Na Agontimé

Na Agontimé
Born
Dahomey
SpouseAgonglo

Na Agontimé (fl. 19th c.) was a queen of the Kingdom of Dahomey during the early 1800s. She was one of the wives of King Agonglo. After a power struggle between Agonglo's sons Adandozan and Ghezo, the latter of whom is likely Agontimé's son, she was sold into slavery in Brazil. While in Brazil, it is thought that she established the Casa das Minas in São Luís, Maranhão under the name Maria Jesuína. The temple became the birthplace of the Tambor de Mina religion.

Biography

Agontimé was a Mahi[1] woman born in the late 1700s in Dahomey (now modern-day Benin). She was one of the wives of Agonglo.

After the death of Agonglo in 1797, there was a power struggle between Agonglo's children, namely Adandozan and Ghezo. During the course of the power struggle, Ghezo had appointed Agontimé to become his Kpojito (or queen-mother, an important post in the Kingdom of Dahomey). Due to her supporting Ghezo to the throne, Adandozan sold Agontimé into slavery.[2]

While sources vary, it is generally thought that she founded the Casa das Minas in São Luís.[3] It is an Afro-Brazilian temple that is the only house of the Dahomean jeje tradition in Maranhão; the others are of Yoruba (nagô) origin in present-day Benin and Nigeria. The temple was the origin of the Tambor de Mina religion, establishing the cult of the ancestors of the royal family (voduns).[4] A throne that was sent by Adandozan to Brazil during this time period is thought to have direct relation to Agontimé. The throne was destroyed during the National Museum of Brazil fire in 2018.[1][5]

According to some versions of Agontimé's story, Ghezo was able to secure her release from Brazil and bring her back to the kingdom, although evidence of this is not clear.[6]

The French-Brazilian photographer and Babalawo Pierre Verger, together with the Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire (IFAN), had undertaken research in 1952 in order to discover more details about Agontimé, but even still, there are still many details that are unknown about her.[7]

Legacy

The story of Agontimé has become a modern story within Afro-Brazilian culture, with her being celebrated in museums, songs, and Carnival blocs. In 2001, Beija-Flor, a samba school based in Nilópolis, north of Rio de Janeiro, created a samba-enredo in homage to Agontimé, titled "A Saga de Agotime, Maria Mineira Naê".[5][8]

The anthropologist Judith Gleason wrote a novel, Agõtĩme: Her Legend (1970), centered on an account of Agontimé, who offends her husband, who then sells her to slavery in Brazil; she makes a bargain with a vodu (deity), putting her son on the throne of Dahomey and bringing her home.[9]

A biography about her was written by author Jarid Arraes as part of her 2015 cordel collection and book Heroínas Negras Brasileiras em 15 cordéis.[10]

In 2022, a portrait of Agontimé by artist Larissa de Souza, titled Ná Agontimé, was submitted to be displayed during the Enciclopédia Negra exhibition of the Museu de Arte do Rio.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b de Oliveira, Daniele Roberto. "Nã Agontimé - Uma rainha africana escravizada na América do Sul". Biblioteca Florestan Fernandes, University of São Paulo. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
  2. ^ Bay, Edna G. (1998). Wives of the Leopard: Gender, Politics, and Culture in the Kingdom of Dahomey. University of Virginia Press. ISBN 0-8139-1792-1.
  3. ^ Melo, Christiane Falcão; Barros, Zuleica de Sousa (2024). Casa das Minas: um estudo das lexias afro-religiosas. II Encontro Nacional de Linguística Aplicada (Enala) (PDF) (in Portuguese). Tutóia, MA: Editora Lupa.
  4. ^ "A rainha-mãe do senhor de dois reinos – uma história real". Extra Online (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2011-05-04. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  5. ^ a b Reeves, Philip. "Stool From Slave Trade Era Is Likely Destroyed In Brazil's Museum Fire". NPR. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
  6. ^ Araujo, Ana Lucia (2010). Public Memory of Slavery: Victims and Perpetrators in the South Atlantic. Amherst, NY: Cambria Press.
  7. ^ "Na Agontimé (séculos XVIII – XIX)". Biografias de Mulheres Africanas. Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
  8. ^ Araujo, Ana Lucia (17 September 2018). "History, Memory, and Imagination: Nã Agontimé, A Dahomean Queen in Brazil" (PDF). Retrieved 30 April 2025.
  9. ^ "Agotime: her legend". Internet Archive. Grossman Publishers. 1970. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  10. ^ "Heroínas negras brasileiras - Jarid Arraes - Grupo Companhia das Letras". www.companhiadasletras.com.br. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  11. ^ Dwamena, Anakwa (10 January 2025). "The Afrobrazilian Artists Forging New Connections Across the Atlantic". Artreview.com. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.