The African Amazons
While there is no evidence for this extreme state of affairs, there are intriguing clues to the Amazon mystery to be found in Africa:
The Matriarchs of Akan and the Amazon Soldiers of Dahomey
In the State of Akan in West Africa, within living memory (1944 when writer Eva Meyerowitz visited), there was a matriarchal social system in operation, though very much on its last legs. The Queen-mother was regarded as the owner of the State and the King was appointed by her as the ruler of the State. The Queen-mother could marry whoever she wanted or simply take lovers and have children with them. The law favoured and protected women, so that if a man insulted a woman she would bring him before the Queen-mother's court, where he would be heavily fined - and in the old days, even executed. But British colonisation was not good for the women of Akan - the British were only willing to deal with the men and gradually the women lost their power.
And in neighbouring Dahomey the king kept a regiment of fierce women soldiers some of whom fought against the French in 1898. The explorer-diplomat Richard Burton wrote about his encounter with these ferocious fighters:
Their sole object in life is blood-spilling and head-snatching. They pride themselves on not being men, and with reason. The soldiers blink and shrink when they fire their guns, the soldieresses do not. The men run away; the women fight to the bitter end.
However, these virgin Amazons were very much in the service of the king, and had no autonomy or personal freedom, so they cannot really be counted true 'Amazons'. True Amazons would not fight for a king who held them in servitude.
Another trace of matriachal traditions can be found in the customs of the Tuareg, the nomadic people who inhabit the Sahara and Sahel regions of Africa. These are the famous 'blue people': the women go unveiled while the men always cover their mouths and face with the ends of their 'tagelmousses' (turbans.) The women used to own the tents, which meant that they could decide where to live and close to whom. Frances Rodd, writing in the twenties, commented that the women of the 'people of the veil' as they called themselves, were 'respected in a manner which has no parallel in my experience'. The women also had a high degree of sexual freedom and could take as many partners as they wished before marriage. But drought, civil war and the spread of Islam have eroded the women's matriarchal power: now they are obliged to live in towns in houses owned by the men.
It would be far-fetched to suggest that the Akan and the Tuareg really are the ancestors of the African Amazons, but until very recently they did continue matriarchal traditions which preserved the Amazon spirit and proved that patriarchy is not the only way to organise a society.