Afonso I.

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Coat of arms of Afonso I.

Afonso I. , also Nzinga Mpangu or Nzinga Mbemba Afonso , (* around 1456, † 1543 ) was king of the African Empire of the Congo .

Life

Afonso I was the son of Nzinga á Nkuwu, the first Congolese king who had contact with the Portuguese and was baptized as João I. Afonso, who had been raised by Christian missionaries for ten years , took over rule in a fratricidal conflict after his father's death and pushed back the traditional religions that had expanded again in the later phase of his father's rule.

He pursued a policy of selective modernization closely based on Portugal. He understood the European great powers as Christian brother states, began to build up a local clergy, sent students to Europe and tried to bring European craftsmen and academics to the Congo. His hope was that the Portuguese and his royal comrade Manuel I would permanently recognize him as equal through forced Christianization and cooperation , a strategy that was initially successful. Portugal recognized the Mani-Congo (in contrast to all other European royal houses) as a king , even if (for formal reasons) not as a " highness ".

In 1512 there was the so-called “Regimento” of Manuel, an instruction to his ambassador that complied with Afonso's intentions. It stipulated that the Portuguese should stand by the Mani-Congo in the organization of its empire, including the establishment of a legal system based on the European model and an army. Missionary engagement, support in building churches and teaching the court Portuguese etiquette were also planned; in return, the Congo was to fill the Portuguese ships with valuable cargo, especially slaves , ivory and copper .

Afonso's son Henrique was ordained bishop in Portugal and returned to his homeland in 1521. However, the establishment of its own church structure failed. There were also increasingly heated disputes with Portuguese traders. Their slave trade in their homeland and America soon exceeded the extent of the house slavery that had been widespread in the Congo up to that point. The country became increasingly depopulated. In 1526, Afonso tried to expel all Portuguese by decree, but the slave traders did not obey. There was also resistance to the Christian king.

Afonso's correspondence with Manuel's son and successor, João III, is the first known document written in the European language by a black African.

After the death of Afonso I, an epoch of throne disputes began, which in the 17th century saw the final collapse of his empire.

literature

  • Basil Davidson : From Slave Trade to Colonization. African-European relations between 1500 and 1900 . Rowohlt Taschenbuch, Reinbek 1966

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dominic Johnson : Congo . Wars, Corruption and the Art of Survival. 2nd Edition. Brandes & Apsel, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-86099-743-7 , pp. 227 .
  2. ↑ Albert. S. Gérad, African Language Literature: An Introduction to the Literary History of Sub-Saharan Africa (Longman, Harlow / Essex 1981) p. 287
personal data
SURNAME Afonso I.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mpangu, Nzinga; Nzinga Mbemba Afonso; Affonso I.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Congolese King of the African Empire Congo
DATE OF BIRTH around 1456
DATE OF DEATH 1543