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They fought against Yoruba tribes at Abeokuta where 6000 of them were instrumental in helping the male Fon soldiers achieve victory. The Sed Festival and the crowning of the king and queen were similar rituals in Kemet (Egypt) as well as in Cush where the king and, or queen would shoot arrows to the four directions of the compass to symbolize their universal authority to rules on earth.
A stone mural at Karnak shows Pharoah Taharka's wife shooting arrows in the four directions while her husband is shown armed with a mace in the act of smiting his enemies. They are shown back to back as if protecting each other from being attacked in the rear.
They were also musicians, experts in dancing and fighting, using weapons like the machete, clubs, spears, axes, bow and arrows, muskets, and later, machine guns. They lived with the king in the royal dwelling and were completely devoted to him until death.
There are photographs of them show them training while wearing only a loincloth, then later adopting a blue and white striped uniform of shirt and breeches. They fought against the French army with varying degrees of success, finally losing the battle to prevent slavery in Africa. This occurred eight years prior to the 19th century. They were considered as a special guard, wives of the king, making up one third of the fighting force, and were organized into regiments. Initially the Fon participated in the slave trade but changed their philosophy when France's intentions became all too clear. The history of the Dahomey Amazons spans over two centuries.
Queen Nzingha was in charge of sections in Angola and Zaire, and her mission was to utterly and completely destroy the African slave trade. She was a proud member of a tribal combat unit (Jagas) that formed a human shield against the Portuguese slave traders, and she became known as the "greatest military strategist that ever confronted the armed forces of Portugal." Her military campaigns kept the Portuguese in Africa from gaining a strong foothold.
Queen Nzingha was very loyal to the resistance movement and made good use of her feminine charm or masculine drive depending on the circumstances, also utilizing religion as a political ploy to gain the upper hand.
Queen Nzingha sent envoys throughout West and Central Africa in an effort to recruit a massive combined force of African armies to help drive out the Portuguese, and also developed affiliations with other foreign authorities before setting them against each other as rivals, in a further attempt to rid Angola of this European scourge.
Nzingha's efforts helped to motivate others to join the fight against the invaders, which included people like Madame Tinubu of Nigeria; Nandi, the mother of Chaka - the great Zulu warrior; Kaipkire of the Herero people of South West Africa; as well as the female army which supported Behanzin Bowelle, the Dahomian King.
In 1663 at the fine age of eighty-one, Queen Nzingha died fighting for her people. It is said that Africa has not known a greater patriot.
Cave paintings of Black African Amazons using bows and arrows in combat while displaying one of their breasts can be seen at Sefar Tassili. The descendants of these women were the Dahomey Amazons of Fon from the Kingdom of Dahomey (now Benin). These all-female elite combat soldiers began to gain a reputation as fearless warriors during the 18th and 19th centuries. 
The Dahomey Amazons were were trained physically and mentally for war. As long as they were in service to the king they would give up having children. Like their male counterparts, they were trained to be fearless, aggressive, while making their bodies very strong by training with the men, often attempting to outdo the men in tests of physical strength and endurance. 
A symbol of inspiration for people all over the world and an outstanding military leader of Angolan origin who engaged in a forty year war against the savage, slave-hunting Europeans, was Queen Ann Nzingha (1582-1663). 
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