In 2016, a then student of mine embarked on a project to uncover fictional and non-fictional African Heroes. In contributing to this initiative, I was reminded of several extraordinary women whose lives challenge conventional understandings of power, leadership, and agency in African history. The stereotype of African women as passive subjects of history collapses under even the briefest examination of the historical record. Across centuries, African women have ruled kingdoms, led armies, built economies, and transformed their societies. Queen Amina, Ẹfúnṣetán Aníwúrà, and Moremi Ajasoro are among the African women whose legacies deserve to be heard far beyond the communities that continue to honour them.
Queen Amina of Zaria: She ruled Zaria (Zazzau) from about 1549. She was a warrior Queen heading up an army of 20,000 men. According to the Kano Chronicle, Amina conquered as far as Nupe and Kwarafa, ruling for 34 years. Amina is also credited as the architect of the strong earthen walls around the city, which became the prototype for the fortifications used in all Hausa states. She built many of these fortifications, later known as ganuwar Amina or ‘Amina’s walls’, around various conquered cities. Many of these walls remain in existence to this day. She is recorded to have died in 1610. There are different accounts of her death. It is suggested by some that Amina committed suicide during a military campaign at Dekina in the present Kogi state and was buried in Idah. Others believe that she died during a military campaign at Atagara near Bida in present-day Niger State. It is believed that the TV series ‘Xena: Warrior Princess‘ is based on Amina’s life.
Ȩfúnşetán Aníwúrà: Ȩfúnşetán was born around 1790 in Egbaland. She moved to Ibadan, a city that was founded in 1829 as a war camp. Ȩfúnşetán eventually became the Iyalode of Ibadan. She was the first woman to set up a flourishing agrarian economy that employed no fewer than 2000 men and women. Around 1850, worried by increasing conflict in the Yorubaland, she made her workers take up infantry military training. Consequently, she had her own private army. She was said to have had personal military training in urban and guerrilla warfare. Prof. Akintoye wrote, “It is not unlikely that Ȩfúnşetán was the richest person in the whole of the Yoruba interior in about the late 1870s.” She was definitely rich AND powerful.
However, her only daughter died in 1860 during childbirth. After this, Ȩfúnşetán became extremely depressed. It has been suggested by some contemporary commentators that she may have suffered from clinical depression and/or postpartum depression. This has an extremely negative effect on her interpersonal relationships and decisions. She ordered arbitrary executions of her staff and withdrew support for Latoosa, the Aare Ona Kakanfo (Warlord) of Ibadan. Latoosa responded by calling for her to be executed. She died in 1874. It is unclear whether she died by suicide when Latoosa’s forces surrounded her house or – according to the Reverend Samuel Johnson – she was killed by assassins hired by Kumuyilo, her adopted son. Ȩfúnşetán is immortalised in film, most especially in a play written by Professor Akinwunmi Isola – Ẹfúnṣetán Aníwúrà.
Moremi Ajasoro: Moremi lived in the 12th century. She was from Offa. She married Oranmiyan and reigned as Queen in Ile-Ife. During this time, Ife was persistently raided by their neighbours (possibly the Igbohos), who had dressed themselves to look like demons. The people of Ife were often taken into captivity. To discover the secret of the raiders, she allowed herself to be captured by them. She lived with them, integrated with them, learnt their secrets and then escaped back to Ile-Ife. Apparently, the raiding neighbours dressed themselves in raffia; this gave them their otherworldly appearance. The solution was to attack them armed with flaming torches, as raffia is highly flammable. This repelled the raiders. Thereafter peace reigned in Ile-Ife. Moremi is revered in Ile-Ife, Offa and most of Yorubaland; there is a massive statue of her in the Ooni’s palace in Ife (said to be the fourth tallest statue in Africa). She has been immortalised in songs and plays, for example, Morountodun by Femi Osofisan. Her name adorns many buildings and roads.
I have always been quite vocal about the fact that our stereotypical view of African women as lacking agency, as lacking personhood, is not only false but exceedingly harmful. The stories of Queen Amina, Ẹfúnṣetán Aníwúrà, and Moremi Ajasoro remind us that African history is rich with women who exercised power, leadership, courage, and influence in ways that challenge persistent stereotypes about African womanhood. Their lives were complex, marked by triumphs, sacrifices, and contradictions, but their legacies endure in collective memory, literature, architecture, and popular culture. Remembering these women is a way of expanding our understanding of who shapes history and how. Their stories invite us to look more deeply into Africa’s past and to celebrate the many heroes whose contributions continue to inspire future generations. Who are your African heroes?
References
- Ajayi, JF Ade, and Michael Crowder. History of West Africa. Vol. 1. Longman Sc & Tech, 1985.
- Davidson, Basil, and Francis K. Buah. A history of West Africa to the nineteenth century: With FK Buah and the advice of JF Ade Ajayi. Anchor Books, 1966.
- Fage, John Donnelly. An introduction to the history of West Africa. At the University Press, 1955.
- Johnson, Samuel. The history of the Yorubas: From the earliest times to the beginning of the British protectorate. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
- Onwubiko, K. B. C. School Certificate History of West Africa: AD 1000-1800. Book One. Africana-FEP, 1982.
