Kongo fingertip knowledge Flashcards
When did the Portuguese arrive in Kongo? Led by who?
1482, Diogo Cao
What was the capital of of Kongo?
Mbanza Kongo
What was the main form of currency?
Nzimbu shells
What was the ruling clan in Kongo?
The Mwissikongo
Where did the Mwissikongo migrate to?
They had migrated south of the Congo river and made relationships with provincial rulers.
What was the king figure that held all the different clans together called?
Manikongo
What is a kanda?
A family clan.
How did kanda’s form alliances?
Through marriage.
What was descent like in Kongo?
Matrilineal
How big was the kingdom when Portugal arrived?
By the time Portugal arrived, the kingdom stretched from Loango in the north to Ndongo in the South.
What was the ruling class in Kongo?
Mwissikongo
What was there tension between in C16 and C17?
Centralisation and traditional lineage structure.
What is the quote about lineage by Goncalves?
“lineage against the state”
Where was the royal palace?
Mbanza Kongo
When did Afonso I take power and why?
1509, after winning a civil war against his brother.
Who sent stone masons to Kongo?
King Manuel of Portugal
When did Jesuit missionaries begin to arrive in Kongo?
1548
How many provinces was Kongo divided into and what were they called?
- Mbamba, Nsoyo, Nsundi, Mpanga, Mbata and Mpemba.
What province was Mbanza Kongo in?
Mbata
Who ruled each province?
A governor
Where was tribute paid to and from?
Paid by the provinces to Mbanza Kongo.
Where was the trade pool and what was traded there?
Malebo pool - copper and slaves
Where were slaves sold to in relation to the Portuguese?
Sao Tome sugar plantations.
Who did slavery increase the power of?
The mwissikongo.
Who organised the collection of tribute?
Kanda
What caused tension according to Hilton in regards to Kanda and Mwissikongo?
The Mwissikongo tried to bypass the political power of the kanda.
When was the jaga invasion on the succession of Alvaro I?
1568
When was Mbanza Kongo retaken after the 1568 Jaga invasion and who helped?
1570 with the help of the Portuguese from Sao Tome.
Where did Sao Tome traders establish a trading port and what did it lead to?
Luanda, helped with the development of the colony of angola.
Who was the first manikongo to be baptised and when?
Nzinga a Nkuwu in 1484, took the name Joao I
Why did Nkuwu (Joao I) withdraw from catholicism?
Partly because of their opposition to polygamy.
When did Joao I die?
1506
When was Afonso’s triumph in civil war and what did it lead to?
1509, Catholicism became the religion of the Mwissikongo.
What did Catholicism provide in the Kingdom?
Political power.
When did Afonso die?
1542
Who took over from Afonso in 1542?
Pedro I
When did Diogo come to the throne?
1545
When did the Jesuit missionaries arrive and what did it cause?
1548, caused tension due to their lack of tolerance and involvement in the slave trade.
When was the second Jaga invasion? What happened after it?
- Priests held a seat on the electoral council for the manikongo.
What was the situation in 1600 with religion?
Catholic church was powerful in political circles but the bulk of the Kandas retained traditional religious practices.
What did the Jesuits say about the Kongolese in 1603?
They are only Christians by name.
What missionaries did the Vatican send to Kongo to try and spread Catholicism further?
Capuchins
What were the two main reasons that the Manikongo converted to Catholicism?
Political.
Religious - the kanda saw the white albinos as reincarnations of their ancestors so welcomed the Portuguese whilst retaining their old religious practices.
What did the movements of Beatriz Kimpa Vita in C18 show?
Showed the centrality of Kongolese religious practice to the Kongo practice of Christianity.
What happened in the C17 to do with climatic instability?
Locusts and droughts
What did exacerbated political tensions lead to?
Warfare which led to an increase in the slave trade.
What caused inflation in Kongo?
Portuguese importing nzimbu shells.
What were Mwissikongos living in Portugal called?
Ambassadors
What did Afonso protest about in letters to the Portuguese?
He asked for assistance and protested the enslavement of freeborn Kongos by Sao Tome slave traders.
How did Afonso I lay groundworks for political achievements?
Grew the kingdom.
Expansion of Mbanza Kongo and trading networks.
Spread of culture through trade fairs at Malebo Pool.
Development of administrative officers to govern provinces.
Literate culture.
What happened to European relations once Afonso I died?
Relations declined.
What did Sao Tome traders do after helping Alvaro I restore the throne?
They successfully lobbied for control of Luanda. 1575.
What Portuguese settlement threatened Kongo power?
Luanda
What happened in the C17 with luanda?
It became a slave-trading state causing instability - Portuguese governors launched raids.
From when did the manikongos seek alliance with the Dutch>
1610.
When was the first Kongolese-Portuguese war?
1622-24
What happened at the battle of Mbanda Kasi?
Pedro I defeated de Sousa’s troops.
What did Pedro I suggest to the Dutch?
They launch a joint land-sea invasion of Luanda
When did Dutch fleets send fleets to Luanda and Brazil?
1623
When did Piet Heyn reach Luanda, what did Garcia I do?
October 1624, Garcia I refused to cooperate.
What did the Dutch seize from Portugal and when?
Luanda and Sao Tome, 1641
What did the Dutch seizures cause?
1641-3 and 1646-8 wars with Portugal.
Who did Garcia II (1641-61) side with?
Dutch
When did Portugal defeat Dutch-Kongo forces first?
1648
What did Garcia II do in terms of the Vatican? What did this do?
Sought help from the Vatican in resisting Portugal. Led to another attack from Luanda.
What was the battle of Mbwila and when?
Antonio I was decisively defeated by Portugal and 98 lineage heads were killed. In 1665.
What had Garcia II’s court been like?
Rich and opulent with mixtures of European finery and Kongolese styles - ivory etc.
When were the manikongos increasingly struggling to keep power?
C17
What caused a series of civil conflicts after 1648 and 1665?
Defeats to Portugal.
What was the main export of Kongo up until C17?
Copper and cloth, NOT slaves. Weaving was a very important industry.
What happened to the slave trade, especially after the settlement of Luanda in 1575?
It became much more central.
What was the most important impact of an increase in slavery?
Mode of production, agricultural surpluses were needed to feed growing urban areas so slavery was used more and more.
What did unrest and division by slavery contribute to?
1568 Jaga invasion and civil wars after 1665.
How did the influence of slavery do to the ability of the Kanda system to challenge the centralised state?
It encourage matrilineality as a way to aquire women and expand lineages which meant they were more able to challenge the centralised state as the did in C17.
What was the demographic impact of the growth in slavery?
People fled from villages near main roads and the roads became overgrown.
What did the disproportionate power of the manikongos lead to?
Resistance and reassertion of decentralised values.
What did the Battle of Mbwila in 1665 do to kandas?
The core of Mwissikongo aristocracy was killed so the kanda could fight back. Kimpanzu controlled the west and Kinzala controlled the north and east.
Both groups tried to control Mbanza Kongo.
When was Mbanza Kongo sacked for the first time?
1668
When was Mbanza Kongo sacked for the second time and by who?
1678 by Kinzala pretender Pedro III.
What happened after the 1678 sacking of Mbanza Kongo?
The capital was abandoned.
What happened from 1678 to the end of the 1600s in terms of the Kimpanzu, Kinzala and joint descendants aguas rodas?
They fought battles.
What happened in 1705?
Beatriz Kimpa Vita secured Mbanza Kongo.
What had happened to Kongo by 1705?
They had broken up into competing areas who raided each other to sell as slaves to the Europeans.
