Africa Essay -- essays research papers

Africa’s Resistance to the Portuguese The African history has been affected tremendously due to the influence of some European countries. Portugal, who probably had the greatest impact on the continent, was not shy in invading what they thought to be profitable circumstances. One of these areas that they profited from was the kingdom of Kongo. Kongo was a major Bantu-speaking kingdom astride the Congo River in west-central Africa, probably founded in the 14th century. It was governed by a king, the manikongo, whose economic power was based upon trade in ivory, hides, slaves, and a shell currency of western Africa. Within a few years after the Portuguese first encountered the kingdom in 1484, the sixth manikongo, Nzinga Mbemba, later Alfonso 1, converted to Christianity and extended di...