The kingdom of Kongo's international relations and manuscripts in the 16th century (Patreon)

Until the end of the Middle Ages, most of Africa's international activities and intellectual traditions were dominated by societies in the western and eastern parts of the continent. It was their envoys who visited foreign courts and it was their chroniclers who recorded much of what we know about the history of Africa before the early modern period. 

In 1487, an African envoy named Kala ka Mfusu arrived in the Portuguese coastal city of Lisbon, accompanied by a large entourage. Unlike the African embassies which had been received in southern Europe before, this embassy did not travel overland to reach the Mediterranean, but had instead traveled across the Atlantic from a continent whose southern end was still unknown to their hosts. 

Over the following centuries, the kingdom of Kongo, which Kala ka Mfusu represented, would send dozens of embassies to the Iberian peninsula and Italy, frequenting the cities of Lisbon and Rome where some of Kongo's elites temporarily resided. Back in Kongo, an intellectual tradition emerged that facilitated the kingdom's international activities, producing a corpus of manuscripts that included everything from official correspondence to literature on theology, law and history. 

Some of the manuscripts written by Kongo's scribes were addressed to its international partners and were carried by its envoys to southern Europe, where they survived in archival collections of Lisbon and Rome. These manuscripts provide an important look at Kongo's society as written by the Kongolese, and highlight the international dimension of the kingdom's history. 

This article explores the history of Kongo's international relations and its intellectual traditions. It includes the career of one of its envoys, who also served as the kingdom's official factor (agent) in Portugal --perhaps the only African in this role in 16th-century Europe. 

The ambassador Antonio Emanuele Ne Vunda of the Kingdom of Kongo and the embassy of Hasekura Tsunenaga of Japan. Painting by Agostino Taschi. ca. 1616 in the Sala dei Corazzieri, Palazzo del Quirinale., Rome

a brief background on the Kingdom of Kongo

The Kongo kingdom was a large, centralized state founded near the end of the 14th century in the region straddling the border between modern Angola and D.R.Congo. Kongo was ruled by a king (maniKongo) elected by a council of provincial nobles who headed a complex bureaucratic system made up of various appointed and hereditary officials, who included ambassadors such as Kala Ka Msufu. 

When the latter returned to Kongo and introduced their king Nzinga a Nkuwu to Christianity, internal processes in Kongo enabled its adoption across most of society propagated by Kongolese teachers with the patronage of their king. By the early 15th century, Kongo's Christian identity intergrated it into the wider Christian world, in the same way other African states like Ethiopia and the Mali empire's international relations were facilitated by a common religion. Kongo's kings thus begun to send embassies to further their international interests, with religious, commercial and political objectives in mind. 

One of the consistent aims of Kongo's diplomatic missions was to ensure that the kingdom be regarded as a Christian power with the same status as European powers.  Kongo’s diplomatic success in Europe was greatly aided by the fact that it was perceived as a Christian country that was familiar with European society and diplomacy.

(A history of west central Africa pg 48-49)

Kongo's embassies in Europe from 1488-1643

Kongo’s first diplomatic mission to Europe took place in 1488 during the reign of King Joao Nzinga a Nkuwu(r. 1470-1509), who sent a large delegation led by “a very high-ranking man” from the Kongolese nobility named Chrachafusus (Nkanga Mfusu or Kala ka Msufu) who was later baptized João da Silva in Portugal. The goal of this mission was to obtain technical support such as carpenters, masons, farmers, and priests, so that from that point onward ‘‘men of each of the two kingdoms would be equal.’’ The embassy was hosted at the Convent of São João Evangelista (usually called St. Eloy), where more Kongolese visitors would be hosted after the embassy returned to Kongo in 1490. 

(A History of West-Central Africa pg 38-39, The Atlantic World and Virginia pg 202)

The returning nobles became important agents in the integration of the Kongo and Iberian worlds, particularly through the introduction of a new religion and literacy. One of them became the royal secretary, writing two letters to Portugal on behalf of the king. Literacy would soon become widespread among the Kongo elite, and Christianity was established as the religion of the state, both factors becoming important in facilitating Kongo's international interests.

( Afro-Christian syncretism pg 60-62)

King Joao's successor, King Afonso I Mvemba Nzinga (r. 1509–1542) sent a second mission to Portugal in 1512 led by his cousin Pedro de Sousa to make obedience to the pope ‘‘as was the custom of Christian kings.’’ de Sousa’s mission was accompanied by the king’s young son Henrique, who had been studying in Portugal and already knew Latin and therefore became the spokesperson of the mission while in Rome. Pope Leo X received them ‘‘in solemn audience’’ in 1513  and they delivered a letter of obedience from Afonso to the pope. 

(The Atlantic World and Virginia pg 202)

Afonso sent a more elaborate embassy in 1535 whose aim was to make obedience to Pope Paul III and request the ‘‘graces and spiritual gifts that other Christian kings and princes receive.’’ Although the mission never reached Rome, the members did spend time in Lisbon, returning to Kongo only in 1543. 

Letters from Afonso to Pope Paul III in 1535 and 1532, the latter of which includes promises to send Kongo's ambassadors to Rome, PT/TT/CC/1/3/6 and PT/TT/CC/1/48/45 

Afonso's successor, King Pedro Nkanga (1543-1545), Kongo became deeply involved in the diplomacy of the Christian world and had a permanent factor settled in Portugal named Antonio Vieira (whose career we shall explore below). After Pedro was overthrown by king Diogo I Nkumbi (r. 1545-1561), the former tried to plot with friends in both Kongo and Rome to get a papal bull dismissing Diogo’s claims and legitimizing his own position. Pedro believed that such a bull would have a decisive effect in Kongo, and sent as an envoy, the Kongolese noble named Rodrigo de Santa Maria, whose internal connections were equal to the task.  At the same time, Jacome de Fonseca, who handled Kongo’s affairs for Diogo, attempted to negotiate a Kongolese embassy to Rome to give obedience to the pope. 

(Early Kongo-Portuguese Relations pg 197) 

Kongolese diplomatic efforts in Europe intensified after 1575, when the Portuguese began building their colony in Angola, presenting a real threat to Kongo sovereignty. The Kongo king Álvaro I Nimi a Lukeni (r. 1568-1587) thus oversaw an aggressive diplomatic effort to ensure the independence of his kingdom. He sent many missions to Portugal, including two headed by his relatives, Sebastião Álvares, the royal secretary, and Pedro Antonio, ‘‘the second person in his government.’’ 

(The Atlantic world and Virginia pg 203)

Additionally, Kongo continued to send its envoys and elites to influence its west-central African neighbors such as the kingdom of Ndongo, and some of these Kongolese elites eventually also served as envoys of those kingdoms to Portugal. For example, the Ndongo king Ngola Kiluanje kia Ndambi sent Dom Pedro da Silva Manuel, a Kongolese ‘‘raised in Portugal’’ as his ambassador to Lisbon. Silva Manuel was received well, inducted into the order of Santiago, and given grants for his support. 

(The Atlantic World and Virginia pg 208-209)

Letter from Diogo I to the Portuguese king João III dated 1553, requesting that the Portuguese in Kongo to be fully under Kongo's authority. This was granted, much to Sao Tome's annoyance, and by 1596, Mbanza Kongo had displaced Sao Tome as the episcopal see. PT/TT/CART/876/106 

Álvaro I’s successor, Álvaro II Nimi a Nkanga (r. 1587-1614), continued the tradition, sending an ambassador to Spain, who was a ‘‘close relative’’ that was named Antonio Vieira (not the same person as Pedro I’s ambassador). The envoy presented Álvaro’s request that Kongo's capital be established as a diocese because it had all the trappings of a well-established Christian kingdom. Álvaro II later dispatched a Kongolese nobleman named António Manoel,  as an ambassador to Rome in 1604 to continue to promote the theme of Kongo as a full-fledged member of the Christian community. The King's correspondence with the Papacy reveals an intimate knowledge of European customs regarding the relationship between Christian monarchs, the local church authorities, and the papacy.

(A History of West Central Africa pg 108-109, The Atlantic World and Virginia pg 203)

Kongo's diplomacy accelerated as relations with the Portuguese colony of Angola deteriorated as the arrival of aggressive governors threatened Kongo's hold over its southern provinces. King Álvaro III Nimi a Mpanzu sent complaints about the governors of Angola who he claimed intercepted his letters and hindered his diplomacy. The struggle with Portugal forced King Pedro II (1622–1624) to seek new alliances such as the Dutch, to whom he proposed a joint Kongo-Dutch naval-military attack on Portuguese Angola. More Kongo envoys were thus sent to the Dutch colonies in Brazil, and later to the Dutch Republic itself in 1643 as explored in this previous post.  

portrait of the Congolese ambassador to Rome, the African Antonius Emanuel, ca. 1608, Rome, Italy, British museum. 

Kongo's international relations and the establishment of a central African manuscript tradition.

As early as 1491, a Kongolese who had visited Portugal wrote letters for the newly baptized king Nzinga Joao and established a school in the capital. Joao's successor, King Afonso started a large-scale education program, introducing literacy in Portuguese to the elite to produce his own teachers. He gathered 400 noble children into a school that he had built at the capital and assigned the clergy who arrived in 1509 to teach at the school. This policy soon yielded fruit; by 1514, Afonso had over 1,000 students and had already sent ‘schoolboys’ out into the distant provinces where they also established schools and became secretaries of the nobility. 

(Afro-Christian syncretism pg 61-62)

Some elite Kongolese went to Portugal to study and be ordained. For example, King Afonso sent many of his children and other Kongolese nobles to Portugal to study and to become priests. His son Henrique became a bishop in 1521, --the first from central Africa. Others include Dom Juan (João), a relative of the kings of Kongo and a rural teacher whom Carmelite missionaries met in the province of Mbamba in 1583. In the early 16th century, at least 266 Kongolese students were admitted there for a two year course of study at the monasteries of St. Eloi, Sao Juliao, and Sao Joao, with their expenses covered by the Portuguese crown.

(Ambassadors, explorers and allies pg 68-70)

By the 16th century, the emerging intellectual tradition of Kongo created an archival collection of documents regarding the state, the church, and the activities of its elites, as their references to earlier letters in their correspondence amply attest. 

There is evidence that Kongo's state archives were used in diplomatic correspondence, especially with the Papacy in Rome and the Iberian courts.  The Kongo ambassador Antonio Manuel’s private papers, which contain 69 documents dating between 1591 and 1608, attest to the proclivity for keeping documents even among private persons. Because he had official documents in his collection of papers, they also reveal the workings of Kongo's chancellery in the period. This includes how Kongo's kings in the late 16th century wrote out orders, made grants of income, appointed people to positions, and corresponded with officials. 

(Afonso I Mvemba a Nzinga, King of Kongo pg xiv)

What is arguably the most lengthy internal account about Kongo that was written by Kongolese writers comes from a copy of a judicial inquiry made in 1550 regarding the treasonous actions of rivaling nobles during the reign of King Diogo I who had deposed king Pedro. The documents collected for the inquiry by the Kongolese magistrate Jorge Afonso reveal the workings of official correspondence in Kongo between state officials, royals, and other allies both local and foreign.

For example, the deposed king Pedro sent messages through a trusted client and dispatched ambassadors to Rome with written requests, all while he sent written promises to his local Kongolese clients and relatives positions in the government when he succeeded. Two years after the inquiry, a copy of the inquest was sent to Portugal so that “in the Kingdom of Portugal, his brother the king will be informed of the truth” and to support the Kongolese throne’s request that one of the culprits—a Kongolese noble named Dom Rodrigo who had fled to São Tomé—be extradited. 

(read the Full translation of the inquiry in: Afro-Latino Voices, Shorter Edition pg 59-82)

For much of the 16th century, most of the Kongo manuscripts available to modern historians were a product of the tradition of official correspondence between Kongolese and Portuguese elites within central Africa and the Iberian peninsular.  This tradition of official correspondence in the form of letter writing was originally generated by the requirements and social dynamics of 15th/16th-century Portuguese society, particularly in the feudal practices of patron-client relations in relation to the crown and the regular conflicts that changes of status would bring. Such conflicts were often instigated by disputes between new patrons and old clients over the rights to land/trade/titles, and were resolved by appealing to the crown using letters filled with complaints about the actions of the rival parties inorder to gain royal favour. 

(Early Kongo-Portuguese relations pg 189)

Kongo's elite who were intimately familiar with Portuguese society and the royal court readily embraced the opportunities such official correspondance presented. As a result of this tradition of letter writing, the bulk of the Kongo manuscripts available from the 16th century consist of letters, reports, recommendations, and complaints from the Kongo royals to their Portuguese peers. While much of this writing was done by the Kings and their secretaries, a significant share of documents were written by Kongo's envoys and other elites, the most prolific of whom was Antonio Vieira. 

The diplomatic career of the Kongo envoy Antonio Vieira between Lisbon and Mbanza Kongo (ca. 1506-1580)

According to the letter he sent to the Portuguese Queen Catharina in 1566, Antonio Vieira gives his age as 'sixty years' indicating that he was born in 1506. He also adds that he frequented the court of Portugal "in past years…as ambassador of King Don Pedro [ of the Congo r. 1543-1545]"  Its likely that he was one of the students sent to Portugal for further studies during King Afonso's reign

(MMA II, pg 543, Africa: Tradition and Change, pg 200)

Letter written by Antonio Vieira written in 1566, addressed to Queen Catherine of Portugal  about the copper in Kongo ( Arquivo Nacional Torre do Tombo PT/TT/CART/876/130 )

Antonio Vieira's name first appears in a "charter" dated 15 August 1546 from the Kongo king Diogo I that was carried by his ambassador Diogo Gomes to Lisbon, describing the authority granted to Diogo as the king's ambassador and Vieira as Kongo's factor. In it, the king's secretary writes that "we make this charter known to everyone" adding that "wherever Amtonio Vieyra is found, [he] can collect and receive from him and his hand all the money that Dioguo de Campos collected from us and received from him. We give power that [he] can receive and collect any other that belongs to us and is ours and all claims" 

(MMA II, pg 149-150)

Earlier letters of credit written by King Afonso I for his brother Manuel when the latter was traveling to Rome as his ambassador, demonstrate the need for a Kongo factor in Portugal. On behalf of his traveling brother, Afonso sent a request to the Portuguese king for a loan of 5,000 cruzados (Portuguese currency) in exchange for 150 kofu of nzimbu shells (Kongo's currency) that would be held in Kongo for the Portuguese king to be recovered by his royal factor there.

The above letter reveals the need for the Kongo factor in Portugal to be charged with handling the political, social and financial affairs of Kongo's international travelers, assisting in the collection of debts and presenting cases to the Portuguese courts. The letter also indicates that Antonio fulfilled these duties on behalf of Kongo's monarchs, especially since the same man mentioned in the 1546 letter, Diogo de Campos, also appears in an earlier letter dated 1543 in which Afonso's brother Dom Manuel requested the Portuguese king deliver to him the 400 cruzados the de Campos owed to Afonso. de Campos had died and in his will, left the 400 cruzados in Portugal for king Afonso possibly in exchange for nzimbu in Kongo. Manuel requested the money in 1543 although its unclear if he received all of it, since Antonio is mentioned as being in possession of the money in 1546.

 It's also in this same context that Antonio appears as a signatory on a manuscript dated 18/10/1549, regarding a petition by Afonso, nephew of King Diogo I of Kongo, to legitimize his daughter Angela in the city of Lisbon. Such legitimation would require a resident factor to prove the Kongolese' credentials.

(Early Kongo-Portuguese relations pg 187, 191, n.49, MMA II, pg 240-241)

Letter from king Afonso requesting a credit exchange to fund Dom Manuel, his ambassador, for the latter's trip to Rome.  1540, PT/TT/CC/1/68/92 

Letter by Dom Manuel dated 1543, requesting 400 cruzados belonging to King Afonso from the property of the deceased de Campos. PT/TT/CC/1/73/41 (see: Afonso I Mvemba a Nzinga, King of Kongo: His Life and Correspondence pg 244-245)

Antonio Vieira later married Margaryda da Syllva, a lady in waiting of Queen Catharina of Portugal, an accepted right for a man of his status and position. This marriage took place before 1553, when a Jesuit letter to the Portuguese king mentions him as "Antonio Vyeyra, black man, married to hüa cryada of the Queen our Lady". The Jesuits single him out as one of the three powerful figures who were supposedly opposed to the Jesuit mission in Kongo. In a letter sent by Antonio to Queen Catharina in 1566 he mentions that the Kongo king (presumably Pedro) "gave me in marriage a servant of Your Highness named Margarida da Silva"

(MMA II, pg 330, 543)

Antonio later moved from Portugal to the island of Sao Tome, where he continued to play an important role as an ambassador for the Kongo king Bernardo I (r. 1561-1567) and the Portuguese Queen Catharina. The latter Queen was the reigning regent of the young king Sebastian from 1557 to 1562 and later shared her regency with the cardinal Henry until Sebastian died in 1578, after which Henry became king. 

In a lengthy letter Antonio sent to the Queen on 18/4/1566, Antonio advised Queen Catharina on Kongo’s affairs and offered counsel concerning the strengthening of relations between the two countries, especially concerning mining and trade in "copper, and tin,  ivory and other metals". His letter indicates intimate knowledge of Kongo and Angola (Ndongo) resources, and he also emphasizes his marriage to the Margaryda, indicating that the relationship was important in his role as a liaison between the royals of Kongo and Portugal.

(MMA II, pg 543-544) 

Antonio wrote two other letters addressed to the king of Portugal (this could be Henry, but it could also be the youthful Sebastian before he died after he led a failed invasion of Morocco in 1578) They both contain the same requests as he sent to the Queen but are shorter. Introducing himself again as the ambassador of the King of Kongo, he is again particularly concerned with the exploration of Kongo's copper mines and trade, and recommends two individuals who would serve in the matter to the King. 

(MMA II, pg 545-546)

Second letter of Antonio Vieira about copper mining and trade in Kongo, 1566, PT/TT/CART/878/219  

Its likely that Antonio continued in his role as King Bernado's ambassador until the latter died in 1567, while fighting the 'Jaga' in the eastern frontiers of Kongo. Nothing is known of Antonio's later life after the death of his patron, as Bernado's short-lived successor king Henrique (r. 1567-1568) also died fighting the Jaga in the east, and was later succeeded by Alvaro I (1568-1587) whose ambassador was Duarte Lopes. The latter was a Portuguese 'new Christian'  (converted Jew) who had come to Kongo in 1579, he is first mentioned as Alvaro's ambassador to Rome in 1584, and later authored a famous account of Kongo's history in 1588.

( The Kongo Kingdom pg 19, 104)

The aged Antonio may have passed away by then, as by the time of Álvaro II's reign, another Kongolese ambassador, also named António Vieira, traveled to Rome in 1595. The similarity in their names and offices may have been more than a coincidence, and just like his successful namesake, the second Antonio was a successful ambassador, managing to convince Pope Clement VIII to elevate Kongo's capital Mbanza Kongo (São Salvador) as an episcopal See, a province of the Church that included Portuguese Angola as well as Kongo. This diplomatic victory raised Kongo's status in the Christian world, curbed Portuguese aggression, and further facilitated Kongo's international relations over the 17th century, retaining its position as the main regional power in west-central Africa.

(A History of West Central Africa pg 108-109)

Conclusion: Kongo and Africa in the 16th century global society

Kongo's international relations and its intellectual traditions reveal its role in the profound changes in Africa's global history during the 16th century. The region of central Africa joined the rest of the continent in defining the nature of its society's interactions with the rest of the world and shaping the trajectory of its later history. 

The career of Kongo's diplomat Antonio Vieira also highlights the cultural proximity of the 16th-century Christian world in which Kongo was a part. An elite Kongo personality who was familiar with the Portuguese court enough to be part of an arranged marriage into its royal family. 

In Europe as in Africa, such intermarriages between royals were an important way to reinforce alliances.  A similar intermarriage had been proposed by the 15th century Ethiopian emperor Zara Yacob to the Aragonese monarch Alfonso. In which Alfonso's sister would be married to Zara Yacob while Alfonso's brother would be married to an Ethiopian princess. Alfonso accepted this arrangement with regards to his sister but was hesitant about his brother (whose arranged marriage would be more useful in Europe) Zara Yacob died before the arrangement was completed, and his successor had other interests. The only other successful marriage between African and Portuguese nobles was between a king of Warri and a Portuguese noblewoman. The other examples like the prince of Mombasa were to a non-noble Portuguese woman in Goa.

(The African Prester John and the Birth of Ethiopian-European Relations pg 49, n. 48)

These international activities and marriages suggest that for the European and African nobility of the 16th century, "faith, class, and status trumped considerations relative to their colour." Just as Mali and Bornu in the Muslim world, the global networks of the pre-industrial world in which Kongo participated were much less asymmetric than those of the 19th and 20th century Congo. Its these global networks that partly contributed to the intellectual traditions of Kongo and have enabled us to reconstruct its history.

References:

Afonso I Mvemba a Nzinga, King of Kongo : His Life and Correspondence by John K. Thornton

Afro-Latino Voices, Shorter Edition: Translations of Early Modern Ibero-Atlantic Narratives by Kathryn Joy McKnight, Leo Garofalo

Ambassadors, Explorers and Allies: A Study of African-European Diplomatic Relationships 1400-1600 by Andrea Felber Seligman

MMA II (Monumenta missionaria africana II by Brásio António)

The Kongo Kingdom: The Origins, Dynamics and Cosmopolitan Culture of an African Polity by Koen Bostoen, Inge Brinkman

A History of West Central Africa to 1850 By John K. Thornton

The Atlantic World and Virginia, 1550-1624 edited by Peter C. Mancall

Africa: Tradition and Change by Evelyn Jones Rich, Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein

The African Prester John and the Birth of Ethiopian-European Relations by Matteo Salvadore

Afro-Christian Syncretism in the Kingdom of Kongo by John K. Thornton

Early Kongo-Portuguese Relations by John K. Thornton

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