Kingdom of Kongo

Kingdom of Kongo
Wene wa Kongo or Kongo dya Ntotila (Kongo)
Reino do Congo (Portuguese)
1390[1]–1914[2]
Flag of Kongo
Flag (c. 17th century)
Coat of arms (c. 1528–1541) of Kongo
Coat of arms (c. 1528–1541)
The "Kingdom of Congo" (now usually rendered as "Kingdom of Kongo" to maintain distinction from the present-day Congo nations)
The "Kingdom of Congo" (now usually rendered as "Kingdom of Kongo" to maintain distinction from the present-day Congo nations)
StatusSovereign kingdom (1390–1857)
Vassal of the Kingdom of Portugal (1857–1910)
Subject of the First Portuguese Republic (1910–1914)
CapitalSão Salvador (today Mbanza-Kongo, Angola)[3]
Common languagesKikongo
Portuguese
Religion
Bukongo
Catholicism
Antonianism (1704–1708)
GovernmentMonarchy
King 
• c. 1390–1420 (first)
Lukeni lua Nimi
• 1911–1914 (last)
Manuel III of Kongo
LegislatureNe Mbanda-Mbanda
History 
• Conquest of Kabunga
1390[1]
1622
1623
29 October 1665
1665–1709
• Reunification
February 1709
• Vassalage
1857
1884–1885
• Abolishment[4]
1914[2]
Area
c. 1650[5]129,400 km2 (50,000 sq mi)
Population
• c. 1650[5]
appx 500,000
CurrencyNzimbu shells and Lubongo (Libongo, Mbongo), Mpusu cloth
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Mpemba Kasi
Mbata Kingdom
International Congo Association
Portuguese West Africa
French Congo
Today part ofAngola
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Republic of the Congo

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 neighboring kingdoms, such as Ngoyo, Kakongo, Loango, Ndongo, and Matamba, the latter two located in what is Angola today.[5]

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 colony of Angola, the Belgian Congo, and the Republic of Cabinda, respectively. The modern-day Bundu dia Kongo sect favors reviving the kingdom through secession from Angola, the Republic of the Congo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[14]

  1. ^ Tshilemalema, Mukenge (2001). Culture and Customs of the Congo. Greenwood Press. p. 18. ISBN 0-313-31485-3.
  2. ^ Alisa LaGamma, Kongo: Power and Majesty, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015
  3. ^ Mbanza-Kongo, named São Salvador in the late-16th century; reverted to the name Mbanza-Kongo in 1975
  4. ^ Nassoro Habib Mbwana Msonde, A Revised History for Advanced Level and Colleges: Part One, Xlibris Corporation, 2017
  5. ^ a b Thornton, John (1977). "Demography and History in the Kingdom of Kongo, 1550–1750". The Journal of African History. 18 (4): 526. doi:10.1017/s0021853700015693. S2CID 162627912.
  6. ^ Can also be written as Kongo dia Ntotila and Kongo dia Ntotela. The Kongo empire can be called Kintotila kia Kongo.
  7. ^ Schemmel, B. (2008). "Traditional Polities". Retrieved 24 January 2008.
  8. ^ Thornton, John; Linda M. Heywood (2007). Central Africans, Atlantic Creoles, and the Foundation of the Americas, 1585–1660. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-521-77065-1.
  9. ^ Fryer, Peter (2000). Rhythms of Resistance: African Musical Heritage in Brazil. p. 158.
  10. ^ M'Bokolo, Elikia (1995). Afrique Noire: Histoire et Civilisations, jusqu'au XVIIIème sicècle. Vol. I. Paris: Hatier. ISBN 2-218-03881-1.
  11. ^ Leander (18 May 2016). "Kingdom of Kongo 1390 – 1914". South African History Online. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  12. ^ Alisa LaGamma, Kongo: Power and Majesty, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015, p. 15
  13. ^ Jelmer Vos, Kongo in the Age of Empire 1860–1913: The Breakdown of a Moral Order, The University of Wisconsin Press, 2015, p. 151
  14. ^ "Bundu dia Kongo". Global Security. Retrieved 26 December 2007.

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