African Kingdoms

Kings of the Independent State of Congo (Portuguese West Africa)
AD 1888 - 1914

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Now approaching five hundred years old, the Kongo kingdom had survived a brutal 'Civil War' period in the 1600s, followed by another century of unsettled rule under the 'Rotating Houses' and the 'Southern Kinlaza'. Although regarded as supreme kings of a resurgent Kongo by the Portuguese, they were in fact the most powerful of the region's various chieftains, these being the mwene (singular, meaning 'lord', or awene, plural).

A good deal of in-fighting was seen during the period, with Garcia V being the one who finally ended the threat of the Southern Kinlaza resuming control. The capital remained at the rebuilt São Salvador (formerly M'banza-Kongo, and today the capital of Zaire province in Angola). The Portuguese, however, were now too strong to ignore as a regional power.

Pedro VI signed the Treaty of Vassallage with Portugal in 1888. Based on the outcome of the Conference of Berlin of 1884-1885, the territory of Kongo is incorporated mostly into Portuguese Angola and partially into the 'Independent State of Congo' (today largely but not entirely within the modern Democratic Republic of Congo).

The rulers at São Salvador continued to be titled manikongo (this being a Portuguese alteration from the native 'Mwene Kongo', or 'lord of Kongo'). As previously, those manikongo who bore the name Pedro continued to ignore the original Pedro V (1763-1764), numbering themselves lower than was strictly accurate. This false numbering is given below in parenthesis.

Following their final removal from power in 1914, the manikongos apparently retained their titles but had no power while all the constituent sub-kingdoms or states within Kongo were effectively converted into colonial territories. The titular Kongo rulers are shown below with a shaded background.

Any claim by them to the former throne should have ended with the country's independence in 1975, although it has been rumoured that Angola's long-lasting post-independence dictator, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, can claim descent in part from the royal family. This would explain the lack of any noise from the royal house, but it seems to be without any real basis or support (and in argument against it is the fact that his parents were immigrants into Luanda).

The ending of the Kongo kingdom also meant the end of the 'kingdom within the kingdom', Mbata, one of Kongo's founding states. It had retained special status within Kongo right up until the end, but it would be suppressed at least until official restoration in 2008.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Elite Women in the Kingdom of Kongo: Historical Perspectives on Women's Political Power, John Thornton (Journal of African History 47, 2006), from Mbanza Kongo/Sao Salvador: Kongo's Holy City, John Thornton, from Urban Africa; Histories in the Making (Africa's Urban Past), David M Anderson & Richard Rathbone (Eds), from Kongo's Incorporation into Angola: A Perspective from Kongo, John Thornton, from Africana: The Encyclopaedia of the African and African American Experience, Anthony Appiah & Henry Louis Gates (Oxford University Press, 2005), from The New Atlas of African History, G S P Freeman-Grenville (Rex Collins, London, 1991), from Times Atlas of World History (Maplewood, 1979), and from External Link: Encyclopaedia Britannica.)

1888 - 1891

Kongo king since 1859. Now ruling a smaller state.

1891 - 1896

Son.

1896 - 1910

Son. A minor at accession. Died.

1896 - 1901

Uncle and regent during Pedro's minority.

1910 - 1911

Son of Pedro VII. Died a year after accession.

1911 - 1915

Brother. Deposed by rebellion. Died of TB in 1927.

1914 - 1915

The position of manikongo is abolished by the Portuguese following a revolt against them which is lead by Alvaro Buta. The reduced kingdom is merged into the colonial structure of Portuguese Angola. Manuel III remains manikongo in name only until 1915, when the royal family decrees his replacement by Alvaro XV.

Portugal in 1914 was far too busy with the threat being posed to its colonial possessions by imperial Germany to tread softly with a revolt in the state of Congo - Portuguese troops are shown here embarking for Portuguese West Africa (largely today's Angola) to protect it from German invasion - so the Kongolese kingdom was arbitrarily extinguished and its territory incorporated directly into the West Africa colony

1915 - 1923

Manikongo in name only.

1923 - 1955

Manikongo in name only.

1951

The status of Portuguese Angola changes from colony to overseas province. Between this point and 1961 a nationalist movement develops and guerrilla war begins against the Portuguese presence in the country.

1955 - 1957

Manikongo in name only.

1957 - 1962

Manikongo in name only. Died young.

1960

To the north of Angola, the new state of 'Democratic Republic of Congo' achieves independence from Belgium, while the former French region of Middle Congo becomes 'Republic of the Congo'.

In the former Kongo royal family, Isabel Maria da Gama, widow of António III, acts as regent for the young Pedro IX. Upon his untimely death, she renews her role as regent for the lost throne despite there not seeming to be another candidate for the title of manikongo.

Nkisi, known as 'Chingunge N', is a Kongo wood-and bone artwork which was created between 1882 and 1903, mostly likely during the Kongo kingdom's reduced status as 'Independent State of Congo'

1962 - 1975

Official regent, even without a candidate. Angola formed.

1974 - 1975

Between 1974-1975 there is revolution in Portugal and, as a result of the turmoil, its overseas empire collapses. Portuguese Angola gains independence in 1975 without any official handover or preparation, now to be known as the republic of Angola.