Garcia II of Kongo

Garcia II
Garcia II
Mwene Kongo
	Garcia II of Kongo
Reign	1641 to 1661
Predecessor	Álvaro VI
Successor	António I
Dynasty	Kinlaza

Last updated June 09, 2024

Garcia II Nkanga a Lukeni a Nzenze a Ntumba, also known as Garcia Afonso for short,^[1] ruled the Kingdom of Kongo from 23 January 1641 to 1661. He is sometimes considered Kongo's greatest king for his religious piety and his near expulsion of the Portuguese from Angola.^{[ citation needed ]} Yet, he is also notorious for enriching himself through his leading role in the Atlantic slave trade.^[2]

Early life

Garcia and his brother Álvaro Nimi were born in the early 17th century. Both brothers attended the Jesuit college at São Salvador (modern M'banza-Kongo) soon after it was opened in 1620, where they studied with the Jesuit priest João de Paiva. As students, they joined the lay brotherhood of St. Ignatius. During his youth, Garcia obtained the nickname "Kipaku" ("Quipaco") of uncertain meaning. In 1634, when King Álvaro V was threatened by Daniel da Silva, Duke of Mbamba, the brothers came to the king's aid. Garcia was particularly valiant during the desperate battle in the County of Soyo, when the royal army was backed up against the river. The brothers were awarded for their bravery: Garcia was named Marquis of Kiova, a small territory on the south bank of the Congo River, while his brother was promoted to Duke of Mbamba. However, in 1636 Álvaro V sought to remove and execute the brothers, and in defense they defeated and beheaded the king. Álvaro was then crowned King Álvaro VI and named Garcia as Duke of Mbamba.^[3]

Taking the Throne and the Dutch War

On 22 January 1641, Álvaro died under mysterious circumstances. Before an election to replace his brother could be held, Garcia moved forces from Mbamba to the capital and forcibly became king. Within a few weeks, Paulo, the Count of Soyo and longtime ally, died and was replaced by his and Garcia's enemy Daniel da Silva.^[4] Concurrently, the Dutch armada invaded and took the Portuguese colony of Luanda. Garcia immediately moved his armies south to assist the Dutch, as Kongo had a long-term pact to help the Dutch drive the Portuguese out of Angola. In 1642, he received an embassy from the Dutch and signed an alliance and agreement, but refused to accept a Calvinist preacher from them due to his Catholic background.^[5]

Garcia hoped that the Dutch would assist him in driving the Portuguese out of Angola, as these terms had been laid down as early as 1622 when Pedro II of Kongo had proposed the Kongo-Dutch alliance. However, the Dutch were not as willing to press their attack home once they had taken Luanda. Instead, they hoped to make it a trading post and allowed the Portuguese to continue to possess their inland territories. Dutch soldiers, however, helped Garcia defeat a rebellion in the small southern district of Nsala in 1642, the slaves captured from this paying for Dutch expenses in taking Luanda.

In 1643, as the relations between the Dutch West India Company and the Portuguese broke down, Garcia's forces assisted in driving the Portuguese from their positions on the Bengo River. However, the Dutch again refused to press home the attack, allowing the Portuguese to regroup further inland at Massangano.

Garcia could not commit more forces to the campaign against Portugal due to increasing hostility with Daniel da Silva. Thus, in 1645, he sought to drive Daniel from Soyo, but was defeated trying to take the Soyo fortified position at Mfinda Ngula. His son and would-be heir, Afonso, was captured while leading the Kongo forces, and a campaign to free him in 1646 failed.^[6] Because of these wars, Kongo could only send small forces when the Dutch declared war in alliance with Queen Njinga of Matamba on the Portuguese in fear of the reinforced Portuguese driving them out of Luanda. Although the allies were successful at the Battle of Kombi in 1647, they were unable to dislodge the Portuguese from their forts. Further reinforcements from Brazil in 1648 forced the Dutch to withdraw.^[7]

Following the Portuguese Restoration

In the years following the Dutch war, Garcia sought to make amends with the Portuguese and settle relations. Salvador Correia de Sá, the Portuguese governor, drafted a treaty demanding from Garcia the Island of Luanda, all lands south of the Bengo River, the rights to all mines in Kongo, payment of an indemnity, and other major concessions. Garcia proposed a different treaty that insisted on the restoration of his rights to the south of the Bengo River as well as other demands. The treaty was presented in 1649 and, while Garcia did pay an indemnity, neither side signed the treat

Garcia turned his attention to internal affairs following the Dutch period. Capuchin missionaries, who arrived from Italy and Spain, helped provide more clergy for the Church in 1645. Although Garcia initially welcomed the clergymen, he became suspicious and accused them of plotting against Kongo in 1652. In the same year, he imprisoned Dona Leonor, an elderly and well respected queen, for her involvement in an alleged plot. Leonor died in prison, which caused Garcia to lose considerable public confidence.^[8]

In 1655 Garcia again attempted to take Soyo. Two sons of Pedro II, as members of the House of Nsundi (or the Kinkanga a Mvika), tried to overthrow him the next year. The Portuguese intervened on their behalf and also tried to attack Kongo. However, Garcia defeated the brothers and prevented the Portuguese, who remembered their crushing defeat following the Battle of Mbumbi in 1622, from crossing the Loje River. By 1657, Garcia II had annihilated or absorbed all of the House of Nsundi.^[9]

Garcia died in 1660, leaving his second son António I of Kongo to succeed him.

Related Research Articles

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 of 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", 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.

Soyo is a city, with a population of 200,920, and a municipality, with a population of 227,175, located in the province of Zaire in Angola, at the mouth of the Congo River. Historically, Soyo was a significant city in conflicts between the Kingdom of Kongo, Portuguese Angola, and the Dutch West India Company. Soyo became an independent state in the 17th century and had significant influence on politics in Kongo during the Kongo Civil War.

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".

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The Battle of Kitombo was a military engagement between forces of the BaKongo state of Soyo, formerly a province of the Kingdom of Kongo, and the Portuguese colony of Angola on 18 October 1670. Earlier in the year a Portuguese expeditionary force had invaded Soyo with the intention of ending its independent existence. The Soyo were supported by the Kingdom of Ngoyo, which provided men and equipment, and by the Dutch, who provide guns, light cannon and ammunition. The combined Soyo-Ngoyo force was led by Estêvão Da Silva, and the Portuguese by João Soares de Almeida. Both commanders were killed in the battle, which resulted in a decisive victory for Soyo. Few, if any, of the invaders escaped death or capture.

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Álvaro VI of Kongo, sometimes called Nimi a Lukeni a Nzenze a Ntumba, was a ruler of the Kingdom of Kongo.

The Seven Kingdoms of Kongo dia Nlaza were a confederation of states in west Central Africa that were absorbed into the Kingdom of Kongo in the 16th century, being mentioned in the titles of King Alvaro II in 1583. This polity or region was first mentioned in texts of the Kingdom of Kongo in the late 16th century, although it probably existed much earlier. It was only then being incorporated into Kongo, through the kingdom's eastern province of Mbata Kingdom. It is unclear what the Seven Kingdoms were, though perhaps they included Kundi and Okanga. Presumably these kingdoms represented an alliance of several smaller polities, though the sources of the time tell us nothing about it.

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The Battle of Mbumbi was a military engagement between forces of Portuguese Angola and the Kingdom of Kongo in 1622. Although the Portuguese were victorious, the battle served as the impetus for the Kingdom of Kongo to expel the Portuguese from their territory.

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

↑ Thornton, John: "Elite Women in the Kingdom of Kongo: Historical Perspectives on Women's Political Power", page 451. The Journal of African History, Vol. 47, 2006
↑ "Slavernijtentoonstelling Rijksmuseum: Veelzijdig, verhalend en indrukwekkend".
↑ Thornton, John (2020). A History of West Central Africa. Cambridge University Press. pp. 159–160. ISBN 978-1-107-12715-9.
↑ Thornton, John (2020). A History of West Central Africa. Cambridge University Press. pp. 164–165. ISBN 978-1-107-12715-9.
↑ Thornton, John (2020). A History of West Central Africa. Cambridge University Press. pp. 165–166. ISBN 978-1-107-12715-9.
↑ Thornton, John (2020). A History of West Central Africa. Cambridge University Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-1-107-12715-9.
↑ Thornton, John (2020). A History of West Central Africa. Cambridge University Press. p. 172. ISBN 978-1-107-12715-9.
↑ Thornton, John (2020). A History of West Central Africa. Cambridge University Press. pp. 173–175. ISBN 978-1-107-12715-9.
↑ Thornton, John (2020). A History of West Central Africa. Cambridge University Press. p. 176. ISBN 978-1-107-12715-9.

Sources

Graziano Saccardo, Congo e Angola con la storia dell'antica missione dei' Cappuccini (3 vols., Venice, 1982–83).

Preceded by Álvaro VI	Manikongo 1641–1660	Succeeded by António I

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[1] Thornton, John: "Elite Women in the Kingdom of Kongo: Historical Perspectives on Women's Political Power", page 451. The Journal of African History, Vol. 47, 2006

[2] "Slavernijtentoonstelling Rijksmuseum: Veelzijdig, verhalend en indrukwekkend".

[3] Thornton, John (2020). A History of West Central Africa. Cambridge University Press. pp. 159–160. ISBN 978-1-107-12715-9.

[4] Thornton, John (2020). A History of West Central Africa. Cambridge University Press. pp. 164–165. ISBN 978-1-107-12715-9.

[5] Thornton, John (2020). A History of West Central Africa. Cambridge University Press. pp. 165–166. ISBN 978-1-107-12715-9.

[6] Thornton, John (2020). A History of West Central Africa. Cambridge University Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-1-107-12715-9.

[7] Thornton, John (2020). A History of West Central Africa. Cambridge University Press. p. 172. ISBN 978-1-107-12715-9.

[8] Thornton, John (2020). A History of West Central Africa. Cambridge University Press. pp. 173–175. ISBN 978-1-107-12715-9.

[9] Thornton, John (2020). A History of West Central Africa. Cambridge University Press. p. 176. ISBN 978-1-107-12715-9.

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v t e Rulers of the Kingdom of Kongo
Awenekongo of the Kilukeni kanda (1390–1567)	Lukeni lua Nimi Nanga of Kongo Nlaza of Kongo Nkuwu a Ntinu of Kongo João I of Kongo Afonso I of Kongo Pedro I of Kongo Diogo I Nkumbi a Mpudi Afonso II of Kongo Bernardo I of Kongo Henrique I of Kongo
Awenekongo of the Kwilu kanda (1567–1622)	Álvaro I of Kongo Álvaro II of Kongo Bernardo II of Kongo Álvaro III of Kongo
Awenekongo of the Nkanga a Mvika kanda (1622–1626)	Pedro II of Kongo Garcia I of Kongo
Mwenekongo of the Kwilu kanda (1626–1636)	Ambrósio I of Kongo Álvaro IV of Kongo
Awenekongo of the Kimpanzu kanda (1636)	Álvaro V of Kongo
Awenekongo of the Kinlaza kanda (1636–1665)	Álvaro VI of Kongo Garcia II of Kongo António I of Kongo
Civil War Awenekongo (1665–1678)	Afonso II of Kongo and Nkondo Álvaro VII of Kongo Álvaro VIII of Kongo Pedro III of Kongo Álvaro IX of Kongo Rafael I of Kongo Afonso III of Kongo Daniel I of Kongo
Post-Civil War states	Garcia III of Kibangu André I of Kibangu Manuel I of Kibangu Álvaro X of Kibangu Pedro IV of Kongo Pedro III of Kongo João II of Lemba Manuel II of Kongo
Awenekongo after the recapture of São Salvador (1709–1891)	Pedro IV of Kongo Manuel II of Kongo Garcia IV of Kongo Nicolau I of Kongo Afonso IV of Kongo António II of Kongo Sebastião I of Kongo "Pedro V" Álvaro XI of Kongo José I of Kongo Afonso V of Kongo Álvaro XII of Kongo Aleixo I of Kongo Joaquim I of Kongo Henrique II of Kongo Garcia V of Kongo André II of Kongo Henrique III of Kongo Álvaro XIII of Kongo Pedro V of Kongo
Awenekongo after 1881 vassalage treaty with Portugal (1891–1914)	Álvaro XIV of Kongo Henrique IV of Kongo Pedro VI of Kongo Manuel Nkomba of Kongo Manuel III of Kongo
Pretenders to the Kongo throne since 1914	Alvaro XV of Kongo Pedro VII of Kongo António III of Kongo Isabel Maria da Gama, Q of Kongo (regent) Pedro VIII of Kongo Isabel Maria da Gama of Kongo (regent)