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Y209: African Kingdoms c.1400–c.1800: Four Case Studies

The Kingdom of Kongo c.1400–c.1709: clientage, wars with Portugal and the Antonian movement

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 2

Overview

Recall questions on clientage, the slave trade, Luanda and the Portuguese wars, the Dutch, Mbwila in 1665, the civil war that followed, and Beatriz Kimpa Vita and the Antonian movement.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Explain the role of clientage in Kongolese society.

Numbers

What part did the Dutch play in Kongo's wars of the 1640s?

Key term

Describe the condition of the kingdom during the civil war after 1665.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Explain the role of clientage in Kongolese society.

    Model answer

    Power was measured in dependants rather than land, so nobles built followings of clients, slaves and kinsmen who owed them service, and the king held the greatest following of all; the system made loyalty personal and fragile.

  2. 2

    How did the slave trade damage the kingdom?

    Model answer

    Demand from São Tomé and later Brazil encouraged raiding and the illegal enslavement of free Kongolese, enriched provincial nobles and Portuguese traders independently of the king, and drew the kingdom into wars to supply captives; Afonso I protested to Lisbon about it in the 1520s.

  3. 3

    How did the founding of Luanda in 1575 change Kongo's relations with Portugal?

    Model answer

    The new Portuguese colony to the south gave Lisbon a base independent of Kongo, control of the nzimbu shell fisheries and a rival supply of slaves, turning a partnership between courts into competition between neighbours.

  4. 4

    Give the outcome of the First Portuguese War of 1622.

    Model answer

    An invasion launched from Angola by governor João Correia de Sousa beat a Kongolese force at Mbumbi but was then defeated at Mbanda Kasi, and the Portuguese were forced to withdraw and return their captives.

  5. 5

    What part did the Dutch play in Kongo's wars of the 1640s?

    Model answer

    Garcia II allied with the Dutch, who took Luanda in 1641, and Kongo fought the Portuguese in 1641 to 1643 hoping to expel them altogether; the Portuguese recapture of Luanda in 1648 left Kongo exposed and led to further fighting to 1649.

  6. 6

    Why was the battle of Mbwila in 1665 a turning point?

    Model answer

    A Portuguese force destroyed the Kongolese army and killed King António I together with much of the nobility, leaving no accepted successor and beginning a civil war between rival branches of the royal house.

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