Surviving Kongo

The Kingdom of Kongo has such an interesting history. It was very receptive to Westernization, adopting Christianity as well as many European customs and forms of infrastructure. It was also located in a region that wasn't a huge priority for European colonization, if the late establishment of the Congo Free State tells us anything. Is it possible to have it survive as an independent country into the modern day?
 

Ceranthor

Banned
The Kongo kingdom was pretty powerful; it crushed the Portuguese in something like four or five battles, and to the best of my knowledge it was only destroyed because of unrest between two rival factions who eventually engaged in civil war. So basically just do away with that, have one king who maintains good relations with some European power, and I think Kongo could survive for at least a little while longer.

That being said, a TL about Kongo surviving would be awesome. We don't get nearly enough material about Africa on this site.
 
I think winning one war with Portugal, or at least not losing so catastrophically would have done the trick. Kongo lost, king was killed, lots of the trained army lost, royal treasury lost, civil war for decades. The kingdom sort of got restored but never really recovered.
 
Here's a possible point of divergence:

Regardless of the new government in Angola's overtures, Pedro II had not forgotten the invasion and planned to remove the Portuguese from the realm altogether. The king sent a letter to the Dutch Estates General proposing a joint military attack on Angola with a Kongo army and a Dutch fleet. He would pay the Dutch with gold, silver and ivory for their efforts.[14] As planned, a Dutch fleet under the command of the celebrated admiral Piet Heyn arrive in Luanda to carry out its attack in 1624. The plan failed to come to fruition as, at that point, Pedro had died and his son Garcia Mvemba a Nkanga was elected king. King Garcia I was more forgiving of the Portuguese and had been successfully persuaded by their various gestures of concilation. He was unwilling to press the attack on Angola at that time, contending that as a Catholic, he could not ally with non-Catholics to attack the city.

Kongo did form an alliance with the Dutch twenty years later when the Dutch captured Luanda, but I wonder if things would have worked out differently if King Pedro II lived and helped the Dutch invasion go according to plan in 1624...

Ultimately I think it's very important that Kongo outreach to other European powers.
 
Then by allying with the Dutch, the Kongo will be ravaged by the Imbragala which the Portuguese used as mercenaries. Frankly the Kingdom doesn't stand much of a chance against cannibal child soldiers armed and aided by the Portuguese.
 

yourworstnightmare

Banned
Donor
The Dutch invasion of 1624 was badly planned anyways. And I guess Kongo would rather have the devils you know than the unknown devils around.
 
The Dutch invasion of 1624 was badly planned anyways. And I guess Kongo would rather have the devils you know than the unknown devils around.
I think we have discussed that topic before, and I agree with you the Dutch couldn't save the Kongo by invading Angola. The Dutch were simply unable to penetrate.
 
I wonder, then, if there's a way that Kongo could go even further with its adoption of European ideas. For example, it seems that even though there were attempts to introduce European-style schools in Kongo, they were limited to clerical training.

From what I can gather from various sources, it seems that literacy was limited to the nobility, and that was usually in Portuguese, not Kikongo. There were a few catechisms printed in Kikongo but that seems to be the extent of what exists. There wasn't a Kikongo Bible until the 20th Century, and before that it appears to have been memorized. Perhaps if the Kongo nobility or the Jesuits took an earlier, more active interest in coming up with a standard written form of Kongo, the chances of Kongo survival would have been somewhat greater somehow.

So the Dutch couldn't have helped Kongo at any point? How about the English or the French later on? Since there was clearly contact between Kongo and Europe, with Kongo letters and travelers contacting the Potuguese, the Papacy, and the Dutch, I wonder why this didn't amount to further. Kongo went from being recognized as a legitimate, sovereign, Christian power to just another weak, obscure African polity to be swallowed up in the 19th century scramble. Could sending ambassadors to London, Paris, Amsterdam, and elsewhere help?

I'm imagining a more powerful, more influential Kongo that manages to obtain the entire territory of the Congo Free State instead of Belgium by the time the Europeans are drawing their maps. Since the French and the British wanted a neutral power in the area, why not an indigenous one?
 
Kongo

From what I remember about this kingdom was that it was strong and stable upon Portuguese discovery. Then it gradually fell into decline as a result of the slave trade and other factors that the Portuguese deliberately encouraged to weaken it.
 
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