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Everything about Kingdom of Kongo

1390–1914 state in Central Africa; Portuguese vassal from 1857

The Kingdom of Kongo 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. Wikipedia →

🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path

  1. Read the overview: Kingdom of KongoA 5-minute orientation
  2. Skim a recent paper: A multi-analytical characterization of fourteenth to eighteenth century pottery from the Kongo kingdom, Central AfricaInfluential work since 2022
  3. Pick up a classic book: Self-healing power and therapyThe most-reprinted book on the subject
  4. Read the landmark paper: The Development of an African Catholic Church in the Kingdom of Kongo, 1491–1750Cited 104 times
  5. Go sideways: Kongo Civil WarA closely related topic
  6. Go sideways: List of rulers of KongoA closely related topic

đź“– Definitions

Noun Alternative form of congou: a kind of Chinese black tea.

🗂️ The subject at a glance

  1. History
  2. Military structure
  3. Political structure
  4. Economic structure
  5. Art of the Kongo Kingdom
  6. Social structure

🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)

🆕 Influential since 2022

đź“š Books worth reading

Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.

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