These are the entries born in the country of Nigeria.
453: Mum-Zi
She Became a Grandmother at Age Seventeen
Born: c.1876, Nigeria
Died: Unknown
This fact makes her possibly the youngest grandmother ever.
She gave birth to her first child aged eight years and four months in 1884.
Mum-Zi was a member of her chief’s harem on the island of Awka Akpa, now known as Calabar in Nigeria. The father of Mum’s baby was the chief, and that same chief reportedly also impregnated her daughter eight years later, meaning both Mum’s daughter and granddaughter had the same father.
According to Kuulpeeps.com, the main source for Mum-Zi’s story comes from a 1936 book The Future of Taboo in These Islands by Lyall Archibald; however, if any copies of the book survive, they are extremely hard to come by so I obviously haven’t examined the book myself to check if this is true or not.
Sadly, Mum’s story is not just a historical one; today, Nigeria is one of the worst countries in the world in terms of child-brides, with as many as one third or more girls married before age eighteen. In 2019, it was estimated twenty-two million girls in Nigeria were victims of child marriage. Part of the issue stems from the fact that the age of consent in Nigeria is eleven, and the constitution states any woman or girl who is married, regardless of age, is considered an adult. To read more about the issue of Child Brides in Nigeria, click the CNN link below.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_youngest_birth_mothers
https://www.legit.ng/1214898-youngest-mother-nigeria.html
https://kuulpeeps.com/2019/10/meet-mum-zi-the-worlds-youngest-grandmother-at-age-17/
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/25/africa/nigerian-girls-child-marriage-campaign-intl/index.html
452: Nebet
Birth and Death Dates Unknown; 6th Dynasty Egypt
Her husband was Khui and her daughters would marry Pepi I—their names were Akhensenpepi I and II.
Pepi I was one of the most powerful and influential Pharaohs of his time and Nebet oversaw the building of his pyramid and other projects.
Her name connects her to the Egyptian Gods Thoth, Geb, and Horus.
She may have been a princess related to the royal family somehow.
Nebet is the first recorded female vizier in Egyptian history with the next being in the 26th Dynasty. The vizier was the second most powerful person in the Egyptian Empire and was responsible for the day to day activities of keeping the country running smoothly.
Sources:
https://www.ancient-egypt-online.com/ancient-egypt-vizier.html
These are the entries born in the country of Peru, or in the modern geographical borders of Peru.
451: Lina Medina de Jurardo
The Youngest Human Mother Ever Confirmed in Medical History
Born: 23 September 1933, Castrovirreyna Province, Peru
Lina gave birth at the age of five years seven months.
This was possible thanks to Lina having a condition known as precocious puberty (which affects 1 in every 10,000 children); meaning by the age of three she was menstruating and developed breasts by age four.
Lina gave birth via caesarean section, as her pelvis was still too small to support a natural vaginal birth. Her son was born perfectly healthy, weighing six pounds.
The identity of her son Gerardo’s father was never confirmed and growing up he was led to believe he was Lina’s younger brother and not her son.
Gerardo passed away in 1979; sources differ on what the cause was, but he was only forty years old.
When Lina became an adult, she was hired to work in the office of the doctor who had helped her survive her pregnancy. The money she earned meant she could send her son to high school.
In 1972, she married and had another son. Her two children were born thirty-three years apart from one another.
Lina and her family have all repeatedly fought against publicity, and none have ever consented to an interview. Lina even turned down the opportunity to have her story turned into a movie.
Sources:
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/09/24/lina-medina/
https://allthatsinteresting.com/lina-medina
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,893791,00.html
450: Erika Ervin
Transgender Model and Actress
Born: 23 February 1979, Turlock, California, United States of America
Known Professionally as: Amazon Eve
She has starred on American Horror Story in the seasons Freakshow and Apocalypse.
Erika stands at six foot eight without heels. This impressive stature made her the Guinness Book of World Record Holder as the tallest model in the world.
She transitioned from male to female in 2004.
Sources:
449: Maude E Steane
She served as a Second Radio Officer in the Canadian Merchant Navy
Born: c.1916, Possibly Toronto, Canada
Died: 14 August 1944, Naples, Italy
Maude is one of eight Canadian women confirmed killed in action during World War II. She was the first woman from Toronto to ever die in active service to her country.
She was 28 years old at the time of her death. How she died has been disputed and twisted throughout history. The official cause of death, released by the Canadian Government, was death by enemy fire. However, some claim Maude was actually murdered by another crew member on board the ship they served on. The crew member then reportedly committed suicide.
Today, the ship Maude died on is believed to be haunted by her spirit. The ship was originally built by the United States in its liberty ship program before being sold to the Norwegians, who operated it at the time of Maude’s death. After the war, the ship was purchased by a private company. These sailors ran the ship aground in 1952. The ship was then sold to a Greek company, and they ran it aground in 1963, and the ship was later abandoned. Some believe the ship’s bad luck was thanks to Maude’s spirit still aboard the ship.
Badges Earned:
Find a Grave Marked
Sources:
https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/2379462
https://canadiansatarms.ca/a-determined-hero-maude-steane/
https://navalandmilitarymuseum.org/archives/articles/unsung-women/merchant-marine-women/
https://ghosts.fandom.com/wiki/Alkimos_Shipwreck
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56564563/maude-elizabeth-steane
These are the entries born in the modern country of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which used to be a part of Yugoslavia.
448: Andreja Pejić
Transgender Model
Born: 28 August 1991, Tuzla, Yugoslavia (Present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Before announcing her transition in 2013, Andreja was known as the first and only completely androgynous supermodel in the world.
Post-transition, Andreja was the first transgender woman to be featured in American Vogue. She then went on to become the first Transgender woman to become the face of a major makeup campaign—Makeup Forever, and the first transgender model to front a Bonds lingerie campaign.
Her family emigrated to Australia when she was eight years old after fleeing war torn Yugoslavia. Because of these experiences, today Andreja advocates for nuclear disarmament and world peace.
Sources:
447: Carlina White
Abducted Child Who Solved Her Own Kidnapping Case
Born: 15 July 1987, Harlem, New York, United States of America
Also Known As: Netty Nance
Carlina also found her birth parents twenty-three years after being abducted from a hospital in Harlem as a nineteen-day-old.
She solved her own kidnapping after getting pregnant in 2005. Netty, as she more often goes by, wanted to receive free medical care but needed her birth certificate to get it. Her “mother” was unable to provide a copy of the birth certificate, which aroused Netty’s suspicions. The woman who claimed to be her mother told Netty she’d been abandoned at birth, but this story didn’t sit well with Netty. She started researching missing children’s cases online, and after contacting the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children, she was able to identify herself as Carlina White thanks to a birthmark.
Netty testified on behalf of her kidnapper at her trial, and as far as the media knows, has never turned her back on her completely. Her birth parents and she were initially overjoyed to be together again, but after the media put an intense spotlight on the family they were driven apart again. However, today it is believed Netty and her biological parents are on good terms again.
To this day she remains the only known child, abducted by someone outside of her family, to be reunited with her parents after being missing as long as she was.
A movie was made about her life in 2012, starring Keke Palmer. That same year, Netty’s kidnapper was sentenced to twelve years in prison.
Sources: