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Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita, Kimpa Mvita, Tsimpa Vita or Tchimpa Vita, was a Kongo Empire prophet and leader of her own Christian movement, Antonianism; this movement taught that Jesus and other early Christian figures were from the Kongo Empire. The name "Dona" indicates that she was born into a family of high Kongolese nobility; she was later given the name "Beatriz" after the Catholic Saint. Her teaching grew out of the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church in Kongo, and caused her to upbraid the Catholic priests for not believing as she did. Dona Beatriz believed the teachings of St. Anthony and used this claim to attempt to restore the ideal of Kongo as a unified Christian Kingdom. Kimpa Vita is seen as an antislavery figure and is known as a prefigure to modern African democracy movements. While the role of Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita is widely overlooked, the years of her movement are some of the best documented in Kongo's history.
The Kingdom of Kongo was a kingdom located in central Africa in present-day northern Angola, the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo as well as the southernmost part of Gabon. 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", but its sphere of influence extended to neighbouring kingdoms, such as Ngoyo, Kakongo, Loango, Ndongo and Matamba, the latter two located in what is Angola today.
The Kimpanzu were members of the Mpanzu kanda also known as the House of Kimpanzu, one of the lineages from which the kings of Kongo were chosen during the 17th century and following Kongo's reunification under Pedro IV. They are remembered in tradition and are evoked in a proverb, still current in the 1920s Nkutama a mvila za makanda "Kinlaza, Kimpanzu ye Kinlaza makukwa matatu malambila Kongo".
The Kinlaza were members of the Nlaza kanda or House of Kinlaza, one of the ruling houses of the Kingdom of Kongo during the 17th century. It was one of the main factions during the Kongo Civil War along with the Kimpanzu and Kinkanga a Mvika kandas. They are remembered in tradition and are evoked in a proverb, still current in the 1920s Nkutama a mvila za makanda "Kinkanga, Kimpanzu ye Kinlaza makukwa matatu malambila Kongo".
Pedro III Nsimba Ntamba was a ruler of the Kingdom of Kongo during its tumultuous civil war period.
The Kongo Civil War (1665–1709) was an internal conflict between rival houses of the Kingdom of Kongo. The war waged throughout the middle of the 17th and 18th centuries pitting partisans of the House of Kinlaza against the House of Kimpanzu. Numerous other factions entered the fray claiming descent from one or both of the main parties such as the Água Rosada of Kibangu and the da Silva of Soyo. By the end of the war, Kongo's vaunted capital had been destroyed and many Bakongo were sold into the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.
The Kinkanga, usually known as the Kinkanga a Mvika or House of Nsundi, was a royal kanda formed by King Pedro II, which ruled the Kingdom of Kongo from 1622 to 1631. While King Pedro II and his son Garcia I were the only other member of the faction or kanda to rule, it retained powerful members in provincial offices in the 1650s until its destruction in the 1670s. Despite this loss in prominence, they were remembered in tradition and are evoked in a proverb, still current in the 1920s Nkutama a mvila za makanda "Kinlaza, Kimpanzu ye Kinlaza makukwa matatu malambila Kongo".
Alvaro VIII, of the House of Kinlaza, was king of the Kingdom of Congo, from 1666 to 1669.
Pedro IV Nusamu a Mvemba. King of Kongo, ruled from 1695 to 1718, although his effective reign of Kongo was only from 1709. He is noted for restoring the country and ending the civil war which had raged since 1666. It was during his reign that Beatriz Kimpa Vita, the prophetess claimed to be possessed by Saint Anthony had her career.
Álvaro IX Mpanzu a Ntivila was a ruler of the Kingdom of Kongo during its civil war period. He ruled from June 1669 to 1670.
Daniel I Miala mia Nzimbwila was a ruler of the Kingdom of Kongo during its civil war between the various royal houses. He ruled from 1674 to 1678.
André I Mvizi a Mkanga was a ruler of Kibangu and was one of the two main Kinlaza claimants to the throne of the Kingdom of Kongo during its civil war, the other being the King of Lemba. He ruled the Kingdom of Kibangu for a short period in 1685. His death marked the succession of Manuel Afonso which led to an internal struggle for power within Kibangu.
Manuel Afonso Nzinga a Nlenke was a ruler of Kibangu and was one of the two main Kinlaza claimants to the throne of the Kingdom of Kongo during its civil war, the other being the King of Lemba. He ruled the Kingdom of Kibangu from 1685 to 1688.
Álvaro X Nimi a Mvemba Água Rosada was a ruler of Kibangu and was the first Água Rosada claimant to the throne of the Kingdom of Kongo during its civil war. He ruled the Kingdom of Kibangu from 1688 to 1695.
João II Nzuzi a Ntamba was a ruler of Lemba and was one of the main Kinlaza claimants to the throne of the Kingdom of Kongo during its civil war, the other being the King of Kibangu. He ruled the Kingdom of Lemba from 1680 to 1716.
Manuel II or Manuel II Mpanzu a Nimi (???-1743) was ruler of the Kingdom of Kongo (1718–1743). He ruled in a period of "rotating lineages" as planned by his predecessor and was of the Kimpanzu. He had once fought against Pedro during the recapture of São Salvador.
Henrique II was ruler of the Kingdom of Kongo. His rule came after the end of a period of conflict in the kingdom after the death of Afonso V, who was said to have been poisoned. Henrique was able to take the throne as a compromise between the various powerful factions which had been brokered by the Água Rosada house, the descendants of Pedro IV, who had familial ties to branches of both Kinlaza and Kimpanzu houses. Under this peace, Henrique was able to rebuild the nation, and eventually passed the throne on to Garcia V, a member of the Água Rosada house.
Álvaro XI was ruler of the Kingdom of Kongo (1764–1779) from the Kinlaza house. He overthrew the rule of first Pedro V, who had refused to adhere to the rotating houses system that Pedro IV had implemented. As Pedro continued his claim to the throne after being overthrown, Álvaro's death set off another showdown between the Nkondo branch of the Kinlaza, who favoured José I, and the Mbamba Lovata faction, the main branch of the Kimpanzu house who still favored Pedro V.
Ana Afonso de Leão was the queen regnant of the Kingdom of Nkondo between 1673 and 1710. She conquered the territories of Lemba and Matari, as well as those located along the Mbidizi river in the Kingdom of Kongo in the 17th century. She was a decisive figure during the Kongolese civil war.
References
- ↑ http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsAfrica/AfricaAngola.htm
- ↑ Thornton, John K: "The Kongolese Saint Anthony: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita and the Antonian Movement, 1684-1706", page 20. Cambridge University, 1998