João II Nzuzi a Ntamba was a ruler of Lemba and was one of the main

Kinlaza The Kinlaza were members of the Nlaza kanda or House of Kinlaza, one of the ruling houses of the Kingdom of Kongo during the 17th century. It was one of the main factions during the Kongo Civil War along with the Kimpanzu and Kinkanga a Mvika ...

claimants A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the ...

to the throne of the Kingdom of Kongo during its

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, the other being the King of Kibangu. He ruled the Kingdom of Lemba from 1680 to 1716.

Rule

After the assassination of Pedro III by the King of Mbamba Lovata, Manuel de Nóbrega, João was the next in line, as his younger brother. Once he ascended to the throne of Lemba, João worked tirelessly to try and bring the other Kinlaza stronghold kingdom of Kibangu under his rule as well, but never this was never achieved. After the members of the

Antonianism Antonianism, or Antonine sect ( Portuguese: ''Antonianismo''), was a syncretic Bakongo Catholic movement formed in the Kingdom of Kongo between 1704 and 1708, as a development out of the Roman Catholic Church in Kongo, yet without denying the aut ...

religious sect were defeated in the

Battle of São Salvador The Battle of São Salvador was a military engagement during the Kongo Civil War that pitted the remnants of Dona Beatriz's Antonianism religious movement against the orthodox Catholic followers of King Pedro IV. Lead up to Battle Toward the e ...

, they fled to Lemba and attempted to gain the support of João. As Pedro IV had recently re-established himself as the King of Kongo by conquering São Salvador, João declined to recognise him and continued his claim to the kingdom and decided to march his armies down to face King Pedro. This culminated in the Battle of Mbula on October 4, 1709, ending in a victory for Pedro. João retreated back to Lemba after the battle and this left Pedro as the de facto Manikongo, despite João never dropping his claim until his death in 1716, when the Kingdom of Lemba came back into Kongo.Thornton, John K: "The Kongolese Saint Anthonty: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita and the Antonian Movement, 1684-1706", page 200. Cambridge University, 1998

References

Kingdom of Kongo 1716 deaths Year of birth missing {{Africa-royal-stub