caption predecessor successor succession house birth_place death_date death_place religion nationality birth_date known_for spouse image article_title birth_name occupation
albert the same time of ganga zumba eckout 's paint of an afro-brazilian warrior from princess aqualtune -lrb- mother -rrb- , princess of kongo ganga -rrb- '' zumbi dos palmares -lrb- nephew -rrb- '' -lrb- zona de facto -rrb- '' -lrb- brother -rrb- '' -lrb- de jure king of quilombo dos palmares kongo kingdom of kongo , africa 1678 cucaú valley , portuguese colony of brazil afro-brazilian religions african , ian unknown , appeared in palmares in 1630 leader of the quilombo of palmares three wives albert_eckhout_painting . jpg ganga zumba
 ganga zumba , prince of palmares in brazil in africa , slave , warrior , king
ganga zumba

ganga zumba -lrb- -rrb- was the first of the leaders of quilombo dos palmares , or angola janga , in the present-day state of alagoas , brazil .
zumba was a slave who escaped bondage on a sugar plantation and assumed his destiny as heir to the kingdom of palmares and the title ganga zumba .
although some portuguese documents give him the name ganga zumba , and this name is widely used today , the most important of the documents translates the name as `` great lord , '' which is probably not correct .
however , a letter written to him by the governor of pernambuco in 1678 and now found in the archives of the university of coimbra , calls him `` ganazumba , '' which is a better translation of `` great lord '' -lrb- in kimbundu -rrb- and thus was probably his name .
ganga is said to be the son of princess aqualtune .
daughter of an unknown king of kongo .
she led a battalion at the battle of mbwila .
but the portuguese won the battle eventually killing 5,000 men and captured the king , his two sons , his two nephews , four governors , various court officials , 95 title holders and 400 other nobles .
which were put on ships and sold as slaves in the americas .
is very probable that ganga was among the nobles .
the whereabouts of the rest of them is unknown , but ganga zumba his brother zona and his sister sabina -lrb- mother of zumbi dos palmares his nephew and successor -rrb- were made slaves at the plantation of santa rita .
from there they escaped to palmares .
a `` quilombo '' or `` mocambo '' was a refuge of runaway slaves who were forcibly brought to brazil mainly from angola that escaped their bondage and fled into the interior of brazil to the mountainous region of pernambuco .
as their numbers increased , they formed maroon settlements , called `` mocambos '' .
gradually as many as ten separate mocambos had formed and ultimately coalesced into a confederation called the quilombo of palmares , or angola janga , under a king , ganga zumba or ganazumba , who may have been elected by the leaders of the constituent mocambos .
ganga zumba , who ruled the biggest of the villages , cerro dos macacos , presided the mocambo 's chief council and was considered the king of palmares .
the nine other settlements were headed by brothers , sons , or nephews of gunga zumba .
zumbi was chief of one community and his brother , andalaquituche , headed another .
by the 1670s , ganga zumba had a palace , three wives , guards , ministers , and devoted subjects at his royal compound called `` macaco '' .
`` macaco '' comes from the name of an animal -lrb- monkey -rrb- that was killed on the site .
the compound consisted of 1,500 houses which housed his family , guards , and officials , all of which were considered royalty .
he was given the respect of a monarch and the honor of a lord .
-lrb- kent -rrb- in 1678 zumba accepted a peace treaty offered by the portuguese governor of pernambuco , which required that the palmarinos relocate to cucaú valley .
the treaty was challenged by zumbi , one of ganga zumba 's nephews , who led a revolt against him .
in the confusion that followed , ganga zumba was poisoned , mostly likely by one of his own relatives for entering into a treaty with the portuguese .
and many of his followers who had moved to the cucaú valley were re-enslaved by the portuguese .
resistance to the portuguese then continued under zumbi .
the brazilian film `` ganga zumba '' was made in 1963 but was not released until 1972 because there was a military coup in brazil in 1964 , and films about revolutions , even those taking place in the 17th century , were considered politically dangerous .
the film is based on joão felício dos santo 's novel , and focuses on a black slave who ends up in palmares .
the film is about black liberation and keeps a black racial perspective .
-lrb- stam -rrb-
