Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses how the land possession was related to the production of a remarkable power by the elite women in the Zambezi valley, within the context of the colonial and African societies.

Paper long abstract:

In recent decades, the historiography has recovered women from the invisibility to which the study of the human past had confined them. However, there are still scarce studies on the economic and political agency of women, particularly in the European empires.

In the early modern Europe, theorists argued that women lacked reason and strength, so they didn't have the ability to govern, which was given to men. The model of power based on the political legitimacy (potestas) and the authority by force (potentia), applied to the relations between rulers and subjects, was used to justify women's subordination to men. Nevertheless, the implementation of European institutions in the imperial spaces redesigned, often, the social relationships that made women subordinated to men.

In the colonial society of the Zambezi valley, where the Portuguese crown ruled a vast territory, women accessed to land and other means of economic, social and political relevance. While owners of the land, these women, mostly mestizo, acted as heads of households, managing multiple resources and, in particular, controlled the African inhabitants of these territories. This social role enabled them to build a remarkable power, which often was socially perceived as superior to that of the men.

This paper discusses how the land possession was related to the production of a notable power by these women, within the context of the colonial and African societies. It will be considered the forms of formal power, as well as power as an interactive process dispersed in society, according to recent perspectives.