sugar plantations
or coffee plantations.
Njinga knows
that it is devastating her people,
that it is decimating their numbers.
She's seen hundreds of people
being captured and kidnapped.
How many so far?
I lost count days ago.
If we don't do something
to end this now, our people
we will be no more.
It's a really, really hard life.
The life expectancy
is about seven to eight years.
Imagine that, seven years
from the moment you get to the New World,
the clock is ticking
on your life expectancy.
There were slave markets
at this time in Ndongo,
but they were actually
quite tightly regulated and monitored.
And it wasn't really a system
of chattel slavery.
So these slaves in Ndongo
weren't necessarily people's property.
They were essentially members
of the family unit.
It's very complicated.
There are no perfect solutions
in this time period
because slavery was so endemic.
It was so common.
It was almost impossible
to avoid participating in it.
There are major differences
between the way that slavery is understood
among the Portuguese
and among the all.
I think Njinga believes
that she cannot stop slavery,
but I do think
she believes she can contain it.
Njinga is using every tool
she has in her toolbox
in order to salvage her kingdom.
So she will take strategic decisions,
hoping that converting into Christianity
would help her save
the legacy of her forefathers.
Congratulations.
I think it's safe to tell Ngola Mbande
that we have an agreement.
- And the terms?
- Acceptable.
Including the fort at Ambaca?
And one more thing,
we'll be releasing the Ndongo captives
so that your brother
can reestablish his kingdom.
Because what is a king
without subjects? Hm?
Njinga plays
a masterful game of diplomacy
and her baptism seals the deal.
The Portuguese finally agree
to a peace treaty.
The Portuguese agree
to all three of Njinga's demands.
They say they will help protect her people
against the Imbangala leader Kasanje.
They agree to remove troops
from their fort at Ambaca.
And they even agree
to return some of the all
they've stolen and enslaved.
Njinga goes back to Ndongo triumphant
having secured an agreement
with the Portuguese
to turn the downward spiral of Ndongo
Njinga! Njinga! Njinga!
which promises a better future
for the kingdom and its people.
Njinga! Njinga! Njinga!
You did it!
Njinga! Njinga! Njinga!
Njinga! Njinga! Njinga! Njinga!
Njinga! Njinga! Njinga!
Njinga! Njinga! Njinga!
I think this is a point
where Mbande starts to realize
that his sister has more power
and influence than he had anticipated.
Mbande's very insecure.
He's also very much aware
of the fact that Njinga is favored.
I think that he feels sidelined
or marginalized within the community.
From early on in her childhood
and her early adulthood,
Njinga outshone Mbande.
She was smarter.
She was her father's favorite.
She seemed to have a natural talent
for politics and for diplomacy.
There seems to have been a rivalry
from very early on.
Brother.
I saw the scale of it.
What?
The trade in our people.
- You can't imagine.
- Njinga.
- You brought us a victory.
- This is not enough.
It's going to take more
than a peace agreement
to stop the Portuguese.
Mbande.
Brother.
This is a hollow victory.
Things are gonna get worse.
They won't.
They won't if you become regent
until my son comes of age.
What?
When Njinga returns,
she's the one in the spotlight.
She's the one
who's best representing Ndongo.
Njinga herself knows it.
Mbande, even he sees it.
I need to do this now while I still can,
to secure Ndongo's future.
Maybe if I'd done it sooner,
we wouldn't be here.
Mbande.
You are still king.
How can you give away your throne
when you're still sitting on it?
What matters is that you trust yourself
because we are trusting you.
And I don't trust anyone else
with Ndongo's future.
Let's celebrate.
At first, it seems Mbande is right
to trust the Portuguese.
Njinga's tentative truce with them
lasts for several months.
Kambu!
I'll take you to them!
Kasanje.
Njinga, we need to go.
Njinga, we must go!
We must go!
We don't know exactly why
Kasanje attacks Kabasa at this time,
but we do know
that the Imbangala are mercenaries
who will do anything
for anyone who pay them well enough.
So it's possible that Kasanje
is acting on behalf of someone else.
How did Kasanje
get past our defenses at night?
The fall of Kabasa is absolutely
devastating for Ngola Mbande,
and he's forced
to flee to the Kindonga Islands.
He essentially has to abandon his people.
He is losing his grip,
not only on his main power base,
but also, his people
are going to start trusting him less.
You know what he
had to do to amass that amount of power.
We need Kabasa back.
We need options, give me options.
Can you ask Kasa for help again?
No, his army is too small
to go against Kasanje.
We can't do that.
What if we reach out to
Maybe they'll be willing to join us.
It's still not enough.
He knows that his sister
is right there, ready to take over.
And he also knows
that some factions of the kingdom
are thinking that he's not
actually capable as a ruler.
We have the villagers. They're capable
What about the Portuguese?
They, they agreed
to help us fight our enemies.
Maybe it's time we make them prove it.
For all we know,
they are the ones who sent Kasanje
to push us out of Kabasa
so that we would have to come to them
begging for help.
So that they could take all the tributes
that they want in return.
We don't have any other option.
Yes, we do.
As you were saying.
We have the villagers.
- We, we have Congo. They owe us.
- Okay.
- If we talk to Congo
- Njinga!
Have the general set up a meeting
with the Portuguese.
In the winter of 1623,
the Portuguese sent an envoy to negotiate.
A priest called Father Baretto.
The officials in Luanda
are willing to help the King
reclaim Kabasa,
on condition that you submit
to the King of Portugal
and be baptized.
Submit to the King of Portugal.
How dare you come here
and try to reduce us to slaves?
- I am here to do the Lord's work
- Shut your mouth!
In the presence of the King!
Viper.
"I am here to do the Lord's work."
Is that what you tell yourself
when you're putting human beings
in chains?
Hmm?
Who is this God
that favors your kind and not mine?
I should have cut you all down in Luanda.
Njinga.
- What will be required?
- Mbande.
Your surrender to Christ
must be whole and complete.
Meaning, no more pagan ways.
No false gods.
No idols, no rituals, no concubines.
No nganga.
- Everything impure
- Mbande.
must go.
Mbande.
You are our connection to the ancestors.
If you abandon them, we are lost.
You were baptized.
Did the ancestors abandon you?
- I am not the King.
- That's right.
Despite being baptized herself,
Njinga feels that what the Portuguese
are demanding is a step too far.
She sees this as Mbande effectively
giving up his power to the enemy
and abandoning
their traditions and customs.
If he agrees to this,
it is yet another display
of his weakness as king.
If you do this
you might as well renounce the throne
and go work on a farm.
Mbande ignores
his sister's advice.
He can see no other option
and agrees to be baptized.
Over several weeks,
he begins to learn the catechism
from Father Baretto.
in heaven.
You see, this is why you need
to turn your back on these false gods
and, and these false idols because
They've broken
the peace agreement.
The Portuguese have sent troops
to strengthen the fort at Ambaca.
This is who they are!
Go and tell your white father
this is done!
Go!
The Portuguese, of course,
renege and do not
abide by their promises.
And for the King,
this is, uh, a catastrophic failure
of his power.
I can't do this.
Nonsense.
Our ancestors have lived through worse.
They didn't.
I am tired, Njinga.
I think it's time that I rested.
Mbande.
Are you saying what I think you're saying?
Mbande really is disappointed
about what happens with the Portuguese
and that seems to have sent him
into a spiral of depression.
This will be putting him
in front of the question,
"Are you able to defend the kingdom?"
I think that fundamentally, inside,
he was extremely afraid.
Mbande has ruled
and lived his life
by so much violence
that it caught up with him.
He had to ask himself real hard questions
about the decisions that he made
and if they were worth it.
How?
Poison.
Who else knows?
No one.
It's not clear
as to how Mbande dies.
There are some that say
he drank poison and committed suicide
because of his acute depression.
There are other people that speculate
that Njinga was behind this
and that Njinga poisoned her brother,
or at least was behind his poisoning.
May the ancestors
welcome you home.
Funji, stand guard.
Kambu.
Summon the Mwene Lumbo.
Have him announce the death of the King.
Where are you going?
I'm going to assemble the council
and have them vote in the new queen.
Njinga is very ambitious,
and I think she saw this as an opportunity
to get rid of her brother
and to have him no longer in the equation.
I wouldn't be surprised
that Njinga killed her brother,
or had her brother killed
for mainly one reason,
that he was weak.
He didn't have the fiber
of being the king that her father was.
What is it?
I've been asking myself the same thing.
I feel like I'm stealing something
that belongs to someone else.
You were voted Queen.
Regent Queen.
Which means no power.
I'll be holding the throne
for Mbande's son.
Everything I do will be challenged
by those who don't believe
I belong on the throne.
The Portuguese will use my dissenters
to their advantage.
I'll be leading with no one following me.
Like a woman taking a walk.
What do you want?
Power.
The kind of power that will make
a difference in my people's lives.
The kind of power
the Portuguese can't ignore.
Power is not given, Njinga.
It is taken.
When Mbande dies,
he leaves behind an heir.
His seven-year-old son.
But because he's so young,
Njinga becomes Regent Queen
until the child turns 18
and is capable of taking over.
You turn your hip into the thrust.
Mbande's son has been sent
to live with Kasa,
the Imbangala leader
and Njinga's old ally,
where he's training to be a warrior.
Hip. Nice, boy.
Kasa.
Uh
Princess Njinga.
It's Queen Njinga now.
Njinga needs
to make strong alliances fast.
And Kasa,
who she's fought alongside before,
might be useful to her.
Mm.
Say hello to your auntie, boy.
Go on.
Well, he's a shy one,
but he's handling his training well.
Go on. Go train. Go on.
I'll make a warrior out of him yet.
Oh, I'm not concerned about my nephew.
I'm here for someone older.
A husband.
You're serious.
Well, I'm not available.
Not even for the price of a crown?
And how heavy is this crown?
Very.
I am going to create
an empire greater than Congo.
And I'm going to make you its king.
Unless, of course, you don't want it,
then I'll offer to Kasanje.
Don't you mention that name here.
Why me?
You gave me sanctuary.
Your soldiers helped me fight
the Portuguese.
Of course, I'd come to you first.
But speaking as a woman,
you're young
easy on the eyes,
with the stamina of a bull.
What does a woman your age
know of such things?
Boy,
there are certain things
only a woman my age knows.
She woos Kasa,
displays her affection publicly,
and uses her wealth, and gives him gifts.
And he agrees to get married to her.
I believe that Njinga
has to distance herself
from being a human being.
What is this? What is this?
Once the nephew is dead,
Njinga rises in her power.
She rises as king of her people.
What is this?
Imbangala!
Njinga! Njinga!