Kingdom of Kongo
Kingdom of Kongo | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| 1390–1914 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Flag according to Giovanni Cavazzi da Montecuccolo, 1650s
Coat of arms of Afonso I (c. 1528–1541)
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The Kingdom of Kongo in 1711 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Sovereign kingdom (1390–1857) Vassal of the Kingdom of Portugal (1857–1910) Subject of the First Portuguese Republic (1910–1914) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Capital | São Salvador (today Mbanza-Kongo, Angola) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Common languages | Kikongo Portuguese Latin | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Religion | Bukongo Catholicism Antonianism (1704–1708) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Government | Constitutional Elective Monarchy | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Manikongo | |||||||||||||||||||||
• c. 1390–1420 (first) | Lukeni lua Nimi | ||||||||||||||||||||
• 1911–1914 (last) | Manuel III of Kongo | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Legislature | Ne Mbanda-Mbanda | ||||||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||||||
• Conquest of Kabunga | 1390 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 May 1491 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1622 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1623 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 29 October 1665 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1665–1709 | |||||||||||||||||||||
• Reunification | February 1709 | ||||||||||||||||||||
• Vassalage | 1857 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1884–1885 | |||||||||||||||||||||
• Abolishment | 1914 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1623 | 129,400 km2 (50,000 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||||||||||
• 1623 | appx 790,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Currency | Nzimbu shells and Lubongo (Libongo, Mbongo), Mpusu cloth | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Today part of | Angola Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Kingdom of Kongo (Kongo: Kongo Dya Ntotila or Wene wa Kongo; Portuguese: Reino do Congo; Latin: Regnum Congo) was a kingdom in Central Africa. It was located in present-day northern Angola, the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, southern Gabon and the Republic of the Congo. 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", and its sphere of influence extended to neighbouring kingdoms, such as Ngoyo, Kakongo, Loango, Ndongo, and Matamba, the latter two located in what became Angola.
From c. 1390 to 1862, it was an independent state. From 1862 to 1914, it functioned intermittently as a vassal state of the Kingdom of Portugal. In 1914, following the Portuguese suppression of a Kongo revolt, Portugal abolished the titular monarchy. The title of King of Kongo was restored from 1915 until 1975, as an honorific without real power. The remaining territories of the kingdom were assimilated into the colony of Portuguese Angola and the Independent State of the Congo respectively. The modern-day Bundu dia Kongo sect favours reviving the kingdom through secession from Angola, the Republic of the Congo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.