Empire · 1390–1914 · Southern Africa

Kingdom of Kongo

Also known as Congo

Kongo was founded around 1390, traditionally by Lukeni lua Nimi, who conquered lands south of the lower Congo river in what is now northern Angola and western Congo. The king, or manikongo, ruled from Mbanza Kongo through appointed provincial governors, collected tribute in cloth and the shell money called nzimbu, and controlled a well-organised state.

In 1483 Portuguese ships arrived, and King Nzinga a Nkuwu was baptised in 1491. His son Afonso I made Christianity the state religion and corresponded with the Portuguese and papal courts, but the growing Atlantic slave trade destabilised the kingdom. After defeat by the Portuguese at Mbwila in 1665, Kongo fell into decades of civil war. It survived as a weakened kingdom until Portugal absorbed it into colonial Angola, ending its last autonomy in 1914.

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Years

1390–1914

Capital

Mbanza Kongo (called São Salvador from the 16th century)

Greatest extent

1550, about 130,000 km²

Region

Southern Africa

Kongo's core provinces in northern Angola and western DR Congo, plus tributaries; about 129,400 km² by 1623