Bonifacio Pinedo

Bonifacio Pinedo (died 1954) was a king of Bolivia as the

Afro-Bolivian Afro-Bolivians are Bolivian people of Sub-Saharan African heritage and therefore the descriptive "Afro-Bolivian" may refer to historical or cultural elements in Bolivia thought to emanate from their community. It can also refer to the combining of ...

king. Born in the tropical regions of

Yungas The Yungas (Aymara ''yunka'' warm or temperate Andes or earth, Quechua ''yunka'' warm area on the slopes of the Andes) is a bioregion of a narrow band of forest along the eastern slope of the Andes Mountains from Peru and Bolivia, and extends into ...

in Bolivia, his monarchy is one of the few traditional African monarchies that has survived the vicissitudes of the

middle passage The Middle Passage was the stage of the Atlantic slave trade in which millions of enslaved Africans were transported to the Americas as part of the triangular slave trade. Ships departed Europe for African markets with manufactured goods (first ...

and subsequent slavery. He was the grandfather of the current king,

Julio Pinedo Julio Pinedo (born 19 February 1942) is the ceremonial king of the Afro-Bolivian community of the Nor Yungas province, crowned in 1992, thirty years after the death of the previous king, his grandfather Bonifacio Pinedo. His position gained off ...

, and was descended from Uchicho, a prince from the

Kongo kingdom The Kingdom of Kongo ( kg, Kongo dya Ntotila or ''Wene wa Kongo;'' pt, Reino do Congo) was a kingdom located in central Africa in present-day northern Angola, the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Republic of the ...

who was transported to Bolivia in 1820. According to the story as told by Bonifacio Pinedo, he was the oldest member of the Afro-Bolivian community, a direct descendant of a noble African tribe that resided in the

Congo Congo or The Congo may refer to either of two countries that border the Congo River in central Africa: * Democratic Republic of the Congo, the larger country to the southeast, capital Kinshasa, formerly known as Zaire, sometimes referred to a ...

at a time before

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

colonized the region. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pinedo, Bonifacio Afro-Bolivian people People from La Paz Department (Bolivia) Bolivian politicians 1954 deaths Year of birth missing