Pedro II of Kongo

Pedro II
Pedro II
Mwene Kongo
	Pedro II of Kongo
Reign	26 May 1622 – 3 April 1624
Predecessor	Álvaro III
Successor	Garcia I
Dynasty	House of Nsundi

Pedro II Nkanga a Mvika was a ruler of the kingdom of Kongo during the kingdom's first conflict with the Portuguese. He was the founder of the royal House of Nsundi and could trace his descent to one of Afonso I's daughters. He was succeeded by his son Garcia I, who was crowned in 1624.[1]

Career

Pedro II served in the provincial government of Manikongo Álvaro III Nimi a Mpanzu as Marquis of Wembo and later as Duke of Mbamba. Manikongo Álvaro III had no heir apparent as he was a young man with older uncles who wished to rule. When he died in 1622, Pedro II was elected as a compromise candidate.[2] King Pedro II's father was from the province of Nsundi, where Pedro himself was born, and thus his royal house is known by that name or simply the Kinkanga kanda.

Character

Pedro was widely regarded as a virtuous man and a model Christian. The Jesuits, who had recently arrived in Kongo held him up as a paragon of Christian deportment.

War with Angola

No sooner had he come to the throne than the governor of Angola, João Correia de Sousa, sent an army into Kongo claiming that he had the right to choose the mwenekongo. Besides that, Sousa accused Pedro of harboring runaway slaves from Angola during his tenure as Duke of Mbamba.[3]

Battle of Mbumbi

Fresh from a victory against Nambu a Ngongo, a southern neighbor of Kongo, a 20,000 strong Portuguese army with its Imbangala allies entered Mbamba and was met by the Duke at Mbumbi. Although the Duke's men fought bravely and scattered a portion of the Portuguese army, he was badly outnumbered having only his own small force and that of the Marquis of Mpemba who managed to join him. The Portuguese defeated and killed both nobles. They were later eaten by Portugal's Imbangala troops.

Battle of Mbandi Kasi

Pedro II immediately declared Angola an enemy of the state and brought the main army down from Kongo to meet the invaders at Mbanda Kasi. The army of Kongo crushed the Portuguese and the Imbangala and forced them out of Kongo entirely. In the aftermath of this, anti-Portuguese riots broke out all over the kingdom and threatened its long established merchant community. Portuguese throughout the country were humiliatingly disarmed and even forced to give up their clothes.

Pedro II set up camp at Mbana Kasi and wrote numerous letters of protest to Rome and the king of Spain (then also the ruler of Portugal). As a result of these letters and protests by Portuguese merchants in Kongo and Angola, João Correia de Sousa was recalled in disgrace, and some 1,200 slaves were eventually returned from Brazil. Pedro, anxious not to alienate the Portuguese merchant community, and aware that they had generally remained loyal during the war, did as much as he could to preserve their lives and property, leading some of his detractors to call him "King of Portuguese".

Birth of the Dutch Alliance

Pedro also wrote to the Dutch States General proposing that the newly formed West India Company assist him in an attack on Luanda, with the BaKongo attacking by land and the Dutch by sea. Although he died before this alliance could be affected, the steady alliance between Kongo and the Netherlands would persist, eventually coming to fruition in 1641 with the Dutch attack on Luanda.

References

Thornton, John (1993). "Central African Names and African-American Naming Patterns". The William and Mary Quarterly. 50 (4): 727–742. doi:10.2307/2947473. ISSN 0043-5597. JSTOR 2947473.
Thornton, John (1998-05-13). The Kongolese Saint Anthony: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita and the Antonian Movement, 1684-1706. Cambridge University Press. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-521-59649-7.
Walden, Justine (2022). "Capuchins, Missionaries, and Slave Trading in Precolonial Kongo-Angola, West Central Africa (17th Century)". Journal of Early Modern History. 26 (1): 38–58. doi:10.1163/15700658-bja10003. S2CID 256312421.

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)