KONGO EMPIRE (1390-1857)
The Kingdom of Kongo (Kikongo: Kongo dia Ntotil or Wene wa Kongo, Portuguese: Reino do Congo) was a kingdom located in central Africa in present-day northern Angola, the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo the Republic of the Congo as well as the southernmost part of Gabon. 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.
From c. 1390 to 1857 it was mostly an independent state. From 1857 to 1914 it functioned as a vassal state of the Kingdom of Portugal.
The famous king of Kongo was called Nzinga a Nkuwu. The capital city was located at Mbanza Kongo, which the Portuguese later baptized/named it São Salvador.
FACTORS FOR THE RISE OF KONGO EMPIRE
1. Technological development e.g. Iron technology.
2. Trade
3. Taxation
4. Development of local industries
5. Emergence of traditional leaders with a strong belief in spiritual and magic power. For example, Nzinga Nkuwu.
DECLINE OF THE CONGO EMPIRE
1. The arrival of the Portuguese
2. Slave trade
3. Weak leadership after Manikongo Nzinga Nkuwu who acquired up an Embassy in Portugal. His son Nzinga Mbemba was baptized as Dan Afonso. He was a puppet of the Portuguese and caused civil war in Kongo.
