The Divided Kingdom
Ana II died in 1756 and a civil war broke out at that time among rival contenders for the throne, during which Verónica II ruled briefly for a time but she was overthrown sometime after 1758, leaving Ana III on the throne. Ana III was in turn overthrown by Kalwete ka Mbandi, a military leader. Kalwete won the war, and was baptized as Francisco II upon taking the throne. However, two of Ana's daughters, Kamana and Murili escaped the civil war, took refuge in the ancient capital of Ndongo on the Kindonga islands and successfully resisted Francisco II's attempts to oust them. From this base Queen Kamana created a rival kingdom, and in 1767 tried unsuccessfully to obtain Portuguese help against her rival. While the Portuguese governor of the time, Francisco Innocencio de Sousa Coutinho granted her asylum and instructed his officials to respect her and her position, he did not favor direct intervention in affairs in the eastern part of the Portuguese zone. Kamana's son and successor did manage to end the division of the country by successfully recovering the capital and being crowned as king of Matamba in around 1810.
Read more about this topic: Kingdom Of Matamba
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