Mathiang Yak Anek

Mathiang Yak Anek (1860s - ?), was a 19th-century female Dinka chief and escaped slave. Born in the 1860s, she was enslaved as a child by Turkish-Egyptian traders and subjected to slavery in Sudan. She escaped during the advance of British colonial troops and returned to her home in Pathiong Gok (now part of South Sudan). She became the chief of her people. Following a dispute with a rival leader, she was removed from her position by colonial officials.

Early life and enslavement Mathiang Yak Anek was born in the 1860s to a Dinka family in the Pagok Pathiong Gok community of Turkish Sudan (now South Sudan). As a child, she was abducted from her village by Turkish-Egyptian traders and taken as a slave to the regional slaving post of Tonj. She was forced to undergo female genital mutilation, At a gathering of the region's chiefs, Anek debated Athian, successfully made a public case against him, and was awarded a gray cow as recompense. The incident was considered dishonourable for Athian.

At the next annual gathering of chiefs before the British colonial officials, a charge was made against Anek claiming that she had slapped Athian on his buttocks. The charges were likely false, but considered a "grave offense". It was said that Athian was mobilising a war force to attack the Pathiong Gok. To resolve the situation, colonial officials stripped Anek of her chieftainship and appointed a man to be her successor.

Afterwards, Anek abandoned her house in the city and moved to the countryside. Following her rule, Gok had a higher rate of female chieftains than most groups of Dinka people.