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| Lukeni lua Nimi founded a new capital, according to tradition, at the mountain top town of Mbanza Kongo around 1400. He and his successor gradually added other provinces to the kingdom, some such as Mpemba voluntarily submitted, other such as Nsundi and Mbamba were conquered. By the early sixteenth century, the kings of Kongo had the right to appoint and dismiss the governors of these provinces, or to approve or disapprove those of the submitted provinces, including Mbata through the terms of their ancient alliance. They often gave the governorships to members of their family or its clients. Though Mbata continued to exercise some power in the choice of the monarch, its power gradually sank in the following years to the level of other provinces. | Lukeni lua Nimi founded a new capital, according to tradition, at the mountain top town of Mbanza Kongo around 1400. He and his successor gradually added other provinces to the kingdom, some such as Mpemba voluntarily submitted, other such as Nsundi and Mbamba were conquered. By the early sixteenth century, the kings of Kongo had the right to appoint and dismiss the governors of these provinces, or to approve or disapprove those of the submitted provinces, including Mbata through the terms of their ancient alliance. They often gave the governorships to members of their family or its clients. Though Mbata continued to exercise some power in the choice of the monarch, its power gradually sank in the following years to the level of other provinces. | ||
| A critical element in the centralization of Kongo was the concentration of population in an otherwise sparsely populated region in the area immediately surrounding Mbanza Kongo. Early Portuguese travelers described Mbanza Kongo as a large city, the size of the Portuguese town of Évora in 1491. By the early seventeenth century the city and its hinterland had some 100,000 people, or one out of every five inhabitants in the Kingdom. This concentration allowed resources, soldiers and surplus foodstuffs to be ready to hand for the king. It made the king overwhelmingly powerful and underwrote the capacity of the kingdom for centralization. | |||
| ⚫ | In his travels along the African coast in 1482-3, ] navigator ] first encountered the powerful kingdom on the coast. During his visit, |
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| ⚫ | In his travels along the African coast in 1482-3, ] navigator ] first encountered the powerful kingdom on the coast. During his visit, Cão left Portuguese in Kongo and took Kongo nobles to Portugal, returning with the Kongo hostages in 1485. At that point the ruling king, Nzinga Nkuwu agreed to become a Christian, and a new mission including Catholic priests arrived in 1491 to baptize the king, his principal nobles starting with the ruler of Soyo (the coastal province). At the same timeand a literate Kongo returing from Portugal opened the first school. Nzinga Nkuwu took the name of Joao in honor of the king of Portugal at the time Joao II ] missionaries arrived in ], João I ruled until his death around 1509 and was succeeded by his son Afonso Mvemba a Nzinga. Afonso faced a serious challenge from a half brother Mpanzu a Kitima, but he overcame his brother in a battle waged at Mbanza Kongo. According to Afonso's own account, sent to Portugal in 1509, he was able to win the battle thanks to the intervention of a heavenly vision of Saint James and the Virgin Mary. He subsequently designed a coat of arms for Kongo from these events which was used by all following kings on official documents, royal paraphenalia and the like until 1860. | ||
| In the following decades, the Kongo Kingdom became a major source of ]s for traders from Portugal and other European countries. Slavery had existed in Kongo before the arrival of the Portuguese, and Afonso early letters show the evidence of |
In the following decades, the Kongo Kingdom became a major source of ]s for traders from Portugal and other European countries. Slavery had existed in Kongo before the arrival of the Portuguese, and Afonso early letters show the evidence of slave markets, the purchase and sale of slaves within the country, and also his capturing slaves in war which were given and sold to Portuguese merchants. However, Afonso believed that the slave trade must be subject to Kongo law and when he suspected Portuguese of receiving illegally enslaved persons to sell, he wrote in ] to King ] of Portugal, imploring him to put a stop to the practice. Ultimarely, Afonso decided to establish a special committee to determine the legality of the enslavement of those who were being sold. | ||
| King |
King Álvaro I, who came to the throne in an environment of contestation in 1568, had to fight invaders from the east (who some authorities believe were actually rebels within the country) called the "Jagas". To do this, he had to enlist the aid of the Portuguese of São Tomé, who sent an expedition under Francisco de Gouveia Sottomaior to assist. At the same time, however, Álvaro had to allow the Portuguese to establish a colony in his province of Luanda in the south of his country. Kongo provided the Portuguese with support in their war against the Kingdom of Ndongo, located in the interior east of Luanda, when Portugual went to war with it in 1579. | ||
| Álvaro also worked hard to westernize Kongo, gradually introducing European style titles for his nobles, so that the Mwene Nsundi became the Duke of Nsundi, the Mwene Mbamba the Duke of Mpamba or the Mwene Mpemba the Marquis of Mpemba, and the Mwene Soyo the Count of Soyo. He and his son Alvaro II began an order of chivalry, the Order of Christ, and renamed the capital city ]. In 1596, after intense diplomatic activity, São Salvador was named an episcopal see by the Pope and the colony of Angola placed under it. However, Portugal won the right to nominate the bishops to this see, which would be the source of tension between the two countries. | |||
| Tensions increased even more as the governors of Portuguese Angola became more aggressive. Luis Mendes de Vasconcelos, who arrived as governor in 1617, used mercenary African groups called Imbangala to make a devastating war on Ndongo, and then to raid and pillage some southern Kongo provinces. His successor Joao Correia de Sousa used them to launch a full scale invasion of southern Kongo in 1622, culminating in the battle of Mbumbi in November of that year in which several Kongo nobles were killed. Pedro II, king of Kongo at that point now declared Angola an official enemy, and sent a letter to the Dutch Estates General proposing a joint military attack on Angola, with a Kongo army and a Dutch fleet. He would pay the Dutch with gold, silver and ivory for their efforts. Indeed, a Dutch fleet under the command of the celebrated admiral Piet Heyn arrive in Luanda to carry out its attack in 1624, but at that point, Pedro had died and his son Garcia I was unwilling to carry out the Kongo end. | Tensions increased even more as the governors of Portuguese Angola became more aggressive. Luis Mendes de Vasconcelos, who arrived as governor in 1617, used mercenary African groups called Imbangala to make a devastating war on Ndongo, and then to raid and pillage some southern Kongo provinces. His successor Joao Correia de Sousa used them to launch a full scale invasion of southern Kongo in 1622, culminating in the battle of Mbumbi in November of that year in which several Kongo nobles were killed. Pedro II, king of Kongo at that point now declared Angola an official enemy, and sent a letter to the Dutch Estates General proposing a joint military attack on Angola, with a Kongo army and a Dutch fleet. He would pay the Dutch with gold, silver and ivory for their efforts. Indeed, a Dutch fleet under the command of the celebrated admiral Piet Heyn arrive in Luanda to carry out its attack in 1624, but at that point, Pedro had died and his son Garcia I was unwilling to carry out the Kongo end. | ||
Revision as of 20:57, 29 November 2005
The Kongo Kingdom was an African kingdom located in southwest Africa in what are now northern Angola, Cabinda, Republic of the Congo, and the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. At its greatest extent, it reached from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Kwango River in the east, and from the Congo River in the north to the Kwanza River in the south. The empire consisted of several core provinces ruled by a monarch, the Manikongo (sixteenth century spelling of Mwene Kongo) of the Bakongo or Essikongo (Kongo peoples), but its sphere of influence extended to the neighboring states such as Ngoyo, Kakongo, Ndongo and Matamba as well.
Before the arrival of the Europeans, the Kongo Empire was a highly developed state at the center of an extensive trading network. Apart from natural resources and ivory, the country manufactured and traded copperware, raffia cloth, and pottery. The Kongo people spoke in the Kongo language. The Kingdom, according to oral traditions set to writing in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, was founded by Lukeni lua Nimi, heir to an alliance between the neighboring small kingdoms of Mpemba Kasi and Mbata probably in the late fourteenth century. In the terms of this agreement the rulers of each kingdom would guarantee succession in the other kingdom in the same family, in Mbata's case that of Nsaku Lau, and in Kongo's that of Lukeni lua Nimi.
Lukeni lua Nimi founded a new capital, according to tradition, at the mountain top town of Mbanza Kongo around 1400. He and his successor gradually added other provinces to the kingdom, some such as Mpemba voluntarily submitted, other such as Nsundi and Mbamba were conquered. By the early sixteenth century, the kings of Kongo had the right to appoint and dismiss the governors of these provinces, or to approve or disapprove those of the submitted provinces, including Mbata through the terms of their ancient alliance. They often gave the governorships to members of their family or its clients. Though Mbata continued to exercise some power in the choice of the monarch, its power gradually sank in the following years to the level of other provinces.
A critical element in the centralization of Kongo was the concentration of population in an otherwise sparsely populated region in the area immediately surrounding Mbanza Kongo. Early Portuguese travelers described Mbanza Kongo as a large city, the size of the Portuguese town of Évora in 1491. By the early seventeenth century the city and its hinterland had some 100,000 people, or one out of every five inhabitants in the Kingdom. This concentration allowed resources, soldiers and surplus foodstuffs to be ready to hand for the king. It made the king overwhelmingly powerful and underwrote the capacity of the kingdom for centralization.
In his travels along the African coast in 1482-3, Portuguese navigator Diogo Cão first encountered the powerful kingdom on the coast. During his visit, Cão left Portuguese in Kongo and took Kongo nobles to Portugal, returning with the Kongo hostages in 1485. At that point the ruling king, Nzinga Nkuwu agreed to become a Christian, and a new mission including Catholic priests arrived in 1491 to baptize the king, his principal nobles starting with the ruler of Soyo (the coastal province). At the same timeand a literate Kongo returing from Portugal opened the first school. Nzinga Nkuwu took the name of Joao in honor of the king of Portugal at the time Joao II Catholic missionaries arrived in 1491, João I ruled until his death around 1509 and was succeeded by his son Afonso Mvemba a Nzinga. Afonso faced a serious challenge from a half brother Mpanzu a Kitima, but he overcame his brother in a battle waged at Mbanza Kongo. According to Afonso's own account, sent to Portugal in 1509, he was able to win the battle thanks to the intervention of a heavenly vision of Saint James and the Virgin Mary. He subsequently designed a coat of arms for Kongo from these events which was used by all following kings on official documents, royal paraphenalia and the like until 1860.
In the following decades, the Kongo Kingdom became a major source of slaves for traders from Portugal and other European countries. Slavery had existed in Kongo before the arrival of the Portuguese, and Afonso early letters show the evidence of slave markets, the purchase and sale of slaves within the country, and also his capturing slaves in war which were given and sold to Portuguese merchants. However, Afonso believed that the slave trade must be subject to Kongo law and when he suspected Portuguese of receiving illegally enslaved persons to sell, he wrote in 1526 to King João of Portugal, imploring him to put a stop to the practice. Ultimarely, Afonso decided to establish a special committee to determine the legality of the enslavement of those who were being sold.
King Álvaro I, who came to the throne in an environment of contestation in 1568, had to fight invaders from the east (who some authorities believe were actually rebels within the country) called the "Jagas". To do this, he had to enlist the aid of the Portuguese of São Tomé, who sent an expedition under Francisco de Gouveia Sottomaior to assist. At the same time, however, Álvaro had to allow the Portuguese to establish a colony in his province of Luanda in the south of his country. Kongo provided the Portuguese with support in their war against the Kingdom of Ndongo, located in the interior east of Luanda, when Portugual went to war with it in 1579.
Álvaro also worked hard to westernize Kongo, gradually introducing European style titles for his nobles, so that the Mwene Nsundi became the Duke of Nsundi, the Mwene Mbamba the Duke of Mpamba or the Mwene Mpemba the Marquis of Mpemba, and the Mwene Soyo the Count of Soyo. He and his son Alvaro II began an order of chivalry, the Order of Christ, and renamed the capital city São Salvador or Holy Savior in Portuguese. In 1596, after intense diplomatic activity, São Salvador was named an episcopal see by the Pope and the colony of Angola placed under it. However, Portugal won the right to nominate the bishops to this see, which would be the source of tension between the two countries.
Tensions increased even more as the governors of Portuguese Angola became more aggressive. Luis Mendes de Vasconcelos, who arrived as governor in 1617, used mercenary African groups called Imbangala to make a devastating war on Ndongo, and then to raid and pillage some southern Kongo provinces. His successor Joao Correia de Sousa used them to launch a full scale invasion of southern Kongo in 1622, culminating in the battle of Mbumbi in November of that year in which several Kongo nobles were killed. Pedro II, king of Kongo at that point now declared Angola an official enemy, and sent a letter to the Dutch Estates General proposing a joint military attack on Angola, with a Kongo army and a Dutch fleet. He would pay the Dutch with gold, silver and ivory for their efforts. Indeed, a Dutch fleet under the command of the celebrated admiral Piet Heyn arrive in Luanda to carry out its attack in 1624, but at that point, Pedro had died and his son Garcia I was unwilling to carry out the Kongo end.
At the Battle of Ambuila in 1665, the Portuguese forces from Angola defeated the forces of king Antonio I of Kongo; Antonio was killed with many of his courtiers and the Luso-African Capuchin priest Manuel Roboredo also known by his cloister name of Francisco de Sao Salvador, who had attempted to prevent this final war. Nevertheless, the country continued to exist, at least in name, for over two centuries, until the realm was divided among Portugal, Belgium, and France at the Conference of Berlin in 1884-1885.
- See also: List of Manikongo of Kongo