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For centuries, women all over the world have fought and ruled, written and taught. They’ve done business, explored, revolted and invented. They’ve done everything men have done — and a lot of things they haven’t.
Some of these women we know about. But so many others we don’t. For every Joan of Arc, there’s a Mongolian wrestler princess; for every Mata Hari, there’s a Colombian revolutionary spy; for every Ada Lovelace, there’s a pin-up Austrian telecoms inventor.
The women who shaped our planet are too many to mention, so here are just a few of the most frankly badass females of all time.
SEE ALSO: Amazing colorized photos show a unique side of World War II
Khutulun, Mongolian warrior princess
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In the 13th century, when khans ruled Central Asia and you couldn’t go 10 minutes without some Genghis, Kublai or Mongke trying to take over your steppe, women were well-versed in badassery. In a society where skill on a horse and with a bow and arrow was more important than brute strength, Mongol women made just as stout herders and warriors as their men.
One woman, however, had the combination of both skill and might. Her name was Khutulun, and she was not only a devastating cavalrywoman but one of the greatest wrestlers the Mongols had ever seen.
Born around 1260 to the ruler of a swathe of what is now western Mongolia and China, she helped her father repel — repeatedly — the invading hordes commanded by the mighty Khublai Khan, who also happened to be her great uncle. Her favorite tactic was to seize an enemy soldier and ride off with him, the explorer Marco Polo recounted, “as deftly as a hawk pounces on a bird.”
Off the battlefield and in the wrestling ring, Khutulun went similarly undefeated. She declared that she wouldn’t marry any man who couldn't beat her in a wrestling match; those who lost would have to give her their prized horses. Suffice it to say, Khutulun had a lot of horses. By the time she was in her 20s and a spinster by Mongol standards, her parents pleaded with her to throw a match with one particularly eligible bachelor.
According to Polo, she initially agreed, but once in the ring found herself unable to break the habit of a lifetime and surrender. She overpowered her suitor who, humiliated, fled; she eventually chose a husband from among her father’s men and married him without submitting him to the evidently impossible challenge to out-wrestle her.
More women who fought:
Boudica, the original Braveheart. She led her tribe of British Celts in a bloody, and ultimately doomed, rebellion against their Roman occupiers.
Tomoe Gozen, one of Japan’s few known female warriors, who fought in the 12th century Genpei War. She was described as a peerless swordswoman, horsewoman and archer, with a taste for beheading her enemies.
Mai Bhago, the 18th-century Sikh Joan of Arc. Appalled to see Sikh men desert their Guru in the face of Mughal invaders, she shamed them into returning to battle, defeated the enemy, became the Guru’s bodyguard and later retired to devote herself to meditation.
Maria Bochkareva, a Russian peasant who fought in World War I. She formed the terrifyingly named Women’s Battalion of Death and won several honors, only to be executed by the Bolsheviks in 1920.
Nancy Wake, the New Zealand-born British agent who commanded more than 7,000 resistance fighters during the Nazis’ occupation of France in World War II. She became the Gestapo’s most wanted person, and the Allies’ most decorated servicewoman.
Nana Asma’u, Nigerian scholar
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“Women, a warning. Leave not your homes without good reason. You may go out to get food or to seek education. In Islam, it is a religious duty to seek knowledge,” wrote our second historical lady, Nana Asma’u, who’s proof that the pen is mightier than the sword — and at least as badass.
Born the daughter of a powerful ruler in what is now northern Nigeria, Nana Asma’u (1793-1864) was taught from a young age that god wanted her to learn. And not just her — all women, too. Her father, a Qadiri Sufi who believed that sharing knowledge was every Muslim’s duty, ensured that she studied the classics in Arabic, Latin and Greek.
By the time her education was completed, she could recite the entire Koran and was fluent in four languages. She corresponded with scholars and leaders all over the region. She penned poetry about battles, politics and divine truth. And, when her brother inherited the throne, she became his trusted advisor.
She could have settled for being respected for her learning; but instead, she was determined to pass it on. Nana Asma’u trained a network of women teachers, the jaji, who traveled all over the kingdom to educate women who, in turn, would teach others. (The jajis also got to wear what sounds like a kind of amazing balloon-shaped hat, which marked them out as leaders.)
Their students were known as theyan-taru, or “those who congregate together, the sisterhood.” Even today, almost two centuries later, the modern-day jajis continue to educate women, men and children in Nana Asma’u’s name.
More women with a cause:
Huda Shaarawi, pioneering Egyptian activist who encouraged women to demonstrate both against British rule and for their own rights. Born in a harem at the end of the 19th century, she shocked 1920s Cairo by tearing off her veil in public. She went on to help found some of the first feminist organizations in the Arab world.
Edith Cavell, English nurse who treated German and British soldiers alike during World War I. Devoted to saving lives, she helped Allied troops escape from occupied Belgium, for which she was charged with treason by the Germans and sentenced to death by firing squad. She died after famously declaring: “Patriotism is not enough.”
Beate Gordon, American who ensured that women’s rights were enshrined in Japan’s constitution when it was rewritten after World War II. She was just 22 at the time, and sick of seeing Japanese women “treated like chattel.”
Lilian Ngoyi, one among many badass South African women who fought long and hard against apartheid. “Let us be brave,” she told fellow female activists, “we have heard of men shaking in their trousers, but whoever heard of a woman shaking in her skirt?” Confined to her house by banning orders, she died in 1980 without ever seeing the democracy she’d given her liberty for.
Policarpa Salavarrieta, Colombian revolutionary
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‘La Pola,’ as she was called during her brief life, was by all accounts daring, sharp-tongued and defiant. She fought to free her land, in what is now Colombia, from Spain’s rule — all while pretending to sit in the corner and sew.
She was born sometime around 1790 and grew up amid rebellion, as resistance to the Spanish Empire strengthened across South America. By the time she moved to Bogota circa 1817, she was determined to play her role.
Posing as a humble seamstress and house servant, she would offer her services to Royalist households, where she could gather intelligence and pass it on to the guerrillas; meanwhile, pretending to flirt with soldiers in the Royalist army, she’d urge them to desert and join the rebels. Oh, and she was genuinely sewing the whole time — sewing uniforms for the freedom fighters, that is.
She and her network of helpers (it seems there were several women like her) were eventually discovered. When soldiers came to take her, she kept them engaged in a slanging match while one of her comrades slipped away to burn incriminating letters. She refused to betray the cause and was sentenced to death by firing squad in November 1817.
Dragged into the city’s main square to provide an example for anyone with thoughts of rebellion, she harangued the Spanish soldiers so loudly that orders had to be given for the drums to be beaten louder to drown her out. She refused to kneel and had to be shot leaning against a stool, her final words were reportedly a promise that her death would be avenged. Sure enough, she continued to inspire the revolutionary forces long after her execution.
More women who revolted:
Manuela Saenz, a contemporary of Salavarrieta, who became the co-revolutionary and lover of Simon Bolivar. Among other things, she helped him escape assassination; he called her the “liberator of the liberator.”
Vera Figner, a member of the 19th-century Russian middle-class who abandoned her social circle to train as a doctor abroad. She returned at the time of the revolution against the tsar and helped plot his assassination, before being betrayed, arrested, imprisoned and exiled.
The Mirabal sisters, four siblings — Patria, Dede, Minerva and Maria Teresa — from the Dominican Republic who opposed dictator Rafael Trujillo throughout the 1950s. All except Dede were murdered by his henchmen in November 1960.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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