# Mpemba

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{{Short description|13th century Bantu confederation in the Congo Basin}}
{{other uses|Mpemba (disambiguation)}}
thumb|States of the western Congo Basin, c. 1350
'''Mpemba''' was a confederation in the western [Congo Basin](/source/Congo_Basin), at least from the 13th century. Its northernmost territory, [Mpemba Kasi](/source/Mpemba_Kasi), was incorporated into the founding of the [Kingdom of Kongo](/source/Kingdom_of_Kongo) in the 14th century, and it was conquered. It neighboured the confederations of [Vungu](/source/Vungu) and [Seven Kingdoms of Kongo dia Nlaza](/source/Seven_Kingdoms_of_Kongo_dia_Nlaza). Its capital and southernmost tip was on the [Loze River](/source/Loze_River) in [Angola](/source/Angola), and it reached northwards 150 kilometres to the [Congo River](/source/Congo_River). It had sub-kingdoms, such as [Mpemba Kasi](/source/Mpemba_Kasi), and [Vunda](/source/Vunda) which was complex enough to have its own sub-units which included [Mpangala](/source/Mpangala).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Samuel |first=isaac |title=The kingdom of Kongo and the Portuguese: diplomacy, trade, warfare and early Afro-European interactions (1483-1670) |url=https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-kingdom-of-kongo-and-the-portuguese |access-date=2024-09-28 |website=www.africanhistoryextra.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Thornton |first=John K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TyXiEAAAQBAJ&dq=mpemba+kongo&pg=PP1 |title=Afonso I Mvemba a Nzinga, King of Kongo: His Life and Correspondence |date=2023-11-22 |publisher=Hackett Publishing |isbn=978-1-64792-141-5 |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=2}}<ref>{{Citation |title=The Development of States in West Central Africa to 1540 |date=2020 |work=A History of West Central Africa to 1850 |pages=16–55 |editor-last=Thornton |editor-first=John K. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/history-of-west-central-africa-to-1850/development-of-states-in-west-central-africa-to-1540/CE71122CF8DFD7B4B188BA34F8F65BFC |access-date=2024-09-21 |series=New Approaches to African History |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-56593-7}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=24-25}}

Writing in 2025, [John Thornton](/source/John_Thornton_(historian)) has proposed that Mpemba was a very large kingdom, roughly a third of the size of Kongo's greatest extent, and was Kongo's main predecessor, though he says that archaeological research at Mpemba's capital is needed.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Thornton |first=John |date=2025 |title=The Emergence of Social and Political Complexity in West Central Africa |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-african-history/article/emergence-of-social-and-political-complexity-in-west-central-africa/14513EEB16AF860BED4159D78223E2B8 |journal=The Journal of African History |language=en |volume=66 |pages=e25 |doi=10.1017/S0021853725100662 |issn=0021-8537|doi-access=free |hdl=2144/52852 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}

Category:Former countries in Africa
Category:Kingdom of Kongo
Category:Former monarchies of Africa
Category:Countries in medieval Africa
Category:Countries in precolonial Africa
Category:Former kingdoms

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mpemba](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mpemba) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mpemba?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.