Emanuele Ne Vunda Sala dei Corazzieri Palazzo Ducale

Antonio Emanuele Ne Vunda, also known as Antonio Manuel Nsaku Nvunda (or Vunta or Funda; died 1608), was an ambassador from the

Kingdom of Kongo 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 ...

to the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

Career

Ne Vund was sent as ambassador by King

Álvaro II Álvaro (, , ) is a Spanish, Galician and Portuguese male given name and surname (see Spanish naming customs) of Visigothic origin. Some claim it may be related to the Old Norse name Alfarr, formed of the elements ''alf'' "elf" and ''arr'' "warrio ...

in 1604. Ne Vunda traveled through

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and only reached

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

on 3 January 1608, but he died two days later of illness. He was the first African ambassador to the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

Legacy

A bust of Ne-Vunda made in colored marble can be seen at

Santa Maria Maggiore The Basilica of Saint Mary Major ( it, Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, ; la, Basilica Sanctae Mariae Maioris), or church of Santa Maria Maggiore, is a Major papal basilica as well as one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome and the larges ...

, by Francesco Caporale in Rome.University of Minnesota
/ref> A painting of Ne Vunda is visible in the Sala dei Corazzieri,

Palazzo del Quirinale The Quirinal Palace ( it, Palazzo del Quirinale ) is a historic building in Rome, Italy, one of the three current official residences of the president of the Italian Republic, together with Villa Rosebery in Naples and the Tenuta di Castelporzian ...

in Rome, next to a painting depicting the 1615 embassy of

Hasekura Tsunenaga was a kirishitan Japanese samurai and retainer of Date Masamune, the daimyō of Sendai. He was of Japanese imperial descent with ancestral ties to Emperor Kanmu. Other names include Philip Francis Faxicura, Felipe Francisco Faxicura, and Phi ...

from

Edo Japan The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteri ...

References

Bibliography

* Teobaldo Filesi, ''Le relazioni tra il Regno del Congo e la Sede Apostolica nel XVI secolo'', Pietro Cairoli, Como 1968. * Luis Martínez Ferrer, Marco Nocca (ed.), ''“Coisas do outro mundo” A Missão em Roma de António Manuel, Príncipe de N’Funta, conhecido per “o Negrita” (1604-1608), na Roma de Paulo V'', Urbaniana University Press, Città del Vaticano, 2003. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vunda, Emanuele Ne Kingdom of Kongo 1608 deaths Year of birth unknown Ambassadors to the Holy See 16th-century births