IF traditions may be accepted where written history fails us, the foundation of the Empire of Kongo lies back no further than the middle of the fifteenth century.
The founder of the dynasty and first King of Kongo—Ntotela ntinu nekongo—was Nimi a Lukeni, the son of Nimi a nzima and of Lukeni lua nsanzi, the daughter of Nsa ku ki-lau. His father appears to have been a mere village chief in Kurimba (Corimba),293a district of the kingdom of Kwangu. He had establishedhimself at a ferry on a great river (nzari), now known to us as the Kwangu, and levied a toll upon all travellers who crossed the stream. One day the young man’s aunt came that way, and claimed exemption on the ground of being the old chief’s sister. Her brother was absent, and not only was the claim denied, but young Nimi a Lukeni, notwithstanding that she was with child, caused her to be disembowelled. The younger members of his clan looked upon this act of brutality as one of bravery, and shielded him against his father’s just wrath. He then placed himself at their head, assumed the title ofntinu(king), and started westward upon a career of conquest.
The country he was about to invade was inhabited by a people kindred to those of Angola and of the country to the north of the Zaire, split up into numerous small clans294ruled by independent kinglets. This, no doubt, would account for the rapidity and the extent of his conquests, which have been matched however, in our own days, by the Makololo.
Having defeated Mbumbulu mwana Mpangala of Mpemba-kasi, he founded his capital—Mbazi a nkanu—295upon a rock within that chief’s territory. By degrees he extended his conquests southward to the Kwanza and even beyond, installed his uncle Nsa ku ki-lau as ruler ofthe important province of Mbata, bestowed large territories upon others of his adherents, and even restored some of their father’s territories to the children of the Mwana Mpangala. His “sons,” attended by the great Nganga Ngoyo, he sent across the Zaire, and they became the founders of the “kingdoms” of Kakongo and Luangu; whilst a third son, by a slave woman, is supposed to be the ancestor of the “counts” of Sonyo or Soyo.296Anciently the King of Kakongo, before he assumed his kingship, was bound to marry a princess of the blood royal of Kongo, whilst he of Luangu married a princess of Kakongo; yet the ruler of Luangu was highest in rank, for he enjoyed the title ofnunu(“aged person”), whilst his brother of Kakongo had to be contented with the inferior title ofnkaji(“spouse”). The Kings were elected by the feudal princes, but their choice was limited to the sons of princesses, as in a great part of negro Africa.297
Of the early institutions of Kongo we know next to nothing, though we may presume that the law of succession was originally the same there as in the sister-states to the north, for the first Ntotela was succeeded by two nephews(Nanga kia ntinu and another, whose name has not reached us). But even thus early, and anterior to the introduction of Christianity, the old law of succession was broken through, for Nkuwu a ntinu, the fourth Ntotela, was a son of Ntinu Nimi a Lukeni, and was succeeded by a son of his own, Nzinga a Nkuwa, the first Christian Ntotela, better known in history as John I.
If Dapper may be believed, it was the custom to bury twelve virgins with the earlier kings—a distinction much sought after, as in other parts of Africa; but the people of Kongo have never been charged with cannibalism, nor its rulers with the bloody rites practised by the Jaga.
It was towards the end of 1482, that the natives at the mouth of the River Kongo for the first time saw rising above the horizon the white wings of a European vessel, ascending, as it were, from the Land of Spirits; and we can imagine their surprise when they for the first time beheld the bleached faces of its inmates. Yet they came on board, offering ivory in exchange for cloth. The interpreters from the Guinea coast who were with Cão naturally failed to make themselves understood, but they learnt from signs that far inland there dwelt a powerful king. Cão at once despatched some Christian negroes in search of this potentate. They were the bearers of suitable presents, and were instructed to assure the King of the friendly intentions of his visitors, whose only desire it was to trade with him.
Before continuing his voyage, Cão set up the first of the stone pillars, orpadroes, which he had on board. He then sailed south along the coast, noting its prominentfeatures, but curiously missed the Kwanza or River of Angola, although its clayey waters discolour the sea for ten or fifteen miles. On a low foreland, Cabo do Lobo,299ten miles beyond the cliffs named by him Castello d’Alter Pedroso, he set up a second pillar, to mark the furthest point reached by him.
On again returning to the Kongo, he was annoyed to find that his messengers had not returned; and as he was naturally anxious to make known in Portugal his discovery of a magnificent river and a powerful kingdom, he left them behind him, and seized instead four unsuspecting visitors to his ship as “hostages;” giving their friends to understand that they should be restored to them after the lapse of fifteen months, when they would be exchanged for his own men. These latter appear to have been treated with distinction at first, but when the King heard of Cão’s high-handed proceedings he refused to admit them any longer to his presence, and even threatened them with death, should his own people not be restored.
Among the hostages carried off by Cão there was a man of some distinction in his own country, Nsaku (Caçuto) by name, who picked up Portuguese quickly, and much pleased King John by the information he was able to give. He, as well as his companions, were much petted in Portugal, and, in defiance of all sumptuary laws, were dressed in fine cloths and silks.
Cão himself, soon after his arrival, in April, 1484, was appointed a cavalier in the Royal household, granted an annuity of 18,000 reals, and on the 14th of that month he was “separated from the common herd,” and granted a coat-of-arms charged with the two pillars erected by him during this memorable voyage.
Cão’s departure on a second voyage was much delayed, either because the King’s Council were opposed to these adventures, which strained the resources of a small kingdom like Portugal, or—and this is more likely—because it was desired that a change in the Royal Arms, which was only made in June, 1485, should be recorded on the stone pillars which Cão was to take with him.
Great was the rejoicing when Cão’s “fleet” appeared in the Kongo, and the hostages, loud in praise of the good treatment they had received, were once more among their friends. Cão at once forwarded rich presents to the King, with an invitation to throw aside all fetishes, and to embrace the only true and saving faith; promising that, on his return from a voyage to the south, he would personally visit the capital of his kingdom. This promise Cão was not permitted to fulfil, for having set up a pillar on Monte Negro (15° 40´ S.) and another on Cape Cross (21° 50´),300he died a short distance beyond. Of the details of his death we know nothing.301It seems, however, that the loss of their commander induced a speedy return home: for Cão’s vessels must have arrived in Portugal before August, 1487, as in that month Dias sailed on his famous voyage, taking with him the negroes whom Cão had kidnapped to the south of the Kongo, with a view to their learning Portuguese, and being employed as interpreters in future voyages.
Cão, therefore, never saw the King of Kongo; and there are good grounds for believing that Nsaku who was sent bythe King to Portugal to ask for priests, masons, carpenters, agricultural labourers, and women to make bread, only reached Europe in one of Dias’s vessels, in December, 1488. Nsaku, most certainly, was first introduced to King John at Beja, in January, 1489, when he and his companions were baptised, the King himself, the Queen, and gentlemen of title acting as sponsors.(312) He was sent back to the Kongo with Don Gonçalo de Sousa, in December, 1490, about two years after he had been baptised.302
Don João de Sousa, the ambassador, left Portugal on December 19th, 1490, with a fleet commanded by Gonçalo de Sousa, as captain-major. Among the pilots were Pero d’Alemquer and Pero Escovar, men famous in the maritime history of Portugal. Ten Franciscan Friars304went out with this fleet, and so did Nsaku, the ambassador of the King of Kongo. The plague was raging at Lisbon at the time, and before the vessels reached the Cape Verde Islands, this dreaded disease had carried off João de Sousa (the ambassador), the captain-major, and many others. Ruy de Sousa, a nephew of the captain-major, was then chosen to take the place of D. João de Sousa.
After a voyage of a hundred days the vessels reached the Kongo, and the Mwana of Sonyo and his son, whohad already been instructed in the Christian doctrine by a priest from S. Thomé, were baptised on Easter Sunday, April 3rd, 1491, and were thenceforth known as Don Manuel and Don Antonio da Silva; for it was the practice of the Portuguese, from the very beginning, to bestow Portuguese names and titles upon the negroes who submitted to the sacrament of baptism.
This ceremony performed, Ruy de Sousa started for the King’s capital,305which he reached on April 29th. The King received him seated on a platform, in a chair inlaid with ivory. He wore a loin-cloth, presented to him by Cão, copper bracelets, and a cap of palm-cloth. A zebra tail depended from his left shoulder—a badge of royalty.306
The King was about to join his son Mbemba a Nzinga, Duke of Nsundi, who had taken the field against the Bateke;307but before doing so he was anxious to be baptised. The foundations of a church having been laid on Rood Day, May 3rd,308the King and his Queen were baptised at once by Frei João de Santa Maria, and were named Don João and Donna Leonor, after the King and Queen of Portugal.
The King, marching for the first time under the banner of the Cross, and supported by the firearms of hisPortuguese allies, came back a victor to his capital. His eldest son and many nobles were then baptised.
When Ruy de Sousa departed, he left behind him Frei Antonio309with other priests, and gave instructions for an exploration of the Kongo river above the cataracts, which do not appear to have been acted upon. He also founded a factory near the mouth of the Kongo, where the enterprising people of S. Thomé had already established commercial relations, although formal permission to do so was only granted them by King Manuel on March 26th, 1500. Dom Pedro, a cousin of the King of Kongo, accompanied him, with nine attendants, who, having been taught to read and write, returned to their native country with D. João Soares, early in 1494.310
The missionaries lost no time in preaching the doctrines of their Church; but whilst Don Affonso proved an ardent Christian, who recklessly destroyed all fetishes discovered in his province of Nsundi, the King himself soon grew lukewarm, owing to the priests’ interference with polygamy and other valued social institutions. In the country at large, the heathen still held their ground.
And thus it happened that when João I died in 1509, the chiefs favoured his second son,Mpanzu a nzinga,312a heathen, whilst the dowager queen and the Count of Sonyotook the part of the elder brother. Don Affonso, immediately on hearing of his father’s illness, hurried up to the capital, accompanied by only thirty-six Christians. He found that his father had died. His brother approached with a mighty army, but five flaming swords seen in the heavens on the eve of battle gave courage to his small following, whilst a white cross and the appearance of St. James at the head of the celestial host struck terror into the hearts of the assailants. They fled in a panic.313Mpanzu himself was taken, wounded, and decapitated.
Order having been restored throughout the country, King Affonso availed himself of the presence of Gonçalo Rodriguez Ribeiro, who had come from Portugal with a number of priests, and was about to return to that country, to send an embassy to Pope Julius II and King Manuel.314The head of this mission was Don Pedro (de Castro?), a cousin of the King (who was accompanied by his wife), and with him went D. Manuel, a brother of the King, and D. Henrique, a son. The presents conveyed to Portugal included seven hundred copper bracelets, elephant tusks, slaves, parrots, civet cats and other animals, and native cloth. D. Henrique remained behind at Rome, where he was ordained and created Bishop of Utica in 1518.315
The mission sent by King Manuel in return was far-reaching in its effects upon the political development ofKongo.316Of its magnitude we may judge when we learn that it embarked in five vessels. Its leader, Simão da Silva, dying on the road to S. Salvador, his place was taken by Alvaro Lopes, the Royal factor. In his company were priests, experienced soldiers, masons and carpenters to build churches and a royal palace, and a lawyer (leterado) to explain the law books which figured among the royal gifts, besides horses, mules, cloth, banners, church furniture and images. The ambassador was instructed to explain the management of the royal household in Portugal, and King Affonso quickly learnt the lessons he received, and at once introduced the Portuguese titles of Duke, Marquis, and Count. The ambassador likewise had with him an elaborate coat-of-arms for the King,317and twenty less ambitious heraldic designs for his principal noblemen; and the monarch himself adopted a title closely imitated from that of his “brother” of Portugal.318The ambassador was likewise instructed to make inquiries about the origin of the Kongo in a lake, and to bring home cargoes of slaves, copper and ivory.
The King was delighted with all these gifts, not being aware that by accepting them he virtually acknowledged himself to be a vassal of the King of Portugal; and he published a long manifesto to his people, in which he dwelt upon his past career, the blessings of the Christian faith, and the honours now done him. He actually read the six bulky folios, but he told Ruy d’Aguiar (in 1516) that if complicated laws like these were to be introduced in his dominions, not a day would pass without a legal offence of some kind being committed.319
The intercourse between Kongo and Lisbon must have been very active in those days. We learn, for instance, that in 1526 the King asked for physicians and apothecaries, and in 1530 he forwarded to his “brother” Manuel two silver bracelets, which he had received from Matamba. Many young Kongoese were sent to Portugal to be educated; but, to judge from a letter written by the King in 1517, the results were not always very gratifying.320Nay, he accuses Antonio Viera, to whom he entrusted twenty young relations to be taken to Portugal, of having parted with several among them to Mpanzu-alumbu, his enemy, and of having left others behind him at S. Thomé.321A second embassy left Kongo in 1540, to do homage to Pope Paul III. It was headed by D. Manuel, a brother of the King, who had been a member of D. Pedro’s mission. King Affonso expected the King of Portugal to pay 3,000 cruzados towards the expenses of this mission, in consideration of the large profits which he derived from the trade with Kongo.322
As a member of the Church militant, King Affonso deserved well of the priesthood. He ruthlessly ordered allfetishes to be destroyed throughout his dominions, but supplied their place with images of saints, crosses, agni dei, and other ecclesiastical paraphernalia, which he held to be more effectual. The clergy were numerous in his day, and in addition to secular priests included Franciscans, Dominicans and Austin Friars. They were wealthy, too, for lands and slaves had been given them, and Christian churches arose even in remote parts of the country. A Franciscan friar, Antonio de Dénis (known in the world as D. Diogo de Vilhegas) had been appointed Bishop of S. Thomé and Kongo,323and took possession of his see in 1534, on which occasion exceptional honours were shown him. He was a man of energy and much sincerity, but, unhappily for his Church, survived only a few years. On his death-bed he desired that D. Henrique, the King’s son, whom he himself had ordained a priest, when in Rome, and whom the Pope (as already mentioned) had created Bishop of Utica in 1518, should succeed him in the episcopal chair. The Pope, however, before he would consent to the appointment of a native, desired personally to inquire into the matter. D. Henrique went to Rome, but died on the voyage home, in 1539 or earlier.
King Affonso deserved his reputation as a zealous Christian, and had certainly proved himself a good friend to the regular and secular clergy who undertook to convert his people. Yet, as early as 1515, he had occasion to call upon the King of Portugal to aid him in suppressing the irregularities of these “unworthy preachers of the Holy Catholic Faith,” whose inordinate desire of power and covetousness brought scandal upon the Church, and promised little for the future.324Towards the close of hisreign, in 1540, one of these priests, Frei Alvaro, actually attempted to assassinate the King, in church, and after Mass!325
The Portuguese living at the time in Kongo were placed under a royal factor and a Corregedor (magistrate), and enjoyed ex-territorial jurisdiction. They had a factory at Mpinda, at the mouth of the Kongo, where the King of Portugal levied heavy duties. The commercial relations do not appear to have been at all times of the most friendly nature. In 1514 the King complained that Fernão de Mello, the Governor of S. Thomé, traded with the Mpangu-lungu326who were his enemies; and in 1526 he remonstrated against the conduct of the Portuguese slave-merchants. Indeed, so preposterous were the claims put forward by the Portuguese officials, that King Affonso, in 1517, humbly begged to be allowed to employ a ship of his own when trading; or, at least to be exempted from paying the heavy duties exacted by a foreign, albeit suzerain, power upon the outlanders trading in his kingdom. These ill-advised exactions explain, too, why trade gradually deserted the Kongo, and sought more favourable openings to the south, at Luandu, as is shown by an inquiry held in 1548.327
The Portuguese made an effort to exploit the mineral wealth of the country. Ruy Mendes, the “factor of the copper mines,” is stated to have discovered lead; and Gimdarlach (Durlacher?), a German “fundidor,” in 1593 discovered copper, lead, and silver. The King, however, would not allow the mines to be worked, for he feared that such a concession might cost him his kingdom.
Proposals for the exploration of the interior were made, but bore no fruit. Gregòrio de Quadra, who had spent several years as a prisoner among the Arabs, was sent to Kongo in 1520, with instructions to make his way thence to the country of Prester John. The King refused his consent; Quadra returned to Portugal, and died a monk.328Balthasar de Castro, the companion of Manuel Pacheco in Angola, desired to explore the upper Kongo in 1526; but neither his scheme nor that of Manuel Pacheco himself, who was to have built two brigantines, seems to have been carried out.
Of the domestic wars corned on by the King, we know next to nothing. Angola and Matamba seem to have been virtually independent in his day, though the island of Luandu, with its valuable cowry-fishery, was held by him and his successors until 1649. He conquered, however, Mpanzu-alumbu (Mpangu-lunga?)329on the lower Kongo, a district inhabited by a predatory tribe.330That his successes in these “wars” were due to his Portuguese mercenaries and their fire-locks is a matter of course.
Don Affonso died in 1540, or soon afterwards, leaving behind him a son, D. Pedro, who succeeded him, and three daughters.331
Pedro Ihad been educated in Portugal, and is described by Cavazzi as a wise prince who had inherited all the virtues of his father, and was a great friend of the missionaries. His reign was apparently a short one,332and he was succeeded by a cousin,D. Francisco, who only reigned two or three years, and left the kingdom to a son,333D. Diogo.334Duarte Lopez describes this prince as a man of noble mind, witty, intelligent, prudent in council, an upholder of the missionaries, and at the same time a great warrior who, in the course of a few years, conquered many of the neighbouring countries. His “wars” certainly did not enlarge the borders of his kingdom, and the only war we know of ended in disaster. The Portuguese at S. Salvador, jealous of the growing commercial importance of Luandu, had persuaded the King to send an army against Ngola Mbandi, they themselves furnishing an auxiliary corps. The Kongoese, in spite of this, were defeated on the river Dande (about 1556); and Ngola not only appealed to Portugal for protection, but also allied himself with the Jagas, with whose aid he invaded Kongo (in 1558).
Nor were the relations of D. Diogo with the missionaries quite as friendly as Lopez would lead us to believe. As early as 1549, D. Diogo complained of the overbearingconduct of the Jesuits who had arrived in that year in the company of D. João Baptista, the Bishop of S. Thomé;335the priests, on their side, accused the King of having shown little respect to the bishop, and of having ordered them to be pulled out of their pulpits, when they denounced his vices and those of his people.336The Jesuits may have been over-zealous in the performance of what they conceived to be their duty, and too prone to meddle in politics; but they seem to have led clean lives, which cannot be said of all of their clerical brethren. When D. Gaspar Cão,337the Bishop of S. Thomé and Kongo, a man who took the duties of his office seriously, visited S. Salvador, these priests openly defied his authority. But after several of the recalcitrant priests had been deported to Portugal, whilst others had left voluntarily with such wealth as they had been able to amass, discipline was re-established.338
When Diogo died, about 1561, the Portuguese residents endeavoured to secure the throne for one of their own creatures, and caused the duly elected favourite of the people to be assassinated. As a result, the people of S. Salvador rose upon the Portuguese, many of whom were killed, not even priests being spared. The accounts339ofthis period of disorder are too confused to enable us to be certain even of the names of the reigning kings.D. Affonso II, a son (probably illegitimate) of D. Diogo, ascended the throne of his father, but was murdered by his brother,D. Bernardo, who appears to have been the candidate favoured by the Portuguese. He at once sent Father Estevão de Laguos on an embassy to Queen Catherine of Portugal, who, in a letter dated June 26th, 1562,340congratulated him upon his accession, whilst gently chiding him for the murder of his brother. This King was evidently friendly disposed towards the Portuguese; and Antonio Vieira, a negro, who had visited Portugal as member of an embassy, when writing to Queen Catherine in April 1566,341suggested that he might be induced to allow the mines of copper and tin to be worked. D. Bernardo is stated by the Duke of Mbamba to have fallen in a war with the Anzicas, “in defence of Christianity and the Fatherland.” He was succeeded byD. Henrique, a brother of D. Diogo, who, after a short and troubled reign, died of a wound received in a battle, either against some revolted vassals,342or fighting the Anzicanas.343He was the last king of the original dynasty, for Alvaro I, his successor, was only a step-son.
D. Alvaro, immediately on his accession, sent an embassy to Portugal, to apologise for the massacre ofmany Portuguese during the reigns of his predecessors, which he excused on the ground of the vices and abuses of the clergy. These excuses were apparently accepted in Portugal, fortunately for D. Alvaro, for the very next year the dreaded Ayaka345invaded his kingdom by way of Mbata; and, being worsted, the King fled with his adherents to the Hippopotamus Island,346on the lower Kongo, where they suffered many hardships, and whence he appealed piteously to the Portuguese for help. This help was not denied him. Francisco de Gouvea, corregedor of S. Thomé, in 1570, hastened to his aid with six hundred Portuguese, expelled the Ayaka, reinstated the King in his capital, and built a wall round S. Salvador for greater security. The King fully recognised the value of the service that had been rendered him, for Paulo Dias de Novaes told Garcia Mendes347that he acknowledged himself a vassal of Portugal;348and as neither gold or silver had been discovered in his country, he agreed to pay a tribute innjimbos, which he actually did for a few years.
No sooner was Alvaro once more seated securely upon his throne than he sent the Count of Sonyo against Ngola (1572). Several encounters took place in Musulu and Mbuila (Ambuila); but in the end Ngola was allowed to retain his father’s conquests, the river Dande being fixed upon as the boundary between the two kingdoms. Kongo,however, retained possession of the valuable island of Luandu.
Among other events of this reign we should mention a second visit of D. Gaspar Cão, the bishop, shortly before his death (in 1574); and the scandal caused by the burial of a notorious infídel, D. Francisco Mbula matadi, in the church of S. Cruz, the roof of which was taken off by night, and the body, carried away by the Devil!349
D. Alvaro only enjoyed his prosperity for a short time, for when Paulo Dias landed at Luandu, in 1575, he was already dead.350
Alvaro II, a son of Alvaro I, is described by Bishop D. Manuel Baptista as a “zealous Christian, father and friend of all;”351but it is evident that he looked not with overmuch favour upon the Portuguese residents in his country, and he is charged, in a memoir addressed by Domingos d’Abreu Brito to King Philip I, in 1592 with having plotted with the kings of Ndongo and Matamba against the Portuguese. An army which he sent ostensibly to the aid of the Portuguese in 1583 retired, apparently without striking a blow, whilst he furnished a contingent to the forces of Matamba which invaded Angola in 1590. He hindered, by specious excuses, the completion of a stone fort at Mpinda, which had been commenced in 1609 by Antonio Gonçalves Pitta, until all the workmen had died. He favoured Dutch traders to the great detriment of thePortuguese; and we know from Samuel Braun,352that an effort was made in 1612 to expel the Dutch from the Kongo, and that it would have been successful, had not the natives sided with these heretical enemies, whose dealings appeared to them to be more generous. Moreover, the King, although he had promised Sebastian da Costa (1580) that he would allow the supposed silver mines to be sought for, eventually refused his consent.353
Turning to Church affairs, we hear of the usual applications for missionaries, and of several episcopal visitations by D. F. Antonio de Goiva (1578), D. Manuel de Ulhoa, D. Miguel Baptista Rangel, and D. Manuel Baptista. D. Manuel de Ulhoa presided over a synod at S. Salvador, in 1585, and laid down statutes for the government of his see. D. Miguel Baptista Rangel was the first Bishop of Kongo, which had been separated from the diocese of S. Thomé by a Bull of May 20th, 1596. His successor, D. Manuel Baptista, resided for several years in Kongo, where he died in 1621; and a letter addressed to King Philip II, in 1612,354speaks of the results of over a century of missionary effort as insignificant, and describes the people as incurable barbarians, full of vice.
Bernardo II, a son of Alvaro II, only reigned for a few months, for he was killed by his brother,Alvaro III, and a complaint addressed to him by the Governor ofAngola about the admission of heretical Dutchmen to trade in Sonyo was answered by his successor. This Alvaro III, the fratricide, is nevertheless described by Cavazzi as having been “wise, modest, courageous, and above all a zealous Christian.” It was during his reign, in 1619, that the Jesuits founded a college at S. Salvador. A proposed mission of Italian Capuchins came to nothing, for King Philip of Spain, by royal letters of September 22nd, 1620, forbade foreign missionaries to enter Portuguese colonies without first obtaining a royal license.355Alvaro III died on May 26th, 1622, and was succeeded byD. Pedro II Affonso, whom Cavazzi describes as a son of Alvaro III; whilst a Jesuit canon of S. Salvador,356who wrote an interesting life of this prince in 1624, makes him out to have been a son of Mbiki a ntumba, Duke of Nsundi, and a descendant, in the female line, of the first King of Kongo. If this biographer can be trusted, he was a man of much promise, and of a mild, forgiving temper; for although the Duke of Mbamba had sought his life, he conferred upon him the marquisate of Wembo. His reign was a short and troubled one. In August, 1622, the Duke of Mbata had been killed by rebels, and his vassal, the King of Kwangu (Ocango), had suffered a defeat. João Corrêa de Souza, the Governor of Angola, summoned him to surrender Luandu Island and all the copper mines; and this being refused, the Portuguese under Luiz Gomez, aided by the Jagas, crossed the Dande at Ikau and invaded Nambu a ngongo, and (in December) also Mbumbi, where the Duke of Mpemba and many others were killed and eaten by the Jagas, in spite of their being Christians. The people of the invaded districts revenged themselves by killing the Portugueseliving in their midst, the King vainly endeavouring to protect them. These invaders had scarcely been driven off, when Captain Silvestre Soares, with a body of Jagas, entered Ngombe and Kabanda. But that which gave most pain to the King was the destruction of the kingdom of Bangu, and the murder of its King by the Jagas, with the aid of the King of “Loango,” which was the “trunk and origin of the kingdom of Kongo.”357In the midst of these afflictions, the King was rejoiced to learn the arrival of D. Simão Mascarenhas at Luanda; but he met with an accident, and died on April 13th, 1624, after a short reign of less than two years, and mourned by six sons and two daughters.358
Garcia, the eldest son of D. Pedro, when elected was only twenty years of age, He was succeeded byD. Ambrosio, in October, 1626, whose reign, up till March, 1631, was one continuous warfare with his powerful vassals. The country became unsafe, and the Portuguese retired for a time from S. Salvador.Alvaro IV, a son of Alvaro III, made himself master of the kingdom, and retained possession until his death, February 25th, 1636. He was succeded by his son,Alvaro V, who, doubtingthe loyalty of his half-brothers, the Duke of Mbamba and the Marquis of Kiowa, made war upon them, was defeated and taken prisoner, but liberated. Unmindful of the generosity of his opponents, he once more tried the fortune of battle, was taken again, and executed (in August, 1636). The Duke of Mbamba was unanimously elected in his place, and reigned, asAlvaro VI, until his death on February 22nd, 1641. He waged two unsuccessful wars against the Count of Sonyo, in 1636 and again in 1637; and was obliged to surrender the district of Makuta (Mocata) to his adversary.
the half-brother and old companion in arms of Alvaro VI, took possession of the throne at a critical time; for in August of the year of his accession, the Dutch captured Luandu, and the fortunes of the Portuguese were at the lowest ebb. The Dutch lost no time in sending an embassy to Kongo (1642),360and these new allies lent him their assistance in a small war against Mwana Nsala, who had defied the royal authority.361But they declined to give effective help against a more powerful vassal, the Count of Sonyo, as it might have interfered with their trade interests on the Lower Kongo.362The King’s army was defeated twice on April 29th, 1645, when Affonso, the King’s son, was taken prisoner, and again in July 1648, in the forest of Mfinda angulu. Meanwhile the Dutch had broken the padrão setup by Cão at the mouth of the Kongo; they had re-named S. Antonio’s Bay after their river Pampus at Amsterdam; had gone to S. Salvador; and at least one of them, Johan Herder,363had travelled far inland, and visited the Mwana Nkundi on the Kwangu. The heretical tracts and books which they liberally distributed were in due course burnt by the Capuchin friars.
Portugal was, moreover, irritated by the admission of Italian and Castilian Capuchins, a batch of whom, headed by P. Bonaventura of Alessano,364arrived at S. Salvador, on September 2nd, 1645, without having previously called at Lisbon. This first mission was followed by three others in 1648, 1651 and 1654,365and mission stations were established in Mbata, in Nkusu, Nsundi, Mpemba, Mbwela, and Wembo (Ovando).366Among the more noteworthy missionary travels of the time was that of P. Girolamo of Montesarchio, who visited Konko a bele (Concobello), in 1652.367
Even greater offence was given to Portugal by a mission which the King despatched to Rome in 1646, and which arrived there, by way of Holland, in May, 1648. P. Angelo de Valenza, the head of this mission, had been instructed to beg the Pope to appoint three bishops forKongo, Matamba and the Makoko’s country, without reference to the claims of Portugal. This the Pope declined to do; but to show his pleasure at receiving this mission, he had a medal struck in memory of its visit, with the inscription “Et Congo agnovit Pastorem,” and sent the King a Royal crown blessed by himself. The King, however, when his mission returned (1651), and when he heard that the Pope had refused to change Kongo from an elective into a hereditary monarchy, grew wroth. He openly renounced Christianity, forbade the Capuchins to preach the word of God, and recalled his native ngangas. But when some bags containing relics and ornaments, which the King had taken out of the churches, were miraculously spared by a fire which broke out in his palace, he reconsidered his position. A reconciliation with the Capuchins was effected, and soon afterwards the King, in penitential robes, actually marched at the head of a procession which had been organised to turn away a threatened plague of locusts; he allowed himself to be crowned by P. Giannuario of Nola, in the name of his Holiness, and took an active part in the celebration of the Pope’s jubilee.368
Meanwhile the Portuguese had recovered Luandu, and the King was called upon to pay the penalty for having made friendship with the Dutch heretics, and admitted foreigners as missionaries. Bartholomeu de Vasconcellos invaded Kongo. The King at once sent P. Domingos Cardoso, a Jesuit, and the Capuchin Friar Bonaventura Sardo, to Luandu, where they had an interview with the Governor (on February 19th, 1649), and preliminary terms of peace were arranged.369The treaty was reported upon bytheConselho Ultramarino, and confirmed in 1651 at Lisbon, whither Friar Bonaventura370of Sorrento had gone to do homage to the King of Portugal, on behalf of the Prefect of the Capuchins, as also to plead the cause of his Order in reference to the proposed treaty. The terms of this treaty, as modified, were as follows:—Castilians or Dutchmen not to be permitted to reside or travel in Kongo nor their ships to be admitted, unless provided with a Portuguese passport; the Capuchin friars to communicate with Rome only by way of Luandu or Lisbon, and no Castilians to be admitted among them; the Kings of Kongo and Portugal to mutually assist each other if attacked by an enemy; an ambassador of the King of Kongo to take up his residence at Luandu, as also a royal prince, as hostage, or in his absence two or three men of rank; compensation to be granted for all the losses suffered by the Portuguese since the arrival of the Dutch, and fugitive slaves to be surrendered; Portuguese merchants to be exempted from the payment of tolls; a site to be granted at the mouth of the Kongo for a fortress; all gold and silver mines to be ceded to the crown of Portugal, and the country to the south of the river Dande to be ceded absolutely; and finally the King of Kongo to acknowledge himself a “tributario” of Portugal.
The King seems to have long hesitated before he ratified this treaty, for in 1656, Diogo Gomes de Morales was ordered to invade Kongo to enforce it, and was on the point of crossing the river Loje into Mbamba, when he was recalled, as envoys from the King had arrived at Luandu, definitely to arrange the terms of peace.
During the later years of his life, D. Garcia once more fell away from his Christian teachers, whom he accused of being influenced by political motives. Suspecting the Duke of Mpemba of a desire to deprive his son of the succession, he had him executed; and when the native diviners accused his eldest son, Affonso, of aiming at his life, he had his second son elected as his successor. He died in 1663.
D. Antonio had been enjoined by his dying father to avenge the humiliation forced upon him by the Portuguese. He inaugurated his reign by killing his own brother and other relatives, whom he suspected of disloyalty. The warnings of heaven—fiery balls, an earthquake, which destroyed part of his capital, a plague, which decimated the population—were disregarded by him.
He very soon found himself involved in a war with the Portuguese, who claimed possession of the mines which had been promised by treaty, and complained of raids made upon friendly chiefs. On July 13th, 1665, the King called upon his people to rise in defence of their country and liberty.371His diviners had promised him an easy victory. The Portuguese had recently been reinforced from Brazil, yet the army which they were able to put into the field only numbered four hundred Europeans, with two field guns and six thousand negroes. It was commanded by Luiz Lopez de Sequeira, the captain-major, with whom were Manuel Rebello de Brito, Diogo Rodriguez de Sá, Simão de Matos and Antonio Araujo Cabreira, the serjeant-major. The hostile forces met on January 1st, 1666, at Ulanga, near the Pedras de Ambuilla.372Antonio,seeing the small force opposed to him, hoped to gain an easy victory; but the Portuguese, formed in square, resisted the onslaught of his hosts for six hours. At last the King left the ranks, desirous of a personal encounter with Lopez de Sequeira; but he was shot down, his head was cut off, and stuck upon a pike. His followers fled in dismay. The missionaries assert that the Virgin Mary, with her Child, was seen to stand by the side of the Portuguese leader, directing the battle, and that a fiery rain fell upon the idolaters.373
The Governor of Angola, in commemoration of this victory, built the chapel of N.S. da Nazareth at Luandu, whilst the King of Portugal amply rewarded the victors.
We are indebted to Pedro Mendes for an account of the history of Kongo from the death of D. Antonio in 1666 to the beginning of the eighteenth century.374During that time, according to this authority, there were fourteen Kings of Kongo, of whom four were beheaded (or killed) by the Musurongo, five by the Ezikongo, three died a natural death, and two were survivors when he wrote, namely, D. Pedro IV, at Salvador, and D. João at Mbula.375At one time there were actually three kings in the field.
Alvaro VII, a royal prince who had passed his early life in retirement, but who, on being raised to the throne, turned out a monster of iniquity, was killed by his own subjects, abetted by the Count of Sonyo (1666), under whose auspices took place the election of his successor,D. Alvaro VIII(1666-70), who was in turn removed by the Marquis of Mpemba. Alvaro VIII376had allowed the Portuguese to search for gold, but this search turned out as fruitless as the search for silver at Kambambe. MeanwhileD. Affonso III Affonsohad been proclaimed at Kibangu, the new capital (1667), whilstD. Pedro IIInsukia ntambawas put up as an opposition King in Mbula. The latter defeated his rival, who fled beyond the Mbiriji (Ambriz), and died there (of poison?). His widow, D. Anna, a daughter of a former King, Garcia, retired to Nkondo (Mucondo), and survived her husband until 1680. The people proclaimedD. Garcia IIInenganga mbemba377his successor, whilst the opposition, at the old capital (S. Salvador), declaredD. Daniel de Guzman, descendant of Mpanzu (Alvaro I), to be the rightful King. D. Daniel took the field against D. Garcia III, but, before he reached the residence of that King, he was overtaken by D. Pedro of Mbula; his army was dispersed, and himself beheaded. His children sought refuge with the Count of Sonyo, and by treachery they succeeded in getting D. Pedro into their power, and killed him. The people of Mbula thereupon raised his brother,D. João, to the throne, who survived until after 1710. S. Salvador, after D. Daniel had deserted it, became the haunt of wild beasts.
MeanwhileD. Rafael, Marquis of Mpemba, who had been proclaimed King some time anterior to this, had been obliged to seek refuge among the Portuguese, and his reinstatement was one of the objects of the disastrous expedition of 1670,378by which it was sought to punish Count Estevão da Silva of Sonyo for his desecration of Christian churches and the ill-treatment of Portuguese traders: or, rather, his dealings with heretic competitors.
João Soares de Almeida, the commander of this expedition, had with him five hundred Portuguese, supported by a strong force of native allies, among whom was a Jaga Kalandula. He won a battle, in which Estevão was killed; but Pedro, the brother of the unfortunate Count, rallied the forces of Sonyo, unexpectedly fell upon the Portuguese near the Mbiriji (Ambriz),and scarcely a man among them escaped. Count Pedro then expelled the Italian Capuchins, who were supposed to be friendly to Portugal, and invited in their stead Belgian members of the same Order, who arrived in September, 1673, under the lead of P. Wouters. But, having been accused of stopping the rain, and having in reply excommunicated the Count, they were speedily expelled.379Peace between Sonyo and Portugal was only restored in 1690, when the former promised to abolish idolatry and to sell no slaves to heretics.
It was about this period (between 1669 and 1675) that Francisco do Murça, the captain-major of Dande, visited S. Salvador, and proceeded thence to Mbata and the Kwangu, where he was told that this river flowed through the kingdom of the Makoko, and entered the sea at Mpinda, a fact long before known to the missionaries. These latter had not quite abandoned the Kongo, notwithstanding these troubles, and in 1668 the Capuchins still occupied their monasteries at the capital of Mbamba and at Mpembu;380whilst Girolamo Merolla (1682-88) and Antonio Zucchelli steadily laboured (1700-02) in Sonyo and Luangu.381
D. Andresucceeded D. Garcia, but died after ashort reign.D. Manuelnzinga elenge, a descendant of Mpanzu, was duly elected, but expelled by the sons of the late D. Garcia, who raisedAlvaro IXto the throne in his stead. This prince was never recognised by the Count of Sonyo, who looked upon D. Manuel, who had sought refuge with him, as the legitimate King. He was reinstated by him for a time, but ultimately fell into the power of his enemies, and was beheaded.
Alvaro IX was succeeded in 1694 by his brotherPedro IVnsanu a mbemba, also known asagoa rosada,382who once more returned to the ancient capital. He and D. João of Mbula were the only Kings alive in 1701, when the Capuchin Friar Francisco de Pavia, and his colleague Friar João Maria went throughout the kingdom of Kongo, preaching peace, and calling upon the leading men to recognise D. Pedro as their King; and thus put an end to quarrels which had distracted the country for an entire generation.
And if we ask to what extent, and in what manner, have the natives of Kongo been benefited by two centuries of contact with the civilisation of Europe, and of missionary effort, we feel bound to admit that they have not been benefited at all—either materially or morally. On the contrary. There were, no doubt, a few earnest men among the missionaries, and the Church of Rome deserves some credit for the zeal with which she addressed herself to the object of converting the natives. At the same time it cannot be denied that the instruments she employed, the methods she pursued, and the surrounding circumstances, were not favourable to success. And success there hasbeen none—at least, none of an enduring nature—notwithstanding the boastful, if not absolutely mendacious, reports of her missionaries. The assertion that there was a time when the whole of Kongo had become Roman Catholic must raise a smile on the face of those who have attentively studied the missionary reports. There were eleven churches and a crowd of priests at the capital; but the outlying provinces were but poorly attended to. The number of missionaries, even including the native helpers, was never large enough to administer, even to a tithe of the population, those rites and sacraments, which the Roman Catholic Church professes to be of essential importance.383
I quite agree with the Rev. J. Leighton Wilson, when he says that the “great spiritual edifice” [raised by the missionaries] has not only “crumbled into the dust, but it has left the unfortunate inhabitants of that country in as deep ignorance and superstition, and perhaps in greater poverty and degradation, than they would have been if Roman Catholicism had never been proclaimed among them.”384Father José Antonio de Souza, who resided at S. Salvador from 1881-87, and was subsequently created Bishop of Mozambique, virtually admits this, for he says: “Christianity did not penetrate deeply; it passed over the country like a heavy rain, which scarcely wetted the surface of the land, and left the subsoil absolutely dry and sterile.”385He adds significantly: “By the side of the missionary stoodthe slave-trader.” And surely it was the export slave trade, created by the cupidity of the Portuguese, but shared in by Dutch, French and English, which undermined the prosperity of the country, and decimated its population. And the missionaries never raised a protest against this traffic, although it was against the tenets of their Church,386for they profited by it. The only thing which they did for the wretched slaves was to endeavour to secure, as far as possible, that they should not fall into the hands of heretics; so that at least their souls might be saved, whatever became of their bodies.