Vungu
The kingdom or polity ofVunguwas a historic state located inMayombe(between the present-dayRepublic of Congoand the present-dayDemocratic Republic of Congo).[1][2]In the sixteenth century its name was written as "Bungu" reflecting the ambiguity of b/v/bh in Kikongo.
History
[edit]It is not known for sure how old Vungu was or when it was founded. The first documentary mention of it comes in a letter written byAfonso I,the king ofKongoin 1535, in which he lists "JBungu" among other places over which he ruled as king.[3]Traditions collected in the Kongo court and written up by theJesuitpriest Mateus Cardoso in 1624 cite "Bungu" as the place where the first king of Kongo ruled before crossing the Congo River to conquer Kongo.[4]That same year, KingPedro IIof Kongo mentioned that the place had been overrun and destroyed byJagas,the generic term in documents of the period for rootless militant bands reputed to be cannibals[citation needed].
References
[edit]- ^Jan Vansina,Notes sur l'origine du royaume de Kongo,The Journal of African History, 1963, Vol. 4, No. 1, p. 33-38
- ^Louis Jadin,Relations sur le Congo et l'Angola tirées des Archives de la Compagnie de Jésus 1621-1631,Academia Belgica, 1968, p. 392
- ^Afonso I to the Pope Paulo III, 21 February 1535 in Antonio Brasio, ed.Monumenta Missionaria Africana(15 vols, Lisbon 1952-88) 2: 38.
- ^[Mateus Cardoso]Historia do Reino de Congo (1624)ed. Antonio Brasio (Lisbon, 1969)