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Early Kongo-Portuguese Relations: A New Interpretation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

John Thornton
John Thornton*
Affiliation:
University of Zambia
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Extract

One of the most durable myths of the history of central Africa is that of the early subversion and domination of the kingdom of Kongo by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century. Its original statement was made by James Duffy in 1959 and was amplified by Basil Davidson two years later. According to this argument the Portuguese had found a well-developed kingdom of Kongo when they reached the mouth of the Zaire River in 1483, and had entered into an alliance with the ruler. The alliance, first made with king Nzinga a Nkuwu (baptized as João I in 1491) and strengthened and continued with his son Mvemba a Nzinga (better known under his baptized name of Afonso I, 1506-1543) involved a partnership in which Portuguese settled in Kongo and provided technological and military assistance to Kongo in exchange for trade, mostly in slaves. As a result of this exchange Kongo adopted Christianity, and for a time the two kings addressed each other as “Brother.” But the alliance, despite its good beginning, was rapidly upset by the greed of the Portuguese settlers, who saw the situation merely as an opening for quick riches through the slave trade. As a result the higher aims of the Portuguese court were subverted--first because the Portuguese, with a higher level of development, were able to benefit from their position more than Kongo; secondly because Lisbon was unable to control its settlers in Kongo or São Tomé. In the end there was a massive involvement of Portuguese in Kongolese affairs and a breakdown of authority in Kongo.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 8 , 1981 , pp. 183 - 204
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1981

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References

NOTES

* An earlier version of this paper has benefited from comments by Linda Heywood, Joseph Miller, and colleagues and students at the University of Zambia. MMA = Brásio, António, Monumenta Missionaria Africana, (11 vols.: Lisbon, 1952–1971).Google Scholar

1. Duffy, James, Portuguese Africa, (London, 1959), 49–58 Google Scholar; Davidson, Basil, Black Mother, (London, 1961), 116–50Google Scholar; idem, Angola's People: In the Eye of the Storm, (London, 1972), 80-92.

2. Neither Duffy nor Davidson present exactly this chain of events, but this represents a summary of what might be called the “Kongo myth” as it has developed over the years in a number of writers' work. Its major elements, however, definitely derive from Duffy and Davidson's original formulation.

3. Vansina, Jan, Kingdoms of the Savanna, (Madison, 1966), 37–70.Google Scholar

4. Birmingham, David, Trade and Conquest in Angola, (London, 1966), 23–32 Google Scholar and his more recent contributions to vols. 2 and 3 of the Cambridge History of Africa.

5. Thornton, John, “The Kingdom of Kongo in the Era of the Civil Wars, 1641-1718,” (Ph.D. dissertation, UCLA, 1979).Google Scholar

6. The most recent textbook reproduction of this version is Fage, J.D., African History, (New York, 1978), 238–40.Google Scholar Davidson's continued writing in textbooks has contributed a great deal to the myth's life; e.g., Davidson, , A History of East and Central Africa to the Late Nineteenth Century, (London, 1967).Google Scholar

7. Balandier, Georges, Daily Life in the Kingdom of the Kongo, (New York, 1968)Google Scholar; Randles, W.G.L., L'ancien royaume du Congo dès origines à la fin du XIXe siècle, (Paris, 1968).Google Scholar

8. A useful comment on this tendency is found in Vansina's review of Balandier's Daily Life, “Anthropologists and the Third Dimension,” Africa, 39(1969), 62–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar See also Thornton, “Kingdom of Kongo,” Chapter 1.

9. Davidson's concern with Angola in the modern period began with the publication of his An African Awakening, (London, 1955).Google Scholar

10. Both, we might add, had relied heavily on the earlier Portuguese historiography to construct the sixteenth-century situation. For its part this Portuguese historiography was a highly polemical attempt to prove long and deep Portuguese influence in central Africa, in support of claims to rule the area. See the literature cited and critiqued by Vansina, , Kingdoms, 41.Google Scholar

11. On proper reading of Portuguese sources for African ethnography and social structure see Balandier, , Daily Life, 20–24.Google Scholar

12. Cf. Rodney, Walter, “European Activity and African Reactions in Angola” in Ranger, T.O., ed., Aspects of Central African History, (London, 1968), 50–53 Google Scholar, which represents his development for Kongo, using Duffy, Davidson, and Vansina for his brand of underdevelopment theory.

13. Afonso's letters to Portugal, in fact, ask for just these things: ships, firearms, masons, and carpenters: letters cited in MMA, 1:233-34, 253, 338, 489, 523.

14. For Portugal see the recent summary of Saraiva, José Hermano, História Concisa de Portugal (3rd ed., Lisbon, 1979), 102–04, 124–27, 139–46.Google Scholar For Kongo see Thornton, John, “The Kingdom of Kongo, ca 1390-1678: History of an African Social Formation,” Cahiers d'études africaines Google Scholar, forthcoming, and Vansina, , Kingdoms, 41–45.Google Scholar

15. Life in rural areas in Kongo is described in Thornton, “Kingdom of Kongo,” Chapter 3. For Portugal see da Silva, José Gentil, “L'Autoconsummation au Portugal,” Annales: Économies, Sociéetés, Civilisations, 24(1969), 250–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

16. Thornton, , “Kingdom of Kongo,” 94n63, 105 Google Scholar, which compares observations of European observers with modern descriptions of seventeenth-century European agriculture.

17. On Kongo's demography see Thornton, John, “Demography and History in the Kingdom of Kongo, 1550-1750,” JAH, 18(1977), 507–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

18. For a working definition of primitive money, widely accepted by students of monetary history, see Einzig, Paul, Primitive Money, (London, 1949).Google Scholar Since European money in the sixteenth century circulated by weight only (no face values were attached, nor was there a concept of fiduciary value) they must be counted as primitive, along with shells, beads, hoes, salt blocks, and the like.

19. On cowrie currencies see Johnson, Marion, “The Cowrie Currencies of West Africa,” JAH, 11(1970), 17–49, 331–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

20. Afonso I to João III, 4 December 1540, MMA, 2:102.

21. Diogo I to Diogo Gomes, 15 August 1546, MMA, 2:149.

22. For example Portuguese received some of the captured slaves when helping in wars: Afonso to Manuel I, 14 October 1514, MMA, 1:312-13; for salaries to technicians, same to same, MMA, 1:306.

23. On this cycle see Rodney, Walter, “Gold and Slaves on the Gold Coast,” Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana, 10(1969), 13–28 Google Scholar, and Ryder, Alan F.C., Benin and the Europeans, (London, 1969), 35–75.Google Scholar On the sale of copper from Kongo, Afonso to Manuel I, 14 October 1514, MMA, 1:295-304, passim.

24. Pereira, Duarte Pacheco, Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis, (London, 1954), 172.Google Scholar

25. First complaint: Afonso's letter to João III, reflected in the latter's answer: MMA, 1:528. On the “Spanish Silver” in Europe see, e.g., Braudel, Fernand, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Phillip II (2 vols.: New York, 1972), 1:476–515.Google Scholar

26. Davidson, , Black Mother, 116–50.Google Scholar

27. Thornton, “Social Formation.”

28. See especially Afonso to Manuel I, 14 October 1514, MMA, 1:302-03.

29. Dapper, Olfert, Umbeständliche und Eigentliche Beschreibung von Africa, (Amsterdam, 1670), 556–57.Google Scholar This was Dapper's own translation of his 1668 Dutch edition.

30. Ryder, , Benin and the Europeans, 92–93.Google Scholar

31. Ibid, 92-95; Sarhinha, Alvarite de Pero, (1611), MMA, 6:52–54.Google Scholar

32. The Chronicles of Rui da Pina, Garcia de Resende (who copied da Pina) and Damião de Góis cover the period up to about 1520. João de Barros' chronicle mentions events as late as Afonso I's death in 1543, but he provided few details on the later periods. The bulk of the evidence comes from the Corpo Chronológico section of the Arquivo Nacional do Torre do Tombo in Lisbon, which is itself a somewhat random collection of documents from the early to middle sixteenth centuries. See Ryder, A.F.C., Materials for West African History in Portuguese Archives, (London, 1965), 9–10.Google Scholar

33. Malowist, Marian, “Les aspects sociaux de la première phase de l'expansion coloniale,” Africana Bulletin, 1(1964), 11–40.Google Scholar Malowist stands in opposition to the school which, following Vitorino Magalhães-Godinho, argues that bourgeoisie and nobility played alternative roles of leadership in expansion. See especially Magalhães-Godinho, , A expansão quatrocentista portuguesa. Problemas das origenes e da linha de evoluçao, (Lisbon, 1944).Google Scholar

34. Verlinden, Charles, “Formes féodales et dominales de la colonisation portugaise dans la zone atlantique, XIVe et XVe siècles, et specialement sous Henri le Navigateur,” Revista Portuguesa da História, 9(1961).Google Scholar

35. Malowist, , “Les débuts du système de plantations dans la période des Grandes Découvertes,” Africana Bulletin, 10 (1969), 10–14.Google Scholar

36. Sentence against João de Melo, 19 December 1522, in Rego, A. da Silva, ed., As Gavetas da Torre do Tombo (12 vols.: Lisbon, 1960–1975), 3:9–13.Google Scholar

37. See petition of residents of São Tomè on behalf of da Caminha's heirs, 1499, MMA, 1:165.

38. Jácome Leite to King, 31 January 1554, MMA, 2:343-47.

39. Bishop of Utica to João III, 25 April 1525, MMA, 2:128-35; sentence against João de Melo, 19 December 1519, in Rego, Silva, Gavetas, 3:10–11.Google Scholar

40. Sentence in favor of Manuel Cão, 14 March 1571, MMA, 3:7-34.

41. Cámara of São Tomé to João III, MMA, 2:194-96; sentence against João de Melo, 19 December 1519, in Rego, Silva, Gavetas, 3:11.Google Scholar

42. See inquiries conducted for António Carneiro on Príncipe, 24 August 1517 and 19 November 1526, MMA, 1:412-13 and 465-67.

43. Sentence in favor of Manuel Cão, 14 March 1571, MMA, 3:7-34.

44. Afonso I to Manuel I, 15 October 1514, MMA, 1:294-323; Afonso to António Careniro, 5 March 1516, MMA, 1:359-60; correspondence cited in Birmingham, , Trade and Conflict, 32–35.Google Scholar

45. See note 42 above.

46. Order for clothing for Kongolese students, 10 December 1493, MMA, 1:157.

47. See the hospitality accorded the Bohemian traveller, Leo of Rozmital in Portugal, Letts, Malcolm, The Travels of Leo of Rozmital Through Germany, Flanders, England, France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy 1465-67, (Cambridge, 1957), 104–123.Google Scholar

48. The careers of Pedro de Sousa, Henrique (Afonso's son), and Rodrigo de Santa Maria illustrate the travels of highly-placed Kongolese in both Europe and Kongo. MMA, 1-3, passim.

49. Diogo I to Diogo de Campos, 15 August 1546, MMA, 2:149; Petition of Afonso, nephew of King of Kongo to legitimize his daughter Angela, , MMA, 2:240–41Google Scholar; António Vereira to Dona Catarina, 18 April 1566, MMA, 2:543-44; Anonymous report (of Jesuit origin), 1553, MMA, 2:330.

50. Viagem da Lisboa a Ilha de São Tomé (Seculo XVI),(ed. and trans., Machado, Augusto Reis, Lisbon, n.d.), 51–52.Google Scholar The original voyage appeared in Italian in Ramusio's collection of voyages and travels in 1555.

51. Clothing order, 10 December 1493, MMA, 1:157-58 and petition in favor Alvaro da Caminha, 27 June 1499, MMA, 1:164. The connection must be considered speculative since it is based on the identity of a João Gonçalves in both places--but João Gonçalves is a common name.

52. Will of Alvaro da Caminha, 24 April 1499, MMA, 1:159.

53. Documentary fragments, ca. 1526, MMA, 1:481. Luís Eanes is identified as a member of Afonso's household in João III to Afonso, ca. 1529 (actually written about 1531), MMA, 1:521.

54. João III to Afonso, ca. 1529 (1531), MMA, 1:527.

55. Afonso to João III, 26 May 1517, MMA, 1:404. Judicial inquiry of Diogo I, 10 April 1550, MMA, 2:255.

56. Afonso to Manuel I, 15 October 1514, MMA, 1:294-323.

57. Kellenbenz, Hermann, “Aspectos histórico-económicos da expansão ultramarina portuguesa” in da Andrade, Banha, et al, Balanço da colonização portuguesa, (Lisbon, 1975), 174–77.Google Scholar

58. Davidson, , Black Mother, 137–38.Google Scholar

59. Afonso to Manuel I, 5 October 1514, MMA, 1:294.

60. Afonso to João III, 4 December 1540, MMA, 2:100.

61. Pigafetta, Filippo, Relatione del Regno di Congo et delle Circonvince Contrade…, (Rome, 1591), 10–24.Google Scholar Pigafetta's source was Duarte Lopes, a Portuguese who had lived in Kongo from 1578 to 1583.

62. Afonso to João III, 6 July 1526, MMA, 1:470.

63. This notion is found in greater or lesser degree in most histories of Kongo, even those of the Africanists. Normally research has focused on the mechanism whereby this disintegration took place from an early period, one of the most recent and influential being Ekholm, Kjasa, Power and Prestige: The Rise and Fall of the Kongo Kingdom, (Uppsala, 1972).Google Scholar

64. Thornton, “Kingdom of Kongo;” idem, “Social Formation.” Note that the ‘standard’ descriptions of a tightly-controlled monarchy come not from sixteenth-, but from seventeenth-century sources.

65. Birmingham, , Trade and Conflict, 32–5Google Scholar cites the relevant documents.

66. da Montecuccolo, Giovanni Antonio Cavazzi, Istorica Descrizione de' tre regni Congo, Matamba ed Angola, (Bologna, 1687), Libro II, no. 126.Google Scholar An excellent and balanced summary of the literature and sources is found in Heintze, Beatrix, “Unbekanntes Angola: Der Staat Ndongo im 16. Jahrhundert,” Anthropos, 72(1977), 749–805.Google Scholar

67. Ibid, 754-62.

68. Cavazzi, , Istorica Descrizione, II, no. 131.Google Scholar

69. du Jarric, Pierre, De l'histoire des Choses les plus memorables advenues tant ez Indes Orientales que autres pais de la decouverte des Portugais…, (3 vols.: Bordeaux, 1608–1613), 3, 81.Google Scholar It was probably this ruler who sent for priests--his request arrived in Lisbon in 1520. Regimento to Baltazar de Castro and Manuel Pacheco, 16 February 1620, MMA, 1:434. Heintze dates his reign from 1515(?) to 1557, “Angola,” 756.

70. Du Jarric, 3, 81, mentions early wars--to Cavazzi full Portuguese involvement did not seem to come until the 1550s, Istorica Descrizione, 2:131.Google Scholar

71. Blake, John W., European Beginnings in West Africa, 1454-1578, (London, 1937), 143–51.Google Scholar

72. Thornton, “Social Formation.”

73. Inquest of Diogo I, 10 April 1550, MMA, 2:248-62.

74. Thornton, “Social Formation.” See the inquest cited in note 73.

75. The expedition of 1491: da Pina, Rui, Chronica d'El Rei D João in MMA, 1:135–36: of 1509 Google Scholar; Rodrigues, Armada de Gonçalo, MMA, 4:60–62: of 1512 Google Scholar; Regimento to Simão da Silva, MMA, 1:241.

76. Afonso to João III, 9 February 1530, MMA, 1:542-43, receiving Jerónimo de Lião.

77. Cf. the mission under Maria, João de Santa, Cardoso, George, Agiologio Lusitanio, 1666, III, MMA, 1:86, 99.Google Scholar Góis, Damião de in MMA, 1:373–74.Google Scholar

78. See for example the services performed for the bishop, Manuel Cão by Sebastião do Souto, a vicar to Kongo, which included purchasing goods on his behalf. Sentence in favor of Cão, Manuel, MMA, 3:24.Google Scholar See also Afonso I to João III, 28 December 1535, MMA, 1:53; Manuel Pacheco to João III, 28 March 1536, MMA, 1:57.

79. The Jesuits and their problems with the clerical establishment is documented at length in MMA, 2, passim for the period 1546-56. Also see the summary in Vansina, , Kingdoms, 60–64.Google Scholar

80. The list of names produced by the anonymous author (probably a Jesuit) of immoral Portuguese in Kongo is probably an excellent survey of those Portuguese who had risen to high status in Diogo's Kongo: three-- Ribeiro, Cristóvão, Afonso, Jorge and Dias, Belchior--were magistrates, MMA, 2:330.Google Scholar

81. Afonso to Manuel I, 4 March 1516, MMA, 1:355-58.

82. Christóvão Ribeiro to Francisco de Barros de Paiva, 25 January 1549, MMA, 2:221-23.

83. Information on Kongo, 1553, MMA, 2:332-33.

84. Diogo Rodrigues to Dona Catarina, 16 October 1558, MMA, 2:417-19.

85. Collective letter to João III, 20 March 1541, MMA, 2:107-09.

86. Afonso's letters to João III, 1526, MMA, 1:459-81 passim.

87. Alvará of João III to King of Kongo, 1553, MMA, 2:321-22.

88. The existence of archives can be surmised from the fact that, although Diogo's inquest into the plot against him was made in 1550, it was pulled out of files and copied in order to be transmitted to Portugal two years later, MMA, 2:248.

89. Furthermore, the documentation is incomplete and its rapid diminution after about 1560 is due to problems in survival, and not a lack of interest in Kongo on the part of the Portuguese throne. The widely-held view that the Portuguese had diverted attention from Kongo to India by the end of the sixteenth century can not therefore be supported by a simple shortage of documents.

90. Inquiry into the trade of Angola, 12 November 1548, MMA, 2:198. 81.

91. de'Abreu e Brito, Domingos, “Summario e descripção do Reino de Angola,” (1591), MMA, 4:540.Google Scholar

92. Afonso to João III, 17 December 1540, MMA, 2:104-05.

93. Collective letter of Portuguese residents in Kongo to João III, 20 March 1541, MMA, 2:108-09.

94. Inquiry of Diogo I, 10 April 1550, MMA, 2:255.

95. Ibid, 2:261-62.

96. Pigafetta, , Relatione, 56–57.Google Scholar