Place.


 * This page has two groups. Below is the link to Physical*[[image:human.jpg align="left"]][[image:human.jpg align="right"]]

Physical ^ ( link to physical topic page)

=__Human:__=


 * __Goverment and leadership:__**

The Kongo Kingdom was rulled by kings called Mani-Kongos. In the government positions, the kings were in the most powerful spot. Next came the provincial governors and the aristocratic. After that were the village chiefs and last the villagers.

Kongo's success was mainly from the tax exchange system where firstly, village chiefs collected taxes from the people living in the village. Then provincial governors collected taxes for the village chiefs. Lastly, the Kings would recive all the taxes. When the people, chiefs, or governors paid taxes, they were rewarded with gifts. The gifts might include meat, fish, beer, or clothing when they paid the king taxes in salt or cattle hides. When a king died, a group of powerful officials like provincial governors, members of the [|aristocracy] and elders met together to elect a new king. Mostly the choice would be the most powerful king's sons.

__Kings__:

The first King was Lukeni Nimi who conquered the capital, Mbanza Kongo in from the village chiefs in the 14th century. One other king was Nzinga Nkuwu. He was a ruler of the Kongo in 1506. He was believed to be god in human form. Nzinga Nkuwu welcomed Portugal trade and developed a relationship with the Europeans. While the trading was going on between Portugal and Kongo, Christian [|missionaries] came to Mbanza, Kongo. They managed to convert Nzinga and slowly had one of the popular religions in Kongo Christianity. Nazinga was baptized in 1491 when he took the name John I, Joao. ( name of Portugal’s king) Unfortunately, in 1495 he was forced to give up Christianity because the court was against him. When he died, his son gained the power in1506 and was also christian as he was supported by the Portuguese. He also took up a name, Afonso I.


 * __Architecture:__**

Not much is known about the architecture in the Kongo Kingdom. The Kongo was probably beginning to develop new building techniques after the 14 century. The buildings most people lived in are straw huts or just buildings made of wood or clay. However, the kings had a palace surrounded by walls in Mbanza(kongo's capital). The capital city was built of stone that acted as a strong [|fortress] to protect themselves.



picture from : http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/giraffe/images/straw-huts.jpg


 * __Communication:__**

The Bakongos' spoke mostly kikongo and Portuguese as their first two languages.

Picture from: http: //content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en-commons/thumb/c/cf/180px-Kikongo-m.jpg ( This is a prayer written in **kikongo**)


 * __Economy__**

__Local trade:__

Mbanza, the capital of Kongo was a popular place for trade among Africans at that time. Kongo paid for goods from other parts of Africa's local products. Some of these products are [|raffia], cloth woven from the fiber of plams, pottery, salt, copper, iron and ivory. They also paid for goods with small, spiral seashells called mzinbu. These goods were used as money. ( A picture of raffia. picture from: http://www.allensbasketworks.com/East-Raffia.png)

Portuguese Flage : http://www.bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire/asop/people/images/portugese_flag_203.jpg Portuguese trade:

Basically, the Portuguese first arrived in the Kongo to trade in 1400s, friendly relationships grew between the two traders. Portuguese traded European and Asian goods. The goods were like silk, linen, velvet, glass, and mirrors for items such as copper, sugar and skins. But unfortunately, the Portuguese demanded their goods are to be paid for with human slaves. And as the Portuguese greed for more slaves, the Kongo Kingdom began to weaken. By 1680, it was estimated that almost one million Africans had been taken as slaves from the Kongo region.

The religion in kongo started off as people praying to different gods and a shrine guardian called the Mani Kabunga like in some ancient cultures. The king's religious title was Nzambi Mpungu which means superior spirit. Tax collections were believed to protect disasters from angry gods. Kings couldn't stop the disasters even though he was a religious leader as they believed. And for this the kings tried to increase their religious powers by [|symbolically] marrying a spirit [|descendent] of the Mani Kabuga. This continued until Portuguese Christian[|missionaries] arrived in 15th century to covert some part of the population. The Christian missionaries succeeded in this and from then the two main religions is the Kongo religion and Christianity!
 * __Religion:__**



Picture from: http://images.google.com.my/imgres?imgurl=http://www.iconbazaar.com/religion/christian/animated/an_cross31-1c.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.iconbazaar.com/religion/christian/animated/pg31.html&h=200&w=200&sz=238&hl=en&start=10&tbnid=KOs_BVd0KKRrPM:&tbnh=104&tbnw=104&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dchristian%2Bcross%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den

**Links to other pages about the Kongo Kingdom:**
Place : This page will give you information on physical and human related topics about the government, architechture, climate,and natural life etc. in the Kongo kingdom.

Regions: This page will tell you about agriculture, politics, vegetation, economy, and many other subjects on the Kongo kingdom region.

Enviroment: This page will tell you about Resources they had such as materials, food, tools, water and agriculture. Adaption such as clothing, technology, transportation, shelter and daily activities. It will also tell you about how they were changing landscape, habitats ecosystems.

Movement: On this page you will find out how the Kongo had the movement of ideas, objects, and people.

Location: Here you will find information about the location of Kongo like the surroundings.

Click here to go to the Kongo Kingdom home page.