Ganga Zumba

Who is Ganga Zumba?

Ganga Zumba 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" 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 this nobles. The whereabouts of the rest of them is unknown. but Ganga Zumba his Brother Zona and his sister Sabina were made slaves at the plantation of Santa Rita. From where they escaped to palmares.