Manikongo (also called Awenekongo or Mwenekongo) was the title of the ruler of the

Kingdom of Kongo The Kingdom of Kongo ( or ''Wene wa Kongo;'' ) was a kingdom in Central Africa. It was located in present-day northern Angola, the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, southern Gabon and the Republic of the Congo. At its gre ...

, a kingdom that existed from the 14th to the 19th centuries and consisted of land in present-day

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

Gabon Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...

, the

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...

and the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

. The manikongo's seat of power was Mbanza Kongo (also called ''São Salvador'' from 1570 to 1975), now the capital of Zaire Province in Angola. The manikongo appointed governors for the provinces of the Kingdom and received tribute from neighbouring subjects. The term "manikongo" is derived from Portuguese , an alteration of the KiKongo term (literally "Lord of Kongo"). The term , from which is derived, is also used to mean kingdom and is attested with this meaning in the Kongo

catechism A catechism (; from , "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of Catholic theology, doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult co ...

of 1624 with reference to the Kingdom of Heaven. The term is created by adding the personal prefix to this stem, to mean "person of the kingdom". is attested in very early texts, notably the letters of King

Afonso I of Kongo Mvemba a Nzinga, Nzinga Mbemba, Funsu Nzinga Mvemba or Dom Alfonso ( – 1542 or 1543),The Encyclopedia of African-American Heritage by Susan Altman, Chapter M, page 181 also known as King Afonso I, was the sixth ruler of the Kingdom of Kongo fr ...

, where he writes, to Portuguese kings Manuel I (in 1514) and João III concerning the () and twice concerning the . was used to mean not only "king" but also anyone holding authority, so provincial and sub-provincial officials also were called . Afonso did not entitle himself Manikongo, but rather (king of Kongo). Subjects were required to prostrate themselves before the Manikongo, approaching him on all fours, and when time came for the Manikongo to eat or drink, an attendant would chime two iron rods, cueing them to lay face-down so that they could not see him do so.

References

Kingdom of Kongo Kongo people Monarchy {{government-stub

See also

References