12.8 Zainatuddin Kamalat Syah, Last Queen of Aceh (Indonesia)

Her Half of History

The sultanate of Aceh enjoyed no fewer than four reigning queens in a row. They defended their country against rampant expansion by the Dutch and then the English. The last queen, Zainatuddin Kamalat Syah, was eventually deposed in 1699, through a combination of religious and personal factors, ending 59 years of a highly unusual political experiment in which women were seen as not just acceptable rulers, but preferable to men.

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