Kingdom of Loango
51-450: [REDACTED] Kingdom of Kakongo Kingdom of Ngoyo Kingdom of Ndongo The Kinkanga , usually known as the Kinkanga a Mvika or House of Nsundi , was a royal kanda formed by King Pedro II , which ruled the Kingdom of Kongo from 1622 to 1631. While King Pedro II (ruled 1622–24) and his son Garcia I (ruled 1624–1626) were the only other member of the faction or kanda to rule, it retained powerful members in provincial offices in
102-429: A Nakuru took upon his conversion) died, and potential claimants (including Afonso) rose up to take over the kingdom. Kongo was an elective rather than a hereditary monarchy , and so Afonso was not guaranteed the throne. Afonso was assisted in his attempt to become king by his mother, who kept news of João's death a secret and arranged for Afonso to return to the capital city of Mbanza Kongo to gather his followers. When
153-548: A Nkuwu (Christianized as João I ), king of the Kongo. Given political power from a young age, Afonso ruled the province of Nsundi during his father's reign. In an era of increasing relations with the Kingdom of Portugal, Afonso became a fervent convert to Catholicism and sought to embrace Portuguese institutions in his lands. Following the death of his father in 1506, Afonso prevailed in brief civil war against his brother, becoming
204-567: A Nzinga , Nzinga Mbemba , Funsu Nzinga Mvemba or Dom Alfonso (c. 1456–1542 or 1543), also known as King Afonso I , was the sixth ruler of the Kingdom of Kongo from the Lukeni kanda dynasty and ruled in the first half of the 16th century. He reigned over the Kongo Empire from 1509 to late 1542 or 1543. Born into the ruling house of House of Kilukeni , Afonso was the son of Nzinga
255-745: A Portuguese invasion of Kongo the very year of King Pedro II's rise. The gross miscalculation of the Portuguese resulted in the king leading a force which crushed the invasion at the Battle of Mbandi Kasi . After the disastrous war, the Portuguese sought peace with the House of Nsundi and calm was restored for a little while. Meanwhile, Pedro II harbored plans to remove the Portuguese from his region altogether and sought Dutch assistance to this aim. It would be up to another ruling house; however, to see these plans through. Garcia I succeeded his father as head of
306-402: A board to better regulate the slave trade. Afonso also established a special committee, made up of Kongolese and Portuguese merchants, to determine the legality of the enslavement of those who were being sold. These regulatory efforts greatly slowed or ended the enslavement of free Kongolese in the near term, though sources debate on whether or not the issue resulted in the longer-term erosion of
357-521: A confederation led by Vungu . Along with its neighboring kingdoms of Ngoyo and Loango , Kakongo became an important political commercial center during the 17th through 19th centuries. The people speak a dialect of the Kikongo language and thus may be considered a part of the Bakongo ethnicity. Kakongo was a vassal of the Kingdom of Kongo for a part of its history. The earliest history of Kakongo
408-493: A coup launched by Afonso to expel anti-Catholic elements within the royal house. Mpanzu a Kitima was killed during the battle, either by falling into a sort of punji trap during his army's rout, or after being captured and then executed. The Portuguese are not mentioned as participating in the battle either by the missionaries present in the kingdom or by Afonso in his letters to Portugal's king. Afonso capitalized on his victory over his traditionalist brother; Christianity became
459-589: A trading outpost in Luanda , thereby opening a new market for slaves independent of the Kongolese market. The kingdom of Ndongo also began growing in power, breaking free of Kongolese influence and skirmishing with Kongo on its southern border. Portuguese merchants, eager for a new supply of slaves, provided limited support to the Ndongans, further destabilizing the region. Afonso reacted by instituting new tolls on
510-632: A very important commercial center in the 18th century, regularly visited by ships from England, France, the Netherlands, and Portugal. Its port of Cabinda was a major hub that lay in a protected bay. Slaves dominated the exports of the country, though most were simply transhipped from areas further south, mostly from the Kingdom of Kongo and the eastern provinces of Angola, such as Matamba . Important goods that were also traded included gunpowder, guns, knives, cotton cloths, glass beads, copper and iron bars. In 1775, French missionaries sought to convert
561-562: Is best known for his vigorous attempt to convert Kongo to a Catholic country, by establishing the Roman Catholic Church in Kongo , providing for its financing from tax revenues, and creating schools. By 1516 there were over 1000 students in the royal school, and other schools were located in the provinces, eventually resulting in the development of a fully literate noble class (schools were not built for ordinary people). Afonso also sought to develop an appropriate theology to merge
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#1732782368298612-462: Is remembered for increasing the power of the Kongolese monarchy, his efforts to convert Kongo to Christianity, and his economic and military expansion of the kingdom. Born Mvemba a Nzinga, he was the son of Manikongo (Mwene Kongo) (king) Nzinga a Nkuwu , the fifth king of the Kongo dynasty . In 1491, Mvemba a Nzinga was in his thirties and was the ruler of Nsundi province in the northeast portion of
663-436: Is unclear. "Scholars continue to dispute the authenticity of Kongolese Christian faith and the degree to which the adoption of a new faith was motivated by political and economic realities." Although the degree to which Afonso was purely spiritually motivated is uncertain, it is clear that the Kongo's conversion resulted in the far-reaching European engagement with both political and religious leaders who supported and legitimized
714-547: Is unknown, and oral traditions collected in the region in the 19th and 20th centuries do not do much to elucidate. In its present state, archaeology can only attest that the region was already in the Iron Age by the 5th century BC, and that complex societies were emerging in the general vicinity by the early centuries CE. The kingdom is first mentioned in the titles of the King of Kongo Afonso I in 1535, in which he notes that he
765-540: The Atlantic slave trade . Afonso grew more cautious of Portuguese influence in his later reign, but relations between Kongo and Portugal remained close, with both kingdoms collaborating in war and trade. Keenly interested in diplomacy, Afonso sent Kongolese embassies to Lisbon, Rome, and wrote correspondence with political and religious leaders in Europe. He was succeeded by his son, Pedro I , in either 1542 or 1543. Afonso
816-524: The 1650s until its destruction in the 1670s. Despite this loss in prominence, they were remembered in tradition and are evoked in a proverb, still current in the 1920s Nkutama a mvila za makanda "Kinlaza, Kimpanzu ye Kinlaza makukwa matatu malambila Kongo" (Kinkanga, Kimpanzu and Kinlaza are the three stones on which Kongo cooked). Since 1567, the House of Kwilu had ruled Kongo. When its king, Álvaro III , died in 1622, he had no heir old enough to assume
867-461: The Kongolese capital, while a number of Kongolese notables had been sent abroad to reside in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon . Trade and religious exchange between the two kingdoms grew after Afonso's rise to the Kongolese throne, as the Portuguese supported his pro-catholic policies. Trade between Portugal and Kongo at the start of Afonso's reign mainly consisted of ivory, copper, and palm cloth, but also and increasing trickle of slaves. Afonso and
918-453: The Kongolese noble class. Afonso also strengthened ties with provincial kingdoms (most notably Sonyo and Mbata) ruled by his kin, helping to secure Kongo's position as the leading power in the region. As Afonso's reign continued, Kongo's relationship with Portugal continued to evolve. During the final years of his predecessor's reign as king, Portuguese missionaries had begun to play an increasingly important role as educators and diplomats in
969-432: The Portuguese by royal representatives. By the 1510s, Afonso entered an arrangement in which the Portuguese provided him with military assistance in exchange for a share of slaves taken captive during Kongo's wars of expansion. In 1512, Afonso led a military campaign against the Kingdom of Ndongo to the south; in correspondence with King Manuel of Portugal , Afonso mentioned that he had sent him 410 slaves captured during
1020-430: The Portuguese colony on São Tomé, where the Kongolese monarchy had appointed representatives. Christian festivals were observed, churches were erected, and craftsmen made Christian artifacts that were found by missionaries in the 19th century. Significantly, religious brotherhoods (organizations) were founded in imitation of Portuguese practices. The ranks of brotherhoods would be called by different European titles, with
1071-494: The Portuguese. In 1512, Afonso received an official embassy from Portugal and send Kongolese ambassadors to Lisbon. Increased trade led to a flourishing economy centered around the highly-productive royal capital at Mbanza Kongo, which also benefited Afonso's government. Kongo's history of military expansion made it an efficient exporter; the tribute of raw materials sent to Mbanza Kongo by its tributaries could be processed into exportable goods, while captured peoples could be sold to
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#17327823682981122-426: The administration of the country. Many letters complain about the behavior of several Portuguese officials, and these letters have given rise to an interpretation of Afonso's reign as one in which Portuguese interests submerged Afonso's ambitions. In Adam Hochschild 's 1998 book King Leopold's Ghost , Hochschild characterizes Afonso as a "selective modernizer" because he welcomed Europe a scientific innovation and
1173-546: The church but refused to adopt Portugal's legal code and sell land to prospectors. In fact, Afonso ridiculed the Ordenações Manuelinas (new Portuguese law code) when he read it in 1516, asking the Portuguese emissary de Castro, "What is the punishment, Castro, for putting one's feet on the ground?" No contemporary record mentions anything about land sales, indeed land in Kongo was never sold to anyone. The precise motivation behind Afonso's campaign of conversion
1224-433: The coast] secretly or at night. ... As soon as the captives are in the hands of white men they are branded with a red-hot iron. To counter the trade in illegally-exported Kongolese slaves, Afonso threatened to end the slave trade if Portugal did not intervene and better regulate its merchants. To reform the trade, Afonso reiterated the need to follow Kongolese law and not enslave Kongolese freemen, while also establishing
1275-407: The death of the king was finally announced, Afonso was already in the capital city and ready to take power. The strongest opposition to Afonso's claim came from his half brother Mpanzu a Kitima (or Mpanzu a Nzinga). Mpanzu rebelled against his brother, raised an army in the provinces, and made plans to march on Mbanza Kongo. In the ensuing Battle of Mbanza Kongo , Afonso's adherence to Catholicism
1326-499: The elected leader of each brotherhood having the title "king." To celebrate Pentecost , these brotherhoods organized processions that had the multiple motives of celebrating Saints, the brotherhoods themselves, and allowed the brotherhoods an opportunity to collect money. These celebrations lived on in slave communities in Albany, NY as Pinkster . Toward the end of his life, Afonso's children and grandchildren began maneuvering for
1377-512: The end of what had become a tenuous relationship between Kongo and Portugal. The once close allies had fallen out over slaving and trade rights toward the end of the 16th century. The ambitious governor of the Portuguese colony in Luanda claimed that the king had given asylum to runaway slaves while Duke of Mbamba. Furthermore, he also claimed the right to appoint kings of Kongo. This led to
1428-514: The house in 1624, but when he was overthrown by Manuel Jordão, the Duke of Nsundi in 1626, he fled to Soyo . There he was protected by the Count Paulo of Soyo for many years, as he had been appointed by Pedro II. As a result, Soyo formed a close bond with the house. A number of other appointees by Pedro II or Garcia remained in their offices even as other houses ruled Kongo. In 1656, members of
1479-625: The house that held office in São Salvador and the Marquis of Mpemba tried to overthrow Garcia II, and were defeated and the kanda was destroyed as a separate entity in 1678. Kingdom of Kakongo Kakongo was a small kingdom located on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa , in the modern-day Republic of the Congo and Cabinda Province , Angola . In the 13th century, it formed part of
1530-632: The influence of the monarchy while also curtailing the power of the rural noble class. Throughout his reign, Afonso launched military campaigns of expansion to the south and east of the Kongo. These campaigns brought new peoples under Kongolese control. Captives taken in the wars were enslaved and forcibly relocated to Mbanza Kongo, while conquered lands paid tribute to Kongo in the form of valuable trade goods (such as iron, palm cloth, and ivory). The resulting surplus of food and labor allowed Afonso to fuel his plans to centralize governmental power in his capital and secure his throne against any potential rivals from
1581-477: The island colony to the Kongo. Afonso had to navigate the changing priories of his kingdom, the Portuguese crown in Europe, and the increasingly influential Portuguese community in Africa, which often had different motivations. In the later years of his rule, Afonso and the Kongo increasingly maneuvered to ensure the kingdom's monopoly on the slave trade. This faced competition from the Portuguese, who established
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1632-548: The king of Portugal established a shared monopoly on trade in the "Five Rivers of Guinea" – modern day Benin and the Niger Delta . Trade between Portugal and Kongo continued as Portugal continuously expanded into the area; most notably, the establishment of a Portuguese colony on the island of São Tomé led to an increased Portuguese demand for slaves. Afonso saw benefits from the strengthening ties with Portugal, as his efforts to convert Kongo to Catholicism were aided by
1683-528: The kingdom's capital. Letters written by priests to the king of Portugal paint Afonso as an enthusiastic and scholarly convert to Christianity. Around 1495, his father denounced Christianity and pushed priests out of the royal capital, but Afonso disagreed with his father and welcomed the priests into the capital of his Nsundi province. To the displeasure of many in the realm, he ordered the destruction of traditional art objects that might offend Portuguese sensibilities. In 1506 King João I of Kongo (the name Nzinga
1734-402: The kingdom, along with its neighbors, to Christianity, hoping to reap the fruit of its long association with the neighboring, Christian, Kingdom of Kongo. The mission was largely unsuccessful but did make contact with a community of Christians from Kongo's province of Soyo , living in the town of Manguenzo in the interior. The mission was ultimately abandoned. Afonso I of Kongo Mvemba
1785-523: The kingdom. Mvember a Nzinga competed for political power and trade revenue with fellow nobles, including members of his extended family, with many seeing him as a prime candidate to become the next king. 1491 saw the arrival of the first Portuguese to the Kingdom of the Kongo's capital at M'banza-Kongo . Mvemba took a fast interest to Christianity, taking the new name Afonso, and he was baptized after his father decided to convert to Christianity . He studied with Portuguese priests and advisers for ten years in
1836-622: The power of the Kongolese kingdom. Afonso continued to expand Kongo's borders into the 1540s, conquering lands on the Zaire river, launched raids into northern Angola, while also forcing the rival kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba to become Kongolese tributaries. Seeking to better tie Kongo into the growing Portuguese empire in Africa, he continued to encourage trade with Portugal; by the 1540s, he had royal representatives present in Sao Tome, and had also (unsuccessfully) petitioned Portugal to cede
1887-401: The religious traditions of his own country with that of Christianity. He studied theological textbooks, falling asleep over them, according to Rui de Aguiar (the Portuguese royal chaplain who was sent to assist him). To aid in this task, Afonso sent many of his children and nobles to Europe to study, including his son Henrique Kinu a Mvemba , who was elevated to the status of bishop in 1518. He
1938-452: The road to Luanda, ensuring his kingdom was able to tax the slave trade. He also took efforts to ensure roads into the Kongolese interior remained open so that the slave trade could continue. Afonso and his successors faced a continuing problem in that slaves had become the unit of currency for use in overseas purchases, and so the Kongolese monarchy was reliant on the sale of slaves to maintain its diplomatic and economic power abroad. Afonso
1989-460: The royal faith from then on, and the "miracle" resulting in Afonso victory at Mbanza Kongo was immortalized in the kingdom's coat of arms. The coat of arms was in use in Kongo until at least 1860. Having consolidated his power as king, Afonso began a campaign of border expansion and government centralization. Similar to his father's rule, Afonso developed the royal capital at Mbanza Kongo, increasing
2040-411: The royal monopoly on trade held by Afonso and the Kongolese monarchy. To pay for these imports, some Kongolese nobles illegally exported slaves to the Portuguese, with some going so far as to kidnap and enslave freeborn Kongolese. These developments worried and angered Afonso, who issued a letter protesting the circumvention of Kongolese law in 1526. Writing in a letter to the king of Portugal, Each day
2091-399: The ruler of Kongo during a transformative and disruptive period of Kongolese history, Afonso's reign has been the area of historical study. Virtually all that is known about Kongo in the time of Afonso's reign is known from his long series of letters, written in Portuguese, primarily to the kings Manuel I and João III of Portugal . The letters are often very long and give many details about
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2142-469: The sixth king of Kongo. As king, Afonso centralized governmental power in his capital city at Mbanza Kongo, curtailed the power of the Kongolese nobility, and expanded the kingdom's borders through war. Unlike previous Kongolese kings, he remained a Catholic throughout his life, and worked aggressively to convert his kingdom to Christianity. His reign saw increasing cultural, economic, and religious exchanges between Kongo and Portugal, including an expansion of
2193-422: The slave trade—the sale or enslavement of Kongolese freemen was prohibited, as was the export of female slaves. Kongolese criminals could be condemned to slavery, but could not be exported. However, as the Portuguese demand for slaves grew, these laws were increasingly subverted. By the mid-1520s, members of the Kongolese nobility had begun to illegally import goods directly from Portuguese merchants, thus bypassing
2244-446: The succession, and in 1540 plotters that included Portuguese residents in the country made an unsuccessful attempt on his life. He died toward the end of 1542 or perhaps at the very beginning of 1543, leaving his son Pedro to succeed him. Although his son was soon overthrown by his grandson Diogo (in 1545) and had to take refuge in a church, the grandchildren and later descendants of three of his daughters provided many later kings. As
2295-401: The throne. The electors decided to grant the throne to Pedro II Nkanga a Mvika , the Duke of Mbamba. In Portuguese documents, the ruling house of King Pedro II is called Nsundi for the duchy the founding king's father ruled. The line of kings from the House of Kwilu virtually ended overnight ( Ambrósio I being the lone exception from 1626 to 1631). The ascension of the House of Nsundi meant
2346-545: The trade in copper, ivory, and slaves, began to establish factories in Kakongo in the 1620s, and Dutch and English merchants also visited the kingdom during the 17th century. Its capital was called Kinguele and was an inland town. In the 1680s Kakongo had diplomatic relations with Soyo on the south side of the Congo River. It lost control of the island of Nzari a Kongo in the river to Soyo in about 1688. Kakongo became
2397-674: The traders are kidnapping our people – children of this country, sons of our nobles and vassals, even people of our own family. This corruption and depravity are so widespread that our land is entirely depopulated. We need in this kingdom only priests and schoolteachers, and no merchandise, unless it is wine and flour for Mass. It is our wish that this Kingdom not be a place for the trade or transport of slaves. Many of our subjects eagerly lust after Portuguese merchandise that your subjects have brought into our domains. To satisfy this inordinate appetite, they seize many of our black free subjects. ... They sell them. After having taken these prisoners [to
2448-458: The war. Slaves not sold to the Portuguese were retained as royal property or sold into the domestic slave market of Kongo. As the slave trade grew, Afonso and Kongo's relationship with Portugal grew increasingly complex. Slaves became increasingly used as currency in the Kongo, with Afonso sending slaves to Portugal to pay for the education of Kongolese notables and to buy trade goods, such as firearms. Kongo had traditions in place that regulated
2499-565: Was given the bishopric of Utica (in North Africa ) by the Vatican , but actually served in Kongo from his return there in the early 1520s until his death in 1531. Afonso's efforts to introduce Portuguese culture to the Kongo was reflected in several ways. The Kongolese aristocracy adopted Portuguese names, titles, coats of arms, and styles of dress. Youths were sent from elite families to Europe for education. Kongolese noblemen invested in
2550-474: Was king over this region, as well as a number of others located along the north bank of the Congo River . This title has led historians to believe that Kakongo was once part of a federation of states that included Kongo and that may have formed around the late 14th century. Kakongo was, however, an independent state for all intents and purposes from the 16th century onward. Portuguese merchants, interested in
2601-494: Was seemingly rewarded; his victory was attributed to a miracle described by the chronicler Paiva Manso, who said the army of Mpanzu a Kitima, though outnumbering Afonso's, fled in terror at the apparition of Saint James the Great and five heavenly armored horsemen in the sky. The story, first recounted in a letter that was not survived by Afonso himself, is open to many interpretations, and may have been an allegory used to represent
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