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{{Other uses|Congo (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox
| native_name = {{lang|kg|Wene wa Kongo}} or {{
| conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Kongo
| common_name = Kongo
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| s2 = Portuguese West Africa
| s3 = French Congo
| image_flag = Flag of the Kingdom of Kongo according to Giovanni Cavazzi da Montecuccolo.svg
| flag_caption = Flag
| image_coat = Coat of arms of Kongo.svg
| symbol_type = Coat of arms
| image_map = KingdomKongo1711.png
| image_map_caption = The "Kingdom of Congo"
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| title_leader = [[King of Kongo|King]]
| leader1 = [[Lukeni lua Nimi]]
| year_leader1 =
| leader2 = [[Manuel III of Kongo]]
| year_leader2 = 1911–1914 <small>(last)</small>
| event1 = [[Catholic Church in Kongo|Christianization]]
| date_event1 = 3 May 1491
| event2 = [[Battle of Mbumbi]]
| date_event2 = 1622
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| date_event7 =
| event8 = Vassalage
| date_event8 =
| event9 =
| date_event9 =
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| date_event10 = 1884–1885
| religion = [[Kongo religion|Bukongo]]<br>
[[Catholic Church in Kongo|
| currency = [[Nzimbu]] shells and [[Raffia|Lubongo (Libongo, Mbongo), Mpusu]] cloth
| legislature = [[Ne Mbanda-Mbanda]]
| stat_year1 =
| stat_area1 = 129400
| stat_pop1 = appx 500,000
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}}
The '''Kingdom of Kongo''' ({{lang-kg|Kongo
From
==
Oral traditions about the early history of the country were set in writing for the first time in the late 16th century, and especially detailed versions were recorded in the mid-17th century,
Modern research into [[oral tradition]], including recording them in writing began in the 1910s with Mpetelo Boka and Lievan Sakala Boku writing in Kikongo and extended by [[Redemptorist]] missionaries like [[Jean Cuvelier]] and [[Joseph de Munck]]. In 1934, Cuvelier published a Kikongo language summary of these traditions in [[Nkutama a mvila za makanda]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Thornton|first=John|date=2001|title=The Origins and Early History of the Kingdom of Kongo, c. 1350–1550|journal=The International Journal of African Historical Studies|volume=34|issue=1|pages=89–120 |doi=10.2307/3097288|jstor=3097288}}</ref> Although Cuvelier and other scholars contended that these traditions applied to the earliest period of Kongo's history, it is more likely that they relate primarily to local traditions of clans (''[[Kanda (lineage)|makanda]]'') and especially to the period following 1750.<ref>John Thornton, "Modern Oral Traditions and the Historic Kingdom of Kongo" in {{cite book |last1=Landau |first1=Paul |title=The Power of Doubt: Essays in Honor of David Henige |date=2011 |publisher=University of Wlsconsin African Studies Center |location=Madison, WI |pages=195–208}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Thornton |first1=John |title=A History of West Central Africa to 1850 |date=2020 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-1-107-12715-9 |pages=24–35}}</ref>
===Foundation
Before the founding of Kongo, the region it would eventually control was under the control of several minor kingdoms, according to a tradition recorded in the mid-1580s. It named several former kingdoms, which were included in Kongo: [[Nsundi]],
According to Kongo tradition in the seventeenth century, the kingdom's origin was in [[Vungu]], a small polity which lay north of the Congo River, and which had extended its authority across the Congo to [[Mpemba Kasi]], which was itself the northernmost territory of a larger kingdom called [[Mpemba Kasi|Mpemba]] whose capital was located about 150 miles south. A [[dynasty]] of rulers from this small [[polity]] built up its rule along the
At some point around 1375,
Nimi a Nzima and Lukeni lua Nsanze's son [[Lukeni lua Nimi]]<ref name=":0" /> (circa 1380–1420) began the expansion that would found the Kingdom of Kongo. The name Nimi a Lukeni appeared in later oral traditions and some modern historians, notably Jean Cuvelier, popularized it. Lukeni lua Nimi, or Nimi a Lukeni, led expansion southward into lands ruled by Mpemba. He established a new base on the mountain
After the death of Nimi a Lukeni, the rulers that followed Lukeni claimed relation to his ''[[kanda (lineage)|kanda]]'', or lineage, and were known as the [[Kilukeni]]. The Kilukeni Kanda — or "house", as it was recorded in Portuguese language documents written in Kongo — ruled Kongo unopposed until 1567.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Thornton|first=John K.|date=November 2006|title=Elite women in the kingdom of Kongo: historical perspectives on women's political power|journal=The Journal of African History|volume=47|issue=3|pages=437–460 |doi=10.1017/S0021853706001812 |s2cid=145136736}}</ref>
===
The
The kingdom of the Kongo's early campaigns of expansion brought new populations under the kingdom's control and produced many war captives.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4">Thornton, John K. “The Kingdom of Kongo, ca. 1390-1678. The Development of an African Social Formation (Le Royaume Du Kongo, ca. 1390-1678. Développement d’une Formation Sociale Africaine).” ''Cahiers d’Études Africaines'' 22, no. 87/88 (1982): 325–42. <nowiki>http://www.jstor.org/stable/4391812</nowiki>.</ref> Starting in the 14th century (and reaching its height in the 17th century), the kings of the Kongo forcibly relocated captured peoples to the royal capital at [[M'banza-Kongo|Mbanza Kongo]]. The resulting high concentration of population around Mbanza Kongo and its outskirts played a critical role in the centralization of Kongo. The capital was a densely settled area in an otherwise sparsely populated region where rural [[population density|population densities]] probably did not exceed 5 persons per km<sup>2</sup>. Early Portuguese travelers described Mbanza Kongo as a large city, the size of the Portuguese town of [[Évora]] as it was in 1491. By the end of the sixteenth century, Kongo's population was probably over half a million people in a core region of some 130,000 square kilometers. By the early seventeenth century the city and its [[hinterland]] had a population of around 100,000, or nearly one out of every six inhabitants in the Kingdom (according to baptismal statistics compiled by a [[Jesuit]] priest in 1623), while the kingdom as a whole numbered some 780,000.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last=Thornton|first=John K.|date=Jul 2021|title=Revising the Population History of the Kingdom of Kongo|journal=The Journal of African History|volume=62|issue=2|pages=201–212 |doi=10.1017/S0021853706001812 |s2cid=145136736}}</ref>
▲The sixteenth century tradition contended that the former kingdoms "in ancient times had the separate kings, but now all are subjects and tributaries of the king of Congo."<ref name="Relacion del Regno de Congo"/> Tradition noted that in each case the governorship was given to members of the royal family or other noble families.<ref name="Relacion del Regno de Congo"/> Governors who served terms determined by the king had the right to appoint their own clients to lower positions, down to villages who had their own locally chosen leadership.<ref>Anonymous manuscript c. 1608 but informed by Carmelite missionaries of 1584-1586 in {{cite book |last1=Cuvelier |first1=Jean and Louis Jadin |title=L'ancien royaume de Congo d'apres les archives romaines (1518-1640) |date=1954 |publisher=Academie royale des sciences coloniales, Memoires |location=Brussels |pages=133–134}}</ref> As this centralization increased, the allied provinces gradually lost influence until their powers were only symbolic, manifested in Mbata, once a co-kingdom, but by 1620 simply known by the title "Grandfather of the King of Kongo" (''Nkaka'ndi a Mwene Kongo'').<ref name=":0" /><ref>Mateus Cardoso, "História do Reino de Congo (1624)," (ed. António Brásio,) Chapter 15, fol. 16</ref>
The
By the time of the first recorded contact with the
====Contact with Portugal and Christianization====
{{Main|Catholic Church in Kongo}}
[[File:Jean Roy de Congo.jpg|thumb|right|[[João I of Kongo|João I Nzinga a Nkuwu]]]]
In 1483, the Portuguese explorer [[Diogo Cão]] reached the coast of the Kongo Kingdom.<ref name=diogo>{{cite book|last=Gates|first=Louis|author2=Anthony Appiah |year=1999|title=Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience|url=https://archive.org/details/africanaencyclop00appi|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/africanaencyclop00appi/page/1105 1105]|isbn=9780465000715}}</ref> Cão left some of his men in Kongo and took Kongo nobles to Portugal. He returned to Kongo with the Kongo nobles in 1485; such commissioning, hiring, or even kidnapping of local Africans to use as local ambassadors, especially for newly contacted areas, was by then an already established practice.<ref name="Elbl 1992">{{cite journal |last1=Elbl |first1=Ivana |title=Cross-Cultural Trade and Diplomacy: Portuguese Relations with West Africa
João I ruled until his death around 1509 and was succeeded by his son Afonso [[Afonso I of Kongo|Mvemba a Nzinga]]. He faced a serious challenge from a half brother,
=== Reign of Afonso I ===
{{Main|Afonso I of Kongo}}
[[File:Royal banner of Kongo (Afonso I).svg|thumb|Banner of [[Afonso I of Kongo|King Afonso I]]]]
The Kongo church was always short of ordained clergy and made up for it by the employment of a strong laity. Kongolese school teachers or ''[[:wikt:mestre#Portuguese|mestre]]s'' (Kikongo alongi a aleke) were the anchor of this system. Recruited from the nobility and trained in the kingdom's schools, they provided religious instruction and services to others building upon Kongo's growing Christian population. At the same time, they permitted the growth of syncretic forms of Christianity which incorporated older religious ideas with Christian ones. Examples of this are the introduction of [[Kongo language|KiKongo]] words to translate Christian concepts. The KiKongo words ''ukisi'' (an abstract word meaning charm, but used to mean "holy") and ''nkanda'' (meaning book) were merged so that the Christian [[Bible]] became known as the ''nkanda ukisi'' (holy book). The church became known as the ''nzo a ukisi'' (holy house). While some European clergy often denounced these mixed traditions, they were never able to root them out.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Thornton |first1=John |title=Afro-Christian Syncretism in the Kingdom of Kongo |journal=Journal of African History |date=2013 |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=53–77|doi=10.1017/S0021853713000224 |s2cid=161133804 }}</ref>
[[File:Kongo audience.jpg|thumb|An image depicting Portuguese encounter with Kongo royal family]]
Part of the establishment of this church was the creation of a strong priesthood and to this end, Afonso's son Henrique was sent to Europe to be educated. Henrique became an ordained priest and in 1518 was named as [[titular bishop]] of [[Utica, Tunisia|Utica]] (a North African diocese recently reclaimed from the Muslims). He returned to Kongo in the early 1520s to run Kongo's new church. He died in 1531.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bontinck |first1=Francois |title=Ndoadidiki Ne-Kinu a Mubemba, premier évêque du Kongo (c. 1495–c. 1531)' |journal=Revue africaine de theology |date=1971 |volume=3 |pages=149–169}}</ref>
====
Slavery had existed since the Kingdom of Kongo's founding, as during its early wars of expansion the nascent kingdom had taken many captives.<ref name=":2">Heywood, Linda M. “Slavery and Its Transformation in the Kingdom of Kongo: 1491-1800.” ''The Journal of African History'' 50, no. 1 (2009): 1–22. <nowiki>http://www.jstor.org/stable/40206695</nowiki>.</ref><ref name=":4" /> Kongo's tradition of forcibly transferring peoples captured in wars to the royal capital was key to the power of the Kongolese king, and it was the same mechanism of enslavement and transfer of population that made Kongo an efficient exporter of slaves. Kongolese laws and cultural traditions protected freeborn Kongolese from enslavement, and so most of the enslaved population were war captives. Convicted Kongolese criminals could also be forced into slavery, but were initially protected from sale outside the kingdom.<ref name="wene" /><ref name=":2" /> The export of female slaves was also prohibited.<ref name=":2" /> Afonso's early letters show evidence of domestic slave markets.<ref name="Abolitionism and Imperialism in Bri">John Thornton, "African Political Ethics and the Slave Trade,"{{cite book |last1=Peterson |first1=Derrick |title=Abolitionism and Imperialism in Britain, Africa, and the Atlantic |date=2011 |publisher=Ohio University Press |location=Columbus, OH |pages=38–62}}</ref><ref name=":2" />
As relations between Kongo and Portugal grew in the early 16th century, trade between the kingdoms also increased. Most of the trade was in palm cloth, copper, and ivory, but also increasing numbers of slaves.<ref name=":2" /> Although initially Kongo exported few slaves, following the development of a successful sugar-growing colony on the Portuguese island of [[São Tomé]], Kongo became a major source of [[Slavery|slaves]] for the island's traders and plantations. The [[Cantino planisphere|Cantino Atlas]] of 1502 mentions Kongo as a source of slaves for the [[São Tomé]] colony, but notes they were few. Correspondence by Afonso also show the purchase and sale of slaves within the country and his accounts on capturing slaves in war which were given and sold to Portuguese merchants.<ref name=":3">{{cite book |author=Atmore, Anthony and Oliver |url=https://archive.org/details/medievalafrica1200rola |title=Medieval Africa, 1250–1800 |year=2001 |page=[https://archive.org/details/medievalafrica1200rola/page/171 171] |url-access=registration}}</ref>
Afonso continued to expand the kingdom of Kongo into the 1540s, expanding its borders to the south and east. The expansion of Kongo's population, coupled with his earlier religious reforms, allowed Afonso to centralize power in his capital and increase the power of the monarchy. He also established a royal monopoly on some trade.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":2" /> To govern the growing slave trade, Afonso and several Portuguese kings claimed a joint monopoly on the external slave trade.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":2" />
However, as the slave trade grew in size, it came to gradually erode royal power in Kongo. Portuguese traders based in São Tomé began violating the royal monopoly on the slave trade, trading instead with other African states in the region. Portuguese merchants also began to trade goods with powerful Kongolese nobles, depriving the monarchy of tax revenue, while Portuguese priests and merchants living in the Kongo became increasingly politically active.<ref name=":2" /><ref>Thornton J. Early Kongo-Portuguese Relations: A New Interpretation. ''History in Africa''. 1981;8:183-204. doi:10.2307/3171515</ref> New markets for slaves such as [[Mpanzalumbu]] (a rebel Kongolese province conquered by Afonso in 1526) and the [[Ambundu|Mbundu]] [[Kingdom of Ndongo]] also harmed the Kongolese monopoly on the slave trade.<ref name="wene" /><ref name=":2" />
In 1526, Afonso complained in correspondence to King [[John III of Portugal|João III of Portugal]] about merchants' violation of his end of the monopoly, claiming that Portuguese officials had not regulated them sufficiently, and
However, the kings of Portugal eventually determined the best way to deal with the trade through the Kwanza to Ndongo was to establish their own base there.
===Royal rivalries===
A common characteristic of political life in the kingdom of Kongo was fierce competition over succession to the throne. Afonso's own contest for the throne was intense, and he had to fight a major battle with his half brother, and probably against lesser enemies in the early years of his reign. Afonso described his ascent to the throne, representing it as specifically a war by pagans against the Christian ruler. But this was probably more propaganda on his part, and succession struggles were probably normal even in the early years of the kingdom.
A great deal is known about how such struggles took place from the contest that followed Afonso's death in late 1542 or early 1543. This is in large part due to a detailed inquest conducted by royal officials in 1550, which survives in the Portuguese archives. In this inquest, one can see that factions formed behind prominent men, such as Afonso I's son,
King [[Diogo I of Kongo|Diogo I]] skillfully replaced or outmaneuvered his entrenched competitors after he was crowned in 1545. He faced a major conspiracy led by [[Pedro I of Kongo|Pedro I]], who had taken refuge in a church, and whom Diogo in respect of the Church's [[right of asylum|rule of asylum]] allowed to remain in the church. However, Diogo did conduct an inquiry into the plot, the text of which was sent to Portugal in 1552
King Diogo's successor, [[Afonso II of Kongo|Afonso II]], was killed by the Portuguese days after his succession, and an uprising occurred which killed the Portuguese candidate, allowing [[Bernardo I|King Bernardo I of Kongo]] to be enthroned. However, King Bernardo I was killed by the "Jaga" [[Yaka people|Yaka]], invasion in 1567. And was replaced by [[Henrique I of Kongo|Henrique I]] who was also killed
===Kongo under the House of Kwilu===
{{History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo}}
{{History of the Republic of the Congo}}
Álvaro I was not directly descended from a previous king, and so his seizure of the throne in the midst of the crisis caused by the Jaga invasion marked the beginning of a new royal line, the [[House of Kwilu]]. There were certainly factions that opposed him, though it is not known specifically who they were. Álvaro's rule began in war with the [[Jagas]]
Álvaro also worked hard to westernize Kongo, gradually introducing European style titles for his nobles, so that the
Portuguese bishops in the kingdom were often favourable to European interests in a time when relations between Kongo and Angola were tense. They refused to appoint priests, forcing Kongo to rely more and more heavily on the laity. Documents of the time show that lay teachers (called ''mestres'' in Portuguese-language documents) were paid salaries and appointed by the crown, and at times Kongo kings withheld income and services to the bishops and their supporters (a tactic called "country excommunication"). Controlling revenue was vital for Kongo's kings since even [[Jesuits|Jesuit]] missionaries were paid salaries from the royal exchequer.
At the same time as this ecclesiastical problem developed, the governors of Angola began to extend their campaigns into areas that Kongo regarded as firmly under its sovereignty. This included the region around [[Battle of Mbumbi|Nambu a Ngongo]], which Governor
====Factionalism====
Álvaro I and his successor, Álvaro II, also faced problems with factional rivals from families that had been displaced from succession. In order to raise support against some enemies, they had to make concessions to others. One of the most important of these concessions was allowing Manuel, the Count of Soyo, to hold office for many years beginning some time before 1591. During this same period, Álvaro II made a similar concession to
===Kongo under the House of Nsundi===
Tensions between Portugal and Kongo increased further 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. He was particularly interested in the province of [[Kasanze]], a marshy region that lay just north of Luanda. Many slaves being deported through Luanda fled into this region and were often granted sanctuary, and for this reason, Mendes de Vasconcelos decided that a determined action was needed to stop it. The next governor of Angola,
====First Kongo-Portuguese War====
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In 1641, the Dutch invaded Angola and captured Luanda, after an almost bloodless struggle. They immediately sought to renew their alliance with Kongo, which had had a false start in 1624, when Garcia I refused to assist a Dutch attack on Luanda. While relations between Sao Salvador and Luanda were not warm, the two polities had enjoyed an easy peace, due to the former's internal distractions, and the latter's war against the [[Kingdom of Matamba]]. The same year of the Portuguese ouster from Luanda, Kongo entered into a formal agreement with the new government, and agreed to provide military assistance as needed. Garcia II ejected nearly all Portuguese and Luso-African merchants from his kingdom. The colony of Angola was declared an enemy once again, and the Duke of Mbamba was sent with an army to assist the Dutch. The Dutch also provided Kongo with military assistance, in exchange for payment in slaves.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}
In 1642, the Dutch sent troops to help Garcia II put down an uprising by peoples of the southern district in the Dembos region. The government quickly put down the Nsala rebellion, reaffirming the Kongo-Dutch alliance. King Garcia II paid the Dutch for their services in slaves taken from ranks of Dembos rebels. These slaves were sent to [[Pernambuco]], Brazil where the Dutch had taken over a portion of the Portuguese sugar-producing region. A Dutch-Kongo force attacked Portuguese bases on the [[Bengo River]] in 1643 in retaliation for Portuguese harassment. The Dutch captured Portuguese positions and forced their rivals to withdraw to Dutch forts on the [[Kwanza River]] at [[Muxima]] and
As in their conquest of Pernambuco, the Dutch West India Company was content to allow the Portuguese to remain inland. The Dutch sought to spare themselves the expense of war, and instead relied on control of shipping to profit from the colony. Thus, to Garcia's chagrin, the Portuguese and Dutch signed a peace treaty in 1643, ending the brief albeit successful war. With the Portuguese out of the way and an end to Dutch pursuit of troops, Garcia II could finally turn his attention to the growing threat posed by the Count of Soyo.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}
====Kongo's
While Garcia was disappointed that his alliance with the Dutch could not drive out the Portuguese, it did free him to turn his attention to the growing threat posed by the Count of Soyo. The Counts of Soyo were initially strong partisans of the House of Nsundi and its successor, the [[House of Kinlaza]]. Count Paulo had assisted in the rise of the Kinlaza to power. However, Paulo died at about the same time as Garcia became king in 1641. A rival count, Daniel da Silva from the House of Kwilu, took control of the county as a partisan of the newly formed Kimpanzu faction. He would claim that Soyo had the right to choose its own ruler, though Garcia never accepted this claim, and spent much of the first part of his reign fighting against it. Garcia did not support da Silva's move, as Soyo's ruler was one of the most important offices in Kongo.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}
In 1645, Garcia II sent a force against Daniel da Silva under the command of his son, Afonso. The campaign was a failure, due to Kongo's inability to take Soyo's fortified position at
====
The Dutch were convinced that they could avoid committing their forces to any further wars and made peace with Portugal in 1643, while retaining their military presence in their part of Angola. The Portuguese moved aggressively against Queen [[Njinga]] and when Portuguese reinforcements managed to defeat her at
A year later, Portuguese reinforcements from Brazil forced the Dutch to surrender Luanda and withdraw from Angola in 1648. The new Portuguese governor, [[Salvador de Sá]], sought terms with Kongo, demanding the Island of Luanda, the source of Kongo's money supply of nzimbu shells. Although neither Kongo nor Angola ever ratified the treaty, sent to the king in 1649, the Portuguese gained ''de facto'' control of the island. The war resulted in the Dutch losing their claims in Central Africa, Njinga being forced back into Matamba, the Portuguese restored to their coastal position. Kongo lost or gained nothing, other than the indemnity Garcia paid, which ended hostilities between the two rival powers.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}
====
[[File:Lossy-page1-1171px-Kongo 1648 coloured.png|thumb|The Kingdom of Kongo in 1648]]
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Kongo began working towards a Spanish alliance, especially following [[António I of Kongo|António I]]'s succession as king in 1661. Although it is not clear what diplomatic activities he engaged in with Spain itself, the Portuguese clearly believed that he hoped to repeat the Dutch invasion, this time with the assistance of Spain. António sent emissaries to the Dembos region and to Matamba and Mbwila, attempting to form a new anti-Portuguese alliance. The Portuguese had been troubled, moreover, by Kongo support of runaway slaves, who flocked to southern Kongo throughout the 1650s. At the same time, the Portuguese were advancing their own agenda for Mbwila, which they claimed as a [[vassal]]. In 1665, both sides invaded Mbwila, and their rival armies met each other at Ulanga, in the valley below Mbanza Mbwila, capital of the district.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}
At the [[Battle of Mbwila]] in 1665, the Portuguese forces from Angola had their first victory against the kingdom of Kongo since 1622. They defeated the forces under [[António I of Kongo|António I]] killing him and many of his courtiers as well as the
==
{{Main|Kongo Civil War}}
In the aftermath of the battle, there was no clear succession. The country was divided between rival claimants to the throne. The two factions, [[Kimpanzu]] and [[Kinlaza]], hardened, and partitioned the country between them. Pretenders would ascend to the throne, and then be ousted. The period was marked by an increase in [[BaKongo]] slaves being sold across the Atlantic, the weakening of the Kongo monarchy and the strengthening of [[Soyo]].{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}▼
[[File:The Bansa, or residence of the King of Kongo, called St. Salvador (M'Banza Kongo), Astley 1745 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Sao Salvador after painting by [[Olfert Dapper]], 1668]]
▲In the aftermath of the battle of Mbwila, there was no clear succession. The country was divided between rival claimants to the throne. The two factions, [[Kimpanzu]] and [[Kinlaza]], hardened, and partitioned the country between them. Pretenders would ascend to the throne, and then be ousted. The period was marked by an increase in [[BaKongo]] slaves being sold across the Atlantic, the weakening of the Kongo monarchy and the strengthening of [[Soyo]].{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}
During this chaos, Kongo was being increasingly manipulated by Soyo. In an act of desperation, the central authority in Kongo called on Luanda to attack Soyo in return for various concessions. The Portuguese invaded the county of Soyo in 1670. They met with no more success than Garcia II, being roundly defeated by Soyo's forces at the [[Battle of Kitombo]] on 18 October 1670. The kingdom of Kongo was to remain completely independent, though still embroiled in civil war, thanks to the very force (Portuguese colonials) it had fought so long to destroy. This Portuguese defeat was resounding enough to end all Portuguese ambitions in Kongo's sphere of influence, until the end of the nineteenth century.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}
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In the interim, however, tens of thousands fleeing the conflict or caught up in the battles were sold as slaves to [[Atlantic slave trade|European slave traders]] every year. One human stream led north to Loango, whose merchants, known as Vili (Mubires in the period) carried them primarily to merchants bound for [[North America]] and the [[Caribbean]], and others were taken south to Luanda, where they were sold to Portuguese merchants bound for [[Colonial Brazil|Brazil]]. By the end of the seventeenth century, several long wars and interventions by the now independent Counts of Soyo (who restyled themselves as Grand Princes) had brought an end to Kongo's golden age.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}
===
As the 17th-century drew to a close several places once part of Kongo became de facto independent. This included areas such as [[Nsonso]].<ref>John K. Thornton. ''History of West Central Africa to 1850''. Cambridge University Press. p. 206</ref>
=== 18th and 19th centuries ===
[[File:1770 Bonne (coloured excerpt).png|thumb|Kongo in 1770]]
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Kongo artists began making crucifixes and other religious objects that depicted Jesus as an African. Such objects produced by many workshops over a long period (given their variety) reflect that emerging belief that Kongo was a central part of the Christian world, and fundamental to its history. A story of the eighteenth century was that the partially ruined cathedral of São Salvador, originally constructed for the Jesuits in 1549 and eventually elevated to cathedral status, was actually built overnight by angels. It was called affectionately, Nkulumbimbi. [[Pope John Paul II]] would eventually say
[[Manuel II of Kongo]] succeeded Pedro IV in 1718. Manuel II ruled over a restored and restive kingdom until his death in 1743. However, Soyo's provincial status in the kingdom, nominal for years, limited Manuel's power. Nsundi on the north had also more or less become independent, although still claiming to be part of the larger kingdom and more or less permanently ruled by a Kimpanzu family. Even within the remaining portions of the kingdom, there were still powerful and violent rivalries. At least one major war took place in the 1730s in the province of Mbamba. Pedro IV's successor, [[Garcia IV of Kongo|Garcia IV Nkanga a Mvandu]], ruled from 1743 to 1752. Pedro IV's restoration required his successor's membership in a branch of the Kinlaza faction resident in Matadi that had sworn loyalty to Pedro IV in 1716. Other Kinlaza branches had developed in the north, at Lemba and Matari, and in the south along the Mbidizi River in lands that had been ruled by D. [[Ana Afonso de Leão]]. De Leão's lands came to be called the "Lands of the Queen".
The system of alternating succession broke down in 1764, when [[Álvaro XI of Kongo|Álvaro XI]], a Kinlaza, drove out the usurping Kimpanzu king [[Pedro V of Kongo (usurper)|Pedro V]] (the first to bear this title) and took over the throne. Pedro and his successor in Luvata maintained a separate court at Sembo, and never acknowledged the usurpation. A regent of Pedro's successor claimed the throne in the early 1780s and pressed his claims against a [[José I of Kongo|José I]], a Kinlaza from the Mbidizi Valley branch of the royal family. José won the showdown, fought at São Salvador in 1781, a massive battle involving 30,000 soldiers on José's side alone. To show his contempt for his defeated rival, José refused to allow the soldiers of the other faction to receive Christian burial. José's power was limited, as he had no sway over the lands controlled by the Kinlaza faction of Lemba and Matari, even though they were technically of the same family, and he did not follow up his victory to extend his authority over the Kimpanzu lands around Luvota. At the same time, the lands around Mount Kibangu, Pedro IV's original base, was controlled—as it had been for the whole eighteenth century—by members of the Água Rosada family, who claimed descent from both the Kimpanzu and Kinlaza.
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José ruled until 1785, when he handed power over to his brother [[Afonso V of Kongo|Afonso V]] (1785–87). Afonso's brief reign ended in his sudden death, rumored to be by poisoning. A confused struggle broke out following Afonso's death. By 1794, the throne ended up in the hands of [[Henrique I of Kongo|Henrique I]], a man of uncertain factional origin, who arranged for three parties to divide the succession. [[Garcia V of Kongo|Garcia V]] abrogated the arrangement, proclaiming himself king in 1805. He ruled until 1830. [[André II of Kongo|André II]], who followed Garcia V, appeared to have restored the older rotational claims, as he was from the northern branch of the Kinlaza, whose capital had moved from Matadi to Manga. Andre ruled until 1842 when [[Henrique II of Kongo|Henrique II]], from the southern (Mbidizi Valley) branch of the same family, overthrew him. Henrique II developed his power in the same manner as other entrepreneurial nobles, by founding villages of slaves or followers and drawing strength from them.
Andre, however, did not accept his fate and withdrew with his followers to Mbanza Mputo, a village just beyond the edge of São Salvador, where he and his descendants kept up their claims. King Henrique
=== Rise of entrepreneurial nobles ===
In the 1750s and beyond, a new class of nobles emerged in Kongo.
Even members of the higher nobility founded their own villages of captured people or persuaded the commoners to join them for protection. The kings, who no longer operated as the heads of a responsible bureaucracy, might appoint them as Dukes or Marquis, but they only ever controlled the lands they ruled themselves. While the entrepreneurial nobles sought local political and economic power, they also sold slaves into the slave trade, and it was largely their small scale wars and captures of other people that fed the growing trade from the country to the New World. The most destructive part of Kongo's long involvement in the slave trade probably occurred in this period.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}
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In 1866, citing excessive costs, the Portuguese government withdrew its garrison. Pedro was able to continue reigning over Kongo, although he faced increasing rivalry from clan-based trading magnates who drained his authority from much of the country. The most dangerous of these was Garcia Mbwaka Matu of the town of Makuta. This town had been founded by a man named Kuvo, one of the entrepreneurial nobles, his successors including Garcia made a great deal of controlling markets in the new trading regime. Though this was a great challenge in the 1870s, after Garcia's death in 1880 Makuta became less problematic.<ref>{{cite book|last=Thornton|first=John|year=2000|chapter=Kongo's Incorporation into Angola: A Perspective from Kongo|title=A Africa e a Instalação do Sistema Colonial (c. 1885–c. 1930), vol. III|pages=354–57}}</ref>
At the [[Conference of Berlin]]
==Military structure==
[[File:African-congo-bowmen.jpg|thumb|Congo
The kingdom's army consisted of a mass levy of archers, drawn from the general male population, and a smaller corps of heavy infantry, who fought with swords and carried shields for protection. Portuguese documents typically referred to [[heavy infantry]], considered nobles, as ''fidalgos'' in documents.{{
After 1600, civil war became far more common than inter-state warfare. The government instituted a draft for the entire population during wartime, but only a limited number actually served. Many who did not carry arms instead carried baggage and supplies. Thousands of women supported armies on the move. Administrators expected soldiers to have two weeks' worth of food upon reporting for campaign duty. Logistical difficulties probably limited both the size of armies and their capacity to operate for extended periods. Some Portuguese sources suggested that the king of Kongo fielded armies as large as 70,000 soldiers for a 1665 [[Battle of Mbwila]], but it is unlikely that armies larger than 20–30,000 troops could be raised for military campaigns.<ref>{{cite book|title=Medieval Africa, 1250–1800|url=https://archive.org/details/medievalafrica1200rola|url-access=registration|author=Atmore, Anthony and Oliver|year=2001|page=[https://archive.org/details/medievalafrica1200rola/page/178 178]}}</ref>
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==Economic structure==
The universal currency in Kongo and the surrounding region of Central Africa was the shell of ''[[Olivella nana]]'',<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uhq94TIsRQwC|last1= Hogendorn |first1=Jan |last2=Johnson|first2=Marion |year=1986|title=The Shell Money of the Slave Trade|page=19|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511563041|isbn=978-0-5115-6304-1}}</ref> a sea snail, known locally as ''[[nzimbu]]''. One hundred nzimbu could purchase a hen; 300 a [[garden hoe]] and 2,000 a goat. Slaves, which were always a part of Kongo's economy, were also bought in nzimbu. A female slave could be purchased (or sold) for 20,000 nzimbu and a male slave for 30,000. The slave trade had increased in volume after contact with Portugal.▼
=== Currency ===
▲The universal currency in Kongo and the surrounding region of Central Africa was the shell of ''[[Olivella nana]]''
Nzimbu shells were collected from the island of [[Ilha de Luanda|Luanda]] and kept as a royal monopoly. The smaller shells were filtered out so that only the large shells entered the marketplace as currency. Kongo would not trade for gold or silver, but nzimbu shells, often put in pots in special increments, could buy anything. Kongo's "money pots" held increments of 40, 100, 250, 400, and 500. For especially large purchases, there were standardized units such as a funda (1,000 big shells), Lufuku (10,000 big shells) and a kofo (20,000 big shells).<ref>{{Cite book |first=Kenny |last=Mann |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/32923028 |title=Kongo Ndongo : West Central Africa |date=1996 |publisher=Dillon Press |isbn=0-87518-658-0 |oclc=32923028}}</ref>
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When King [[Garcia II of Kongo|Garcia II]] gave up the island of Luanda and its royal fisheries to the Portuguese in 1651, he switched the kingdom's currency to [[raffia]] cloth. The cloth was "napkin-sized" and called ''mpusu''. In the 17th century, 100 mpusu could buy one slave implying a value greater than that of the nzimbu currency. Raffia cloth was also called Lubongo (singular : ''Lubongo'', ''Libongo'', plural : ''Mbongo'').<ref>P. Edoumba, ''Aperçu sur les monnaies d'Afrique'', {{p.|111}}, Revue-Numismatique, 2001</ref><ref>Phyllis M. Martin, ''Power, Cloth and Currency on the Loango Coast'', University of Wisconsin Press, 1986</ref><ref>Alain Anselin, ''Résistances africaines sur la Côte d'Angola au XVIIIe siècle'', Présence Africaine, 2006</ref><ref>M. Yandesa Mavuzi, ''Histoire et numismatique des monnaies du Congo du XVe siècle à nos jours'' ou ''Les monnaies du Congo – L’histoire et la numismatique'', Weyrich Edition, 2015</ref>
=== Marketplace ===
A major cornerstone of the economic and social center of the people of the Kongo is situated in the market (''nzandu''). This was an area that was reserved for peace and commerce, the chief authority ensured security here by placing the area in neutral territory that was defended against possible attack. They also provided the freedom to trade as well as the implementation of price standardizations. Areas set aside for the display of merchandise (''mbangu'') was separated by type, such as an area for blacksmithing equipment, one for slaves etc. Besides being a commercial center it was also a place where political and matrimonial negotiations were carried out, a place for the dissemination of news, an execution area for criminals and where rituals of sorcerers were made.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Balandier |first=Georges |url=http://archive.org/details/dailylifeinkingd0000bala |title=Daily life in the Kingdom of the Kongo from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century |publisher=Pantheon Books |year=1968 |location=New York, USA |pages=135–136}}</ref>
The connections of these marketplaces were linked by several roads (rich caravans had armed protection from bandits (''mpanzulungu'') who raided travellers in the late 15th century). These routes were maintained by a compulsory labor force through a collection of tolls to ensure revenue for the capital.<ref name=":1" />
==Art of the Kongo Kingdom==
[[File:Brooklyn Museum 2011.74 Crucifix Nkangi Kiditu (2).jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|Copper-alloy crucifix, early 17th century]]
The people of the Kongo are divided into many subgroups including the [[Yombe people|Yombe]], [[Beembe tribe (Kongo)|Beembe]], [[Sundi]], and others but share a common language, [[Kikongo]]. These groups have many cultural similarities, including that they all produce a huge range of sculptural art. The most notable feature of this region's figurative style is the relative naturalism of the representation of both humans and animals. "The musculature of face and body is carefully rendered, and great attention is paid to items of personal adornment and scarification. Much of the region’s art was produced for social and political leaders such as the Kongo king."<ref name="Siegmann Brooklyn Museum 2009">{{cite book|last=Siegmann|first=William C.|title=African art a century at the Brooklyn Museum|year=2009|publisher=Brooklyn Museum|location=Brooklyn, NY|isbn=978-0-87273-163-9 |author2=Dumouchelle, Kevin D.}}</ref>▼
▲The people of the Kongo are divided into many subgroups including the [[Yombe people|Yombe]], [[Beembe tribe (Kongo)|Beembe]], [[Sundi]], and others, but share a common language, [[Kikongo]]. These groups have many cultural similarities, including that they all produce a huge range of sculptural art. The most notable feature of this region's figurative style is the relative naturalism of the representation of both humans and animals. "The musculature of face and body is carefully rendered, and great attention is paid to items of personal adornment and scarification. Much of the
=== Architecture ===
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===Matrilineal organization===
The central Bantu groups which comprised most of the Kongo kingdom passed on status through matrilineal succession.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZjbESL6YWU0C&pg=PA146 ''Boy-Wives and Female Husbands: Studies of African Homosexualities'', edited by Stephen Murray & Will Roscoe. Published by St. Martin's Press in 1998. p. 146]</ref> Furthermore, women in the group of kingdoms that at various times were provinces in the Kongo kingdom could have important roles in rulership and war. For example, Queen [[Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba|Nzinga]], or Njinga, who ruled parts of the kingdom in Ndongo and Matamba provinces in the 17th century, was an effective ruler and war leader. In fact, she became a thorn in the side of the Portuguese to the degree that their correspondence at times was mainly about how to foil her. Nevertheless, the only thing that ended her efforts against them was her death in 1663 at an advanced age.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674971820|title=Njinga of Angola: Africa's Warrior Queen|first= Linda |last=Heywood|author-link=Linda Heywood|publisher= [[Harvard University Press]]|location=Cambridge, MA |year=2019}}</ref>
==See also==
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* Jadin, Louis. ''L'ancien Congo et l'Angola 1639–1655 d'après les archives romaines, Portugaises, Néerlandaises et Espagnoles'' 3 vols., Brussels: Institut historique belge de Rome, 1975.
* Paiva Manso, Levy Jordão. ''História de Congo'' (Documentos) Lisbon, 1877.
* Afonso's letters are all published, along with most of the documents relating to his reign, in:▼
:::António Brásio, ''Monumenta Missionaria Africana'' (1st series, 15 volumes, Lisbon: Agência Geral do Ultramar, 1952–88), vols. 1, 2 and 4.▼
====Books and documents====
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* Carli, Dionigio da Piacenza. ''Il Moro transportado nell'inclita città di Venezia''. Bassano, 1687.
* Carli, Dionigio da Piacenza. ''Viaggio del Padre Michael Angelo de Guattini da Reggio et del P. Dionigi de Carli da Piacensa...Regno del Congo''. (Bologna, 1674). Mod. ed. Francesco Surdich, Milan, 1997. French translation, Michel Chandeigne, Paris, 2006.
*
* Cavazzi da Montecuccolo, Giovanni Antonio. ''Istorica Descrizione de tre regni Congo, Matamba ed Angola'' (Bologna, 1687). Portuguese translation by Graziano Saccardo da Luggazano, 2 vols., Lisbon, 1965.
* Dapper, Olfried. ''Naukeurige beschrijvinge der Africa gewesten''. (Amsterdam, 1668) English translation, John Ogilby, London, 1670.
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===Secondary literature===
* Patrício Batsîkama, ''A Catedral de São Salvador de Angola: História e Memória de um Lugar Mítico'', Universidade Fernando Pessoa Porto, 2011.▼
* Bouveignes, Olivier de ''Les anciens rois du Congo'', Namur: Grands Lacs, 1948.▼
* Patrício Batsîkama Mampuya Cipriano, ''Nação, nacionalidade e nacionalismo em Angola'', Universidade Fernando Pessoa Porto, 2015.▼
* David Birmingham, ''Trade and Conquest in Angola''. Oxford and London: Oxford University Press, 1966.
* David Birmingham, ''A Short History of Modern Angola'', Oxford University Press, 2016.▼
* Ronald H. Chilcote, ''Protest and resistance in Angola and Brazil: Comparative studies'', University of California Press, 1972.▼
* E. Dartevelle, ''Les Nzimbu, monnaie du royaume du Congo'', Bruxelles, 1953.▼
* Cécile Fromont, ''The Art of Conversion: Christian Visual Culture in the Kingdom of Kongo''. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2014.
* Cécile Fromont, ''Images on a Mission in Early Modern Kongo and Angola''. University Park: Penn State University Press, 2022.
* Ann Hilton, ''The Kingdom of Kongo'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982.
* [[Karl Edvard Laman]],''The Kongo''. 4 vols. 1954–68.
* Phyllis M. Martin, ''Power, Cloth and Currency on the Loango Coast'', University of Wisconsin Press, 1986.▼
* Martin Yandesa Mavuzi, ''Histoire et numismatique des monnaies du Congo du XVe siècle à nos jours'' ou ''Les monnaies du Congo – L’histoire et la numismatique'', Weyrich Edition, 2015.▼
* Lussunzi Vita Mbala, ''La société Kongo face à la colonisation portugaise
* Graziano Saccardo, ''Congo e Angola con la storia dell'antica missione dei Cappuccini'' 3 vols., Venice, 1982–83.
* [[John K. Thornton]], ''The Kingdom of Kongo: Civil War and Transition, 1641–1718'', 1983.
* John K. Thornton, ''The Kongolese Saint Anthony: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita and the Antonian Movement, 1683–1706'' Cambridge University Press, 1998.
* John K. Thornton
* John K. Thornton, {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MdI8DYItvg8C&q=gbs_navlinks_s
* [[Jan Vansina]], ''Kingdoms of the Savanna'', Madison, WI, University of Wisconsin Press, 1966.
▲* Phyllis M. Martin, ''Power, Cloth and Currency on the Loango Coast'', University of Wisconsin Press, 1986.
▲* E. Dartevelle, ''Les Nzimbu, monnaie du royaume du Congo'', Bruxelles, 1953.
* Douglas L. Wheeler, ''Nineteenth-Century African Protest in Angola: Prince Nicolas of Kongo (1830?–1860)'', Boston University African Studies Center, 1968.▼
▲* David Birmingham, ''A Short History of Modern Angola'', Oxford University Press, 2016.
▲* Patrício Batsîkama, ''A Catedral de São Salvador de Angola: História e Memória de um Lugar Mítico'', Universidade Fernando Pessoa Porto, 2011.
▲* Lussunzi Vita Mbala, ''La société Kongo face à la colonisation portugaise 1885-1961'', Paari éditeur, 2021.
* Jelmer Vos, ''Empire, patronage and a revolt in the kingdom of Kongo'', Old Dominion University, 2017.
▲* Patrício Batsîkama Mampuya Cipriano, ''Nação, nacionalidade e nacionalismo em Angola'', Universidade Fernando Pessoa Porto, 2015.
▲*{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MdI8DYItvg8C&q=gbs_navlinks_s|last1=Thornton |first1=John Kelly|author-link=John Thornton (historian)|year=1999|title=Warfare in Atlantic Africa, 1500-1800|publisher=[[Psychology Press]] |isbn=9781857283921}}
▲* Ronald H. Chilcote, ''Protest and resistance in Angola and Brazil: Comparative studies'', University of California Press, 1972.
* Jelmer Vos, ''Kongo in the Age of Empire, 1860–1913: The Breakdown of a Moral Order'', University of Wisconsin Press, 2015.
▲* Douglas L. Wheeler, ''Nineteenth-Century African Protest in Angola: Prince Nicolas of Kongo (1830?–1860)'', Boston University African Studies Center, 1968.
▲* Martin Yandesa Mavuzi, ''Histoire et numismatique des monnaies du Congo du XVe siècle à nos jours'' ou ''Les monnaies du Congo – L’histoire et la numismatique'', Weyrich Edition, 2015.
▲* Afonso's letters are all published, along with most of the documents relating to his reign, in:
▲:::António Brásio, ''Monumenta Missionaria Africana'' (1st series, 15 volumes, Lisbon: Agência Geral do Ultramar, 1952–88), vols. 1, 2 and 4.
==External links==
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* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051124031433/http://www.inquiceweb.com/dondeKongo.html Kongo religion]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/10chapter2.shtml The Story of Africa: Kongo] — BBC World Service
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