User:Asarelah/sandbox/History of African women in warfare

17th century BC

 * 17th century BC – Ahhotep I is credited with a stela at Karnak for "having pulled Egypt together, having cared for its army, having guarded it, having brought back those who fled, gathering up its deserters, having quieted the South, subduing those who defy her."
 * Ahhotep II is buried with a dagger and axe, as well as three golden fly pendants, which were given as rewards for military valor. However, it is debated as to whether or not they actually belong to her.

15th century BC

 * 1479 BC-1458 BC - Reign of Hatshepsut. It is possible that she led military campaigns against Nubia and Canaan.

4th century BC

 * 332 BC – The Nubian queen, Candace of Meroe, intimidated Alexander the Great with her armies and her strategy while confronting him, causing him to avoid Nubia, instead heading to Egypt, according to Pseudo-Callisthenes. However, Pseudo-Callisthenes is not considered a reliable source, and it is possible that the entire event is fiction. More reliable historical accounts indicate that Alexander never attacked Nubia and never attempted to move farther south than the oasis of Siwa in Egypt.

3rd century BC

 * 217 BC – Arsinoe III of Egypt accompanied Ptolemy IV at the Battle of Raphia. When the battle went poorly, she appeared before the troops and exhorted them to fight to defend their families. She also promised two minas of gold to each of them if they won the battle, which they did.

2nd century BC

 * 131 BC -Cleopatra II led a rebellion against Ptolemy VIII in 131 BC, and drove him and Cleopatra III out of Egypt.

1st century BC

 * 27 BC −21 BC – Amanirenas led the Kushite armies against the Romans.

7th century

 * 690s: Dihya or Kahina, leads Berber resistance against the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb.

16th century

 * Early 1500s: Idia, mother of Esigie, the Oba of Benin, is described as a great warrior, and receives much credit for her son's conquest of the Igala.
 * 16th century: Portuguese explorers report that a group of female warriors existed in the Congo, and that their king assigned regions where only female children were raised. Angola resists the Portuguese under Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba.
 * 1536–1573: Reign of Amina, ruler of the Hausa empire in Niger. She personally led an army of over 20,000 soldiers.

17th century

 * 17th century to 1894: Dahomey Amazons act as an all female regiment (under female command) of the west African Kingdom of Dahomey.
 * 1640s-1650s: Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba fights the Portuguese.

18th century

 * 1716-1718: Hangbe in the Kingdom of Dahomey becomes the regent after her twin brother Akaba is killed. Oral traditions say that when Akaba died, she put on his armour and acted in his place for the rest of war in the Ouémé River valley.

19th-century

 * 1851: Seh-Dong-Hong-Beh of the Dahomey Amazons leads an all-female army of 6,000 into battle against the Egba fortress of Abeokuta.
 * 1857: Last stand of Lalla Fatma N'Soumer, an Algerian woman who resisted French colonialism.
 * 1896: Shona spiritual leader Nehanda Nyakasikana rebels against colonization of Zimbabwe.

20th-century

 * 1986: Rebecca Mpagi joined the National Resistance Army; she was the first Ugandan woman to join the army as a military pilot.
 * 1986-1987: Alice Auma leads a rebellion against Ugandan government forces.