The Kingdom of Kongo
The Kingdom of Kongo
Author(s): The African Archives
Edited By The African Archives Editor
Type: Article
Country: Algeria
Language: English
Content:: Non Academic
Source: Open Access
Timeline: Prehistory - Any time before 10000 BC
Published: 2023
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Description
Where? Spread across parts of what is now Angola, DRC, Republic of the Congo, and Gabon
When? circa 1390 CE – 1914 CE
Before European powers divided the African continent during the Scramble for Africa, the modern-day countries of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo both formed part of the Kingdom of Kongo. Although the kingdom’s precise boundaries are uncertain today, this empire did eventually stretch into both modern-day Congos and Angola under the leadership of a Kikongo warrior, Luken Lua Nimi, whose military and political prowess dominated central Africa for centuries. Kongolese society was a quasi-feudal one and its economy was fueled by trade routes following rivers in the region and dealing in textiles, pottery, copper, and ivory.
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