João I of Kongo

{{Short description|5th ManiKongo of Kongo from 1470 to 1509}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}} {{Infobox royalty | name = João I of Kongo | title = Awenekongo of the Lukeni Nkanda | titletext = | more = | type = | image = Jean Roy de Congo.jpg | image_size = | alt = Nzinga-a-Nkuwu João I | succession = Manikongo of the Kingdom of Kongo | moretext = | reign = 1470–1509 | reign-type = | coronation = | cor-type = | predecessor = Nkuwu a Ntinu of Kongo | pre-type = | successor = Nzinga-a-Mvemba Afonso I | suc-type = | regent = | reg-type = | birth_name = Nzinga-a-Nkuwu | birth_date = {{circa|1440}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{death year and age|1509|1440}} | death_place = | burial_date = | burial_place = | spouse = Nzinga a Nlaza | consort = | issue = Nzinga-a-Mvemba Afonso I | issue-link = | issue-pipe = | issue-type = | full name = | era name = | era dates = | regnal name = | posthumous name = | temple name = | house = Kilukeni | house-type = | father = Nkuwu a Ntinu of Kongo dia Ntotila | mother = | occupation = | religion = {{ubl|Bukongo (Until 1491)|Catholicism (1491–1495)|Bukongo (1495–1509)}} | signature_type = | signature = }}

'''King João I''' (born '''Nzinga-a-Nkuwu'''; {{circa|1440}} – 1509) was the 5th ManiKongo of the Kingdom of Kongo ({{langx|kg|Kongo-dia-Ntotila}}) between 1470 and 1509. After Portuguese sailors visited his kingdom, he voluntarily briefly converted to Catholicism. He was baptised on 3 May 1491 and took the Portuguese Christian name of ''João''. Soon after, ManiKongo Nzinga-a-Nkuwu João I abandoned the new faith in 1495 for a number of reasons, one of them being the Catholic Church's requirement of monogamy. Politically, he could not afford to abandon polygamy and embrace monogamy, a cultural shift that the king could not contemplate as power in Kongo was elective, rather than hereditary as in Europe; as Kongo culture followed a matrilineality structure, where the elder son of the king is not automatically the next king.

==Early reign== King Nzinga-a-Nkuwu was the fifth ruler of Kongo.<ref>Oliver, Roland and Anthony Atmore: "Medieval Africa, 1250–1800", page 167. Cambridge University Press, 2001.</ref> He was married to Queen Nzinga a Nlaza, a first cousin.<ref name="thornton442">Thornton, John: "Elite Women in the Kingdom of Kongo: Historical Perspectives on Women's Political Power", page 442. The Journal of African History, Vol. 47, 2006.</ref> She had a son by the king named Nzinga Mbemba. She would later help him become king of Kongo after her husband's death.<ref name="thornton442"/> Under the reign of Nzinga a Nkuwu, Kongo had grown to 100,000 square kilometers and contained a very centralized government.<ref>Thornton, John: "Elite Women in the Kingdom of Kongo: Historical Perspectives on Women's Political Power", page 438. The Journal of African History, Vol. 47, 2006.</ref>

==Arrival of the Portuguese== In 1483, a Portuguese caravel captained by Diogo Cão reached the estuary of the Congo River and made contact with subjects of the king of Kongo.<ref>Oliver, Roland and Anthony Atmore: "Medieval Africa, 1250–1800", page 168. Cambridge University Press, 2001.</ref> The Portuguese were initially well-received in Kongo. They offered the king of Kongo many presents, and participated in a festival before returning to Lisbon.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hilton |first=Anne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OymZzwEACAAJ |title=The Kingdom of Kongo |date=1985 |publisher=Clarendon Press |pages=50–51 |language=en}}</ref> Cão sailed back to Portugal carrying a party of Kongo emissaries. On arrival in Lisbon, the emissaries were baptised and placed in a monastery before returning to the king in 1491.<ref name="oliver169">Oliver, Roland and Anthony Atmore: "Medieval Africa, 1250–1800", page 169. Cambridge University Press, 2001.</ref>

On board the ship were also Portuguese priests, masons, carpenters and soldiers, as well as European goods.<ref name="oliver169" /> The ships anchored at Mpinda. After a brief halt to baptise the governor of Soyo, uncle to the manikongo, the procession went on to the capital where they were greeted by the king and five of his leading nobles.<ref name="oliver169"/>

===Baptisms and later relations=== [[File:The Baptism of João I Nzinga a Nkuwu (King of Kongo).jpg|thumb|18th-century engraving of the baptism of Nzinga a Nkuwu.]] On 3 May 1491, the king of Kongo was baptised along with his family.<ref name="oliver170">Oliver, Roland and Anthony Atmore: "Medieval Africa, 1250–1800", page 170. Cambridge University Press, 2001.</ref> Initially, only the king and his nobles were to be converted, but the queen demanded to be baptised.<ref name="thornton442" /> Kongo's royal family took the names of their Portuguese counterparts, thus João, Leonor (or Leanor in some instances) and Afonso.<ref>Hilton, Anne: "Family and Kinship among the Kongo South of the Zaire River from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Centuries", page 197. The Journal of African History, Vol. 24, No. 2, 1983.</ref> A thousand subjects were detailed to help the Portuguese carpenters build a church, meanwhile, the Portuguese soldiers accompanied the king in a campaign to defend the province of Nsundi from Bateke raiders.<ref name="oliver170" /> The European firearms were decisive in the victory and many captives were taken.<ref name="oliver170" />

==Later life== Most of the Portuguese later departed with slaves and ivory while leaving behind priests and craftsmen.<ref name="oliver170" /> After this cultural honeymoon, the king's profession of the Catholic faith proved short-lived.<ref name="oliver170" /> He died in 1509. He was succeeded by his son Afonso I via the Queen Nzinga a Nlaza.<ref name="thornton442" />

==References== {{reflist}}

{{S-start}} {{succession box | before=Nkuwu a Ntinu | title=Manikongo | years=1470–1509 | after=Afonso I}} {{S-end}} {{RulersOfKongoKingdom}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joao 01 of Kongo}} Category:1440s births Category:1509 deaths Category:Manikongo of Kongo Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from paganism Category:Kongolese royalty Category:15th-century monarchs in Africa Category:16th-century monarchs in Africa