Kongolese - Portugese Relations

Question 1

Context - Portugese relations

Answer 1

• World power in 1400s & 1500s
• Colonies in Africa, Americas and Asia
• Catholic
• Had a complex relationship with Spain, defeat them and break free 1640

Question 2

Foreign born slaves and prisoners of war were traded with the Portugese

Answer 2

• Providing slaves to Portugal was not a problem when Kongo was expanding territorially at a vast rate

Question 3

Problems arose when.. (Portugese-Kongo relations)

Answer 3

• Alfonso showed that the Portugese could kidnap many freeborn Kongolese to sell into slavery including the children of nobles

Question 4

The absence of which would prevent them from buying influence with foreign powers

Answer 4

• There needed to be a constant source of slaves for Kings to sell in exchange for foreign commodities…

Question 5

Kongolese kings would desperately need this influence to garner support from European powers for quelling internal rebellions in the kingdom and…

Answer 5

• Aid them against other colonial empires
• This led to slave raids from the Mwissikongo, potentially on those in the Kwango River valley - possibly the situation why the jagas were angered and invaded.

Question 6

When did Kongolese - Portugese relations start?

Answer 6

• 1482, when the Portugese explorer Diogo Cao reached the coast of the Kongo kingdom
• Cao left some of his men in Kongo and took Kongo nobles to Portugal, returning in 1485
• The conversation of Joao I to Catholicism and baptism, despite his later turn away from the religion due to issues with polygamy, marked smart of the Portugese influence in Kongolese culture.

Question 7

Trade with Portugese

Answer 7

• Portugese began trading in Kongolese slaves very quickly after their contact with Kongo, but the Manikongo would protect his own subjects, ‘freeborn’ Kongolese.
• Those being traded were usually prisoners of war
• The Kongolese also traded with them in ivory

Question 8

Three main conflicts between Kongo and Portugese :

Answer 8

• First Kongo-Portugese war began in 1622 - Battle of Mbundi - victory for Portugese
• Battle of Mbanda Kasi - victory for Kongolese in Jan 1623
• Second Kongo-Portugese war 1641-43, was a victory for the Kongolese and Dutch