Kingdom of Kongo
Overview
Kongo language
The Kongo language, or Kikongo, is the Bantu language spoken by the Bakongo and Bandundu people living in the tropical forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo and Angola. It is a tonal language and formed the base for Kituba, a Bantu creole and lingua franca...
: Kongo dya Ntotila or Wene wa Kongo) was an African kingdom located in west central Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
in what are now northern Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
, Cabinda
Cabinda (province)
Cabinda is an exclave and province of Angola, a status that has been disputed by many political organizations in the territory. The capital city is also called Cabinda. The province is divided into four municipalities - Belize, Buco Zau, Cabinda and Cacongo.Modern Cabinda is the result of a fusion...
, the Republic of the Congo
Republic of the Congo
The Republic of the Congo , sometimes known locally as Congo-Brazzaville, is a state in Central Africa. It is bordered by Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo , the Angolan exclave province of Cabinda, and the Gulf of Guinea.The region was dominated by...
, and the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
. At its greatest extent, it reached from the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
in the west to the Kwango River
Kwango River
The Cuango or Kwango is a transboundary river of Angola and Democratic Republic of Congo. It is the largest left bank tributary of the Kasai River in the Congo River basin. It flows through Malanje town in Angola...
in the east, and from the Congo River
Congo River
The Congo River is a river in Africa, and is the deepest river in the world, with measured depths in excess of . It is the second largest river in the world by volume of water discharged, though it has only one-fifth the volume of the world's largest river, the Amazon...
in the north to the Kwanza River in the south. The kingdom consisted of several core provinces ruled by the Manikongo
Manikongo
The Manikongo or MweneKongo was the title of the rulers of the Kingdom of Kongo, a kingdom that existed from the fourteenth to the nineteenth centuries and consisted of land in present-day Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo...
, the Portuguese version of the Kongo title 'Mwene Kongo', meaning lord or ruler of the Kongo kingdom, but its sphere of influence
Sphere of influence
In the field of international relations, a sphere of influence is a spatial region or conceptual division over which a state or organization has significant cultural, economic, military or political influence....
extended to neighbouring kingdoms, such as Ngoyo
Ngoyo
Ngoyo was an Iron Age kingdom state of the Woyo tribe, located in the south of Cabinda . Located on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, just north of the Congo River, it was founded by Bantu-speaking people around the 15th century...
, Kakongo
Kakongo
Kakongo was a former small kingdom located on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, in the modern day Republic of Congo. Although independent, the people speak a dialect of the Kikongo language and could be considered a part of the Bakongo ethnicity....
, Ndongo and Matamba.
The Bundu dia Kongo
Bundu dia Kongo
Bundu dia Kongo is a politico-cultural movement founded in June 1969 by Ne Mwanda Nsemi. The movement is mainly based in the Bas-Congo province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The movement focuses on defending, protecting, and promoting values, rights, and interests of Kongo people in the...
sect favors reviving the kingdom through secession
Secession
Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...
from Angola, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Gabon
Gabon
Gabon , officially the Gabonese Republic is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west...
.
Verbal traditions about the early history of the country were set in writing for the first time in the late 16th century, and the most comprehensive ones were recorded in the mid-seventeenth century, including those written by the Italian Capuchin
Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin is an Order of friars in the Catholic Church, among the chief offshoots of the Franciscans. The worldwide head of the Order, called the Minister General, is currently Father Mauro Jöhri.-Origins :...
missionary Giovanni Cavazzi da Montecuccolo
Giovanni Cavazzi da Montecuccolo
Giovanni Antonio Cavazzi da Montecuccolo was an Italian Capuchin missionary noted for his travels in 17th century Angola and his lengthy account of local history and culture as well as a history of the Capuchin mission there.Cavazzi was an indifferent student and was almost denied a position in...
.
Unanswered Questions
