Wicked Women Trivia Quiz

Answer: Running Eagle

Running Eagle's first experience with conflict was when the men of her tribe invaded the Crow people to recover horses that had been stolen. Despite being told to return to Blackfoot land by the male warriors who she was with, she continued with the party to gather their horses.

The group managed to re-capture the stolen horses. After this, she reported that she had a vision in which the sun promised her success in battle as long as she never slept with a man. Despite the fact that traditionally, men were the only ones allowed to be warriors in her society, she gained the full respect of her tribe and continued to engage in battles alongside the men in her tribe.

Answer: Nzingha Mbande

Nzingha lived from 1583-1663. She was born into the ruling family in the area, so she received training in military and political matters when she was a child. She became Queen of Ndongo when both her father and her brother passed away. Shortly after that, she led Ndongo to conquer neighbouring Matamba. During her reign, many European powers were attempting to colonize various areas in Africa to assist with the slave trade.

Despite Portugal's attempts at conquering the area, Nzinga repelled the encroachment for the duration of her reign, which lasted for 37 years.

Answer: Colestah

Colestah was one of five wives of Chief Kamiakin of the Yakama Native American people. She was born around 1800 and lived until about 1865. She has been described as a medicine woman, a psychic, and a warrior. In 1858, she went to battle with her husband against Colonel George Wright at the Battle of Four Lakes.

She was armed with a stone club, fully prepared to fight in the battle. But, when her husband was injured, she rescued him, then used her skills as a medicine woman to nurse him back to health using traditional Native American healing methods.

Answer: Shi Yang

Shi Yang was born in China in 1775. In 1801, she married the pirate Zheng Yi. At that point, she became known as Zheng Yi Sao. When he died in 1807, she took control of his pirate empire. She also developed a relationship with his adoptive son, whom she later married. Estimates suggest that she oversaw about 400 junks and between 40,000 to 60,000 pirates when she took over her husband's pirate confederation.

In 1810, Zheng Yi Sao negotiated a surrender with the ruling dynasty. Even though she controlled 24 ships and over 1,400 pirates, she managed to avoid prosecution and lived the rest of her days in wealth gained from her days as a pirate.

Answer: Yaa Asantewaa

Yaa Asantewaa (1840-1921) was a farmer and politician who was also a leader of her people. Her brother became chief of Edweso, a nearby community. He appointed her Queen Mother when he became chief. She used this title in the late 1800s when the British exiled a number of the the male leaders of the area.

The British demanded that the area turn over the symbol of their Empire, The Golden Stool. When this demand was made, a number of kings of the area met to decide how to respond. Yaa Asantewaa was at this meeting, and was elected to be the war-leader of the Asante fighting force to fight against the British and their demands. Beginning in 1900, the Asante fighting force, led by Yaa Asantewaa, attempted to capture the British fort. Unfortunately, Yaa Asantewaa was captured and sent away to live the rest of her life in exile.

Answer: Cut Nyak Dhien

Cut Nyak Dhien (1848-1908) grew up in an aristocratic family. She married Teuku Cek Ibrahim Lamnga when she was twelve years old, a marriage that was arranged by her family. In 1873, the Dutch launched a number of offensives in an attempt to capture Aceh. Cut Nyak Dhien's husband was killed in battle in 1878, causing her to swear revenge.

She re-married in 1880, on the condition that her second husband would allow her to fight. They had a daughter together and she was so determined to fight against the Dutch that she took the child with her into battle.

Her second husband was eventually killed in battle, but Cut Nyak Dhien kept fighting until she was finally captured in 1901 at which point she was sent into exile because the Dutch were worried that she would continue to mobilize forces against them in the area of Indonesia that they were trying to conquer.

Answer: Maria Quitéria

Maria Quitéria (1792-1853) served as a soldier in the Brazilian War of Independence from 1822-23. Despite her father not wanting her to join the forces, she dressed as a man and enlisted in the Brazilian forces to fight against the Portuguese. Her father discovered that she had enlisted, and tried to have her career as a fighter end by reporting her to authorities.

However, she was a proficient soldier, and was invited to continue fighting in the war. At the end of the war she had reached the rank of lieutenant.

She was also the first woman to serve in the military in Brazil.

Answer: María Remedios del Valle

María Remedios del Valle lived from approximately 1768 to 1847. Although the records of the era are not always complete, she seems to have been either of African descent, or a triracial descendant of Europeans, Indigenous Americans, and West African slaves. In 1810, she was recruited by the army to follow her husband to liberate parts of Peru. Her position at that point was not as a fighter, but as a support person to provide cooking, nursing, and other non-combatant roles. At one point, she asked a General for permission to tend to the soldiers who had fallen on the front lines while fighting the Spanish, but permission was denied because the General didn't think women should be on the front lines. She disobeyed him and started to tend to the injured soldiers on the front lines.

During her service, del Valle was wounded and taken prisoner by the Spanish. While imprisoned, she helped other prisoners escape and was tortured before finally escaping herself. After the Argentine War of Independence, she ended up a widow, begging in the streets until a General under whom she had served recognized her and petitioned for a pension on her behalf. She started receiving a pension at the rank of captain of the infantry in 1830 that lasted until her death in 1847.

Answer: Tringe Smajli

Tringe Smajli (1880-1917) was a guerrilla fighter in the the Malësia region of Albania. Unlike some women who wanted to engage in military tactics at the time that she fought, she did not dress as a man. Throughout her life, she dressed in traditional Albanian women's clothes.

She vowed to never marry and never did. She fought against the Ottomans in a number of battles in an attempt to free Albania from their control. Today, she is known as one of the most heroic women warriors in the history of Albania.

Answer: Jeanne Hachette

Jeanne Laisné was born in the middle of the 1400s. She is also known as as Jeanne Fourquet and Jeanne Hachette ('Joan the Hatchet'). On 27 June 1472, Charles the Bold tried to capture Beauvais, the town in which she lived. There were only 300 men defending the town, so when one of the other soldiers tried to plant an opposition flag, she took an axe, tossed him into the moat, and chopped down the enemy's flag.

This revived the morale of the troops that were defending her town. There is still a parade in Beauvais on the last weekend in June every year commemorate how brave Jeanne was in defending her town with the axe.