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Kingdom of Kongo

The Kingdom of Kongo (Kongo: Kongo Dya Ntotila[6][7] or Wene wa Kongo;[8] Portuguese: Reino do Congo) was a kingdom in Central Africa. It was located in present-day northern Angola, the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo,[9] Southern of Gabon and the Republic of the Congo.[10] 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 kingdom consisted of several core provinces ruled by the Manikongo, the Portuguese version of the Kongo title Mwene Kongo, meaning "lord or ruler of the Kongo kingdom", but its sphere of influence extended to neighbouring kingdoms, such as Ngoyo, Kakongo, Loango, Ndongo, and Matamba, the latter two located in what is Angola today.[5]

For other uses, see Congo (disambiguation).

Kingdom of Kongo
Wene wa Kongo or Kongo dya Ntotila (Kongo)
Reino do Congo (Portuguese)

Sovereign kingdom (1390–1857)
Vassal of the Kingdom of Portugal (1857–1910)
Subject of the First Portuguese Republic (1910–1914)

São Salvador (today Mbanza-Kongo, Angola)[3]

Monarchy

 

 

1390[1]

1622

29 October 1665

1665–1709

February 1709

1857

1884–1885

1914[2]

129,400 km2 (50,000 sq mi)

appx 500,000

From c. 1390 to 1862, it was an independent state. From 1862 to 1914, it functioned intermittently as a vassal state of the Kingdom of Portugal.[11] In 1914, following the Portuguese suppression of a Kongo revolt, Portugal abolished the titular monarchy. The title of King of Kongo was restored from 1915 until 1975, as an honorific without real power.[12][13] The remaining territories of the kingdom were assimilated into the colonies of Portuguese Angola, the Belgian Congo, and the Republic of Cabinda, respectively. The modern-day Bundu dia Kongo sect favours reviving the kingdom through secession from Angola, the Republic of the Congo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[14]

(or Mbandi Kasi)

Battle of Mbanda Kasi

Battle of Mbidizi River

Battle of Kitombo

Economic structure[edit]

Currency[edit]

The universal currency in Kongo and the surrounding region of Central Africa was the shell of Olivella nana; a sea snail known locally as nzimbu.[70][71] 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.


Nzimbu shells were collected from the island of 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).[72]


The Kongo administration regarded their land as renda, revenue assignments. The Kongo government exacted a monetary head tax for each villager, which may well have been paid in kind as well, forming the basis for the kingdom's finances. The king granted titles and income, based on this head tax. Holders reported annually to the court of their superior for evaluation and renewal.


Provincial governors paid a portion of the tax returns from their provinces to the king. Dutch visitors to Kongo in the 1640s reported this income as twenty million nzimbu shells. In addition, the crown collected its own special taxes and levies, including tolls on the substantial trade that passed through the kingdom, especially the lucrative cloth trade between the great cloth-producing region of the "Seven Kingdoms of Kongo dia Nlaza", the eastern regions (also called "Momboares"), "The Seven" in Kikongo, and the coast, especially the Portuguese colony of Luanda.


Crown revenues supported the church, paid by revenue assignments based on royal income. For example, Pedro II (1622–1624) detailed the finances of his royal chapel by specifying that revenues from various estates and provincial incomes would support it. Baptismal and burial fees also supported local churches.


When King 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).[73][74][75][76]

Marketplace[edit]

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.[77]


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.[77]

Kongo Civil War

List of rulers of Kongo

House of Kinlaza

House of Kimpanzu

Kongo textiles

African military systems to 1800

African military systems (1800–1900)

African military systems after 1900

Brásio, António. Monumenta Missionaria Africana 15 volumes. Lisbon: Agência Geral das Colonias and others, 1952–1988.

Cuvelier, Jean and Louis Jadin. L'ancien Congo après les archives romaines Brussels, 1954.

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:

L'Observateur Kongo

Kongo people information

Kongo religion

— BBC World Service

The Story of Africa: Kongo

Media related to Kingdom of Kongo at Wikimedia Commons