A variety of internal and external factors contribute to state formation, expansion, and decline. Governments maintain order through a variety of administrative institutions, policies, and procedures, and governments obtain, retain, and exercise power in different ways and for different purposes.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE

Describe the role of states in the expansion of maritime exploration from 1450 to 1750.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS

KC 4.1.III - New state-supported transoceanic maritime exploration occurred in this period

As societies develop, they affect and are affected by the ways that they produce, exchange, and consume goods and services.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE

Explain the economic causes and effects of maritime exploration by the various European states.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS

KC 4.1.III.A - Portuguese development of maritime technology and navigational skills led to increased travel to and trade with Africa and Asia and resulted in the construction of a global trading-post empire.

KC 4.1.III.B - Spanish sponsorship of the voyages of Columbus and subsequent voyages across the Atlantic and Pacific dramatically increased European interest in transoceanic travel and trade.

KC 4.1.III.C - Northern Atlantic crossings were undertaken under English, French, and Dutch sponsorship, often with the goal of finding alternative sailing routes to Asia.

The king of Kongo, Nzinga a Nkuwu (João I) seems to have converted readily enough to Christianity, but there is some debate as to whether he and his son, Afonso, were genuine, or whether it was done for political or economic reasons. The Portuguese may not have put religion first in accepting so many new converts either.

Source 1: Missionaries who went to Kongo accepted that all aspects of the culture that were not directly against the basic teaching of the Church were acceptable. Virtually the only behaviour needed to be a Christian was a simple declaration of faith and recognition of the Catholic Church as the only Church and the Pope as its head.

Source 2: Christianity in Kongo fitted into the Kongo belief about the universe, especially the cult of earth and water spirits. As a result, Christianity could be adopted without any real disruption of former religious beliefs, but as for real conversion, it clearly did not occur.

Source 3: King Afonso I of Kongo read religious books far into the night, often falling asleep over them, and astounded the priests with his knowledge. --Portuguese visitor Rui d’Aguir

Source 4: In Kongo, the ruling group was fully behind the religion, and found that recognising the supremacy of Rome in religious matters gave them some diplomatic leverage in Europe. As a result, Kongo was able to get the Pope to condemn the Portuguese invasion of southern Kongo in 1622.

Source 5: João’s son by his principle wife, who had been baptised Afonso, had a supreme interest in supporting the new Christian cult. He could not, in theory, succeed to the kingship. The Christian priests, however, regarded Afonso as the only legitimate heir. When João died in 1506, Afonso seized the throne.

Questions:

1. What does source 2 suggest about why people in Kongo accepted Christianity?

2. Why else might Kongo have accepted Christianity?

3. What does source 1 suggest about how seriously the Portuguese took converting people?

There is no doubt that Kongo rulers took captives, and laws allowed enslavement within the kingdom. What is less clear is whether laws allowed the export of enslaved people, or whether the Portuguese made the acquiring of captives a greater priority than before.

Source 1: Afonso gave the Portuguese king’s factor nzimbu shells to buy slaves and decreed that no-one else could buy them. There were, in fact, very few slaves available for purchase and scarcely any had so far been exported from Kongo. In order to secure the return gift Afonso had to raid the neighbouring Mbundu, newly acquired captives being the only people who could, at this time, be legally sold.

Source 2: Although slavery was an integral part of Kongo society, the slave trade was not. By 1514 the Portuguese demand for slaves turned a domestic institution into an international trade. Afonso sought to restrict the trade by making it a royal monopoly. In frustration he abolished it by decree in 1526. Both policies failed.

Source 3: To the kings, in whom a taste for luxuries had been fostered, slave trading became an unavoidable solution to their need for foreign goods.

Source 4: It is quite clear that Afonso, and probably Kongo law in general, had little problem with either the holding of slaves, or their export from the country.

Source 5: This expedition has cost us much: it would be unreasonable to send it home with empty hands. Although our principle wish is to serve God and the pleasure of the king of Kongo, none the less you will make him understand – as though speaking in our name – what he should do to fill the ships, whether with slaves, or copper, or ivory. --Instructions from King Manuel of Portugal to his envoy (1512)

Source 6: Since slaves were not readily available inside Kongo, the kings began at an early stage to seek captives from outside. Border raids became a regular feature of the kingdom, and may have led to territorial expansion.

Questions:

1. How do sources 2 and 4 differ in what they say about enslavement?

2. Which point of view is backed by other sources?

3. Why did kings of Kongo start taking more captives?

4. How much was this the fault of the Portuguese?

One of the accusations against the Portuguese was that they interfered in the politics of Kongo and upset the balance between the noble families on which the election of the king depended. Afonso could not be king legally, but the Portuguese backed him.

Source 1: The kingdom was the most organised state that the Portuguese had yet found in Africa. The king ruled from a palace, accompanied by elaborate ceremony, through a network of officials and nobles who administered the provinces of the state to collect tribute in copper, iron, and slaves.

Source 2: The king was elected, technically by a set of traditional electors and actually by the most powerful members of the royal and main noble households. Thus, the succession was settled as a family dispute, but a family made more complex due to its size and extensiveness.

Source 3: Direct Portuguese trading [with provincial nobles] threatened to destroy Afonso’s hard-won position at the tip of the Kongo economic system... Other Portuguese began to seek slaves in the provinces and this threatened to undermine the whole economic and political basis of the state.

Source 4: Afonso used not only the Atlantic [slave] trade to strengthen his political position; he also used Christianity as a royal cult under his direct control.

Source 5: The king used the whites in the internal power struggle, receiving them with open arms.

Source 6: The Portuguese, settled in São Salvador, reinforced the royal power materially and spiritually. They altered a delicate balance in favour of royalty. They supplied the advantage of their technology and their manufactured goods, and they introduced incentives to trade. They were the carriers of a new religion, which was all the more warmly welcomed because it seemed to be extremely powerful.

Questions:

1. What does source 1 suggest about the power of the king?

2. Explain whether sources 2 and 3 agree?

3. How did the Portuguese alter the political balance in Kongo?

It has to be admitted that contact with the Portuguese changed Kongo. What is not so clear is whether this actually helped destroy the kingdom, or to delay its decline by strengthening and supporting it. Kongo wasn’t fully colonized by the Portuguese until 1857, nearly 400 years later.

Source 1: By the 16th century, rulers became increasingly separated from their subjects, and traders became an increasingly powerful middle class. These changes were closely connected with the arrival of the Portuguese.

Source 2: The Portuguese enticed the Kongo aristocracy into embracing Catholicism. In doing so they created a relation of dependence that sparked dynastic conflicts and civil war and led eventually to the collapse of the kingdom.

Source 3: Growth was stimulated by new Portuguese contributions to the ruling group in the form not only of goods but also of services by teachers, artisans, lawyers and priests.

Source 4: The first threat to the kingdom in the latter years of Afonso’s reign came from provincial rulers. These were anxious to establish their own direct contacts with foreign merchants. The ones most affected were, of course, those nearest the coast, and the king had constant difficulty in maintaining their loyalty.

Source 5: The Jaga wars, which all but destroyed the Kongo kingdom in 1568, brought a Portuguese military invasion. This brought with it a new class of self-reliant traders, adventurers and rogues, who established themselves in a kingdom which, in their eyes, owed them a debt of gratitude.

Source 6: In 1665, at the great battle of Mbwila, King Antonio I and most of his nobles, court officials and 5,000 Kongolese troops were killed [by the Portuguese invaders]. The kingdom of Kongo dissolved into petty chiefdoms and never recovered.

Questions:

1. In what ways did its relationship with the Portuguese change Kongo?

2. Was the change the fault of the Portuguese alone?