Monsieur John K. Thornton

The Kingdom of Kongo, ca. 1390-1678. The Development of anAfrican Social FormationIn: Cahiers d'études africaines. Vol. 22 N°87-88. 1982. pp. 325-342.

RésuméJ. K. Thornton — Le royaume du Kongo, ca. 1390-1678. Développement d'une formation sociale africaine.L'abondance et l'ancienneté de la documentation concernant le Kongo permettent d'analyser son évolution par les méthodes dumatérialisme historique. Le royaume apparaît alors comme une formation sociale combinant deux modes de production : unmode esclavagiste centré sur la capitale, et un mode villageois dans les zones rurales. La période 1390-1678 correspond audéveloppement et à la prédominance du mode esclavagiste. Elle s'achève quand ce mode est détruit par la guerre civile. Lacontradiction centrale réside dans le fait que, alors que les forces économiques concentraient leur domination dans la capitale,une compétition constante pour le contrôle de cette ville opposait les lignages. Quand la traite atlantique provoqua ledéveloppement d'une deuxième ville dans la province de Sonyo, les vaincus de la lutte pour la capitale purent y trouver refuge.Ainsi, lorsque les troupes portugaises infligèrent une défaite temporaire au Kongo (1665), il se produisit une situation —crisedans la capitale, conflit entre ses lignages et ceux de Sonyo — qui entraîna la guerre civile et la destruction de Sâo Salvador.

Citer ce document / Cite this document :

K. Thornton John. The Kingdom of Kongo, ca. 1390-1678. The Development of an African Social Formation. In: Cahiersd'études africaines. Vol. 22 N°87-88. 1982. pp. 325-342.

doi : 10.3406/cea.1982.3380

http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/cea_0008-0055_1982_num_22_87_3380

JOHN THORNTON

The Kingdom of Kongo ca 1390-1678

The Development of an African Social Formation

Etienne Balibar theoretical work has suggested that the continu ity of history be replaced by discontinuity succession of momentarily invariant states of the structure which modify themselves by sudden change Balibar 1968 II 83 These states are modes of production and the history of society is reducible to discontinuous succession of modes of production ibid 84).1 The history of individual social formations should thus be reducible to that of the modes of production dominant at any given time Since this method claims universality the evolution of one central African social formation that of the kingdom of Kongo can be examined in this way as we shall show It is not always simple however to convert sweeping theoretical generalizations into concrete analysis but the importance of attempting to deal with specific societies within unifying framework is worthwhile if one tries to tran scend simple description and encompass analysis Vilar 1973 The fact that the Kongo history is fairly accessible through contempo rary documentation provides an opportunity to combine the careful analysis of source material with the theoretical concepts elaborated by writers such as Balibar

What we will attempt to show is that the classic period of history ca 1390-1678 was one in which the Kongo social formation was dominated by single mode of production although others played significant role in the structure) whose establishment and dissolution defined the beginning and ending of the period Its inception in about 1390 was central to the constitution of the social formation of Kongo while the complex activity between its various levels and relations led to its eventual destruction and the break-up of the social formation after 1678 to be replaced by new one made up largely of the elements that composed the kingdom during its classic period but combined in new way

In order to understand the Kongo development it is easiest

precise method of rendering this succession of modes of production has been rightly criticized as being teleological by HINDESS HIRST 1975 312-320

Cahiers tudes africaines 87-88 -4 pp 125-342

326 JOHN THORNTON

to begin at the point when the system was functioning at its height the period around 5î.2 This has the advantage of allowing to observe its constituent elements and forces in full mature operation using the best source material available i.e the numerous reports of the Capuchin missionaries who came to Kongo after 1645 Understanding the opera tion of the system at its climax enables us to trace its various tendencies back the past and thus helps illuminate the less adequate descriptive sources available for earlier periods At the same time careful evalua tion of the functioning of system in the mid-iyth century allows

much more sophisticated analysis of oral traditions since they conform in the i7th century the period of their collection) to the then prevalent forms of society while revealing in their own way the origins of those forms

The dominant mode of production in mid- th century Kongo was slave mode of production centered on its capital town of Salvador It co-existed with another variant of the so-called lineage mode of production Meillassoux 1960 Terray 1969 Rey i975)3 found in the rural regions This division into two modes of production was presented as sectoral and ethnic difference Thus Bernardo da Gallo Capuchin visitor to Kongo wrote that it is necessary to know that two peoples are found in this kingdom one outsiders and the other .4 The outsiders were invaders arrived as conquerors with the first king and inhabitants of the royal city Salvador while the peasants indigenous to the country were found in the countryside While the idea of conquering outsiders and actual ethnic differentiation is probably not historically true MacGaffey 1974 422-425 Ekholm 1972 157) the social division that this distinction implied was very much alive during the period of the height But these ethnic-sectoral differences town versus village masked the real structural differentiation between the two modes of production that were combined in the social formation.5

In the countryside the dominated sector village economy common to many rural African societies prevailed land was owned communally and harvests were divided between the households which regulated the production and distribution of all goods This economy produced social surplus which was appropriated through rent in kind by small- scale consuming class composed primarily of village rulers and their

The detailed description of Kongo in 1650 is drawn from the analysis in my Ph thesis i979a 50-172 My method of proceeding here starting with the full development and then going on to original and final tendencies is the approach used in classic study of mode of production 1967)

For good critique of these somewhat heterogeneous studies see HINDESS HIRST 1975 41-78

Bernardo da Gallo Conto della Villacazione missionale 12 dicembre Archivio de Propaganda Fide henceforth APF) series Scritture Originali

riferite nelle Congregazione Generale henceforth SOCG) 576 fol French transia tionnot always accurate in JADIN 1961 449-488

In this respect social formation is rather like that of Gyaman recently described by TERRAY 1975 85-135

THE KINGDOM OF KONGO CA 1390-1678 327

households and staff whose social origins are unclear and religious figure called the kitowi.6 Although villages were largely self-sufficient there was substantial market system and trade conducted locally suggesting some specialization of labor and commodity production The rural ruling class levied tax on this trade but their prime source of sub sistence was the rent they drew from the village probably through family-based or endorsed relationships which permitted them to control to some extent the union of producers and their means of production.7 In general however the village ruler played little or no role in productive decisions and normally appeared to take portion of production only after the process was complete Carii Guattini 1732 i68 Carli 1687 67)

The economy of the towns like that of the villages was largely self- sufficient many goods Salvador was surrounded by plantations worked by slaves and these took care of the need for food as long- distance transport of bulk goods was difficult The slaves produced surplus by means of labor rent the evidence suggests that they worked large fields for the nobility while being permitted to establish their own self-supporting households Merolla 1692 155-156 .8 Thus they were only partly separated from the means of production the importance of slavery resulting more from the concentration of unattached persons than from masters complete control of the labor process Indeed the density in Salvador area exceeded that of rural regions by ten or even fifteen to one Thornton 1977 518-522 The nobility was able to force production of certain crops and to control their distribution but beyond that the slaves were simply integrated into villages like those of the rural regions.9 Despite the apparent independence of the two modes of production the urban or slave one was dominant Rural areas

Much of what is known about rural economy comes from the 17th-century observations of Dionigio de Carli da Piacenza who lived in Mbamba province south west Kongo in 1667-68 He left two slightly different versions of his diary CARLI 1687 CARLI GUATTINI 1732 The kitami not mentioned in account was supported either from dues collected by himself personally or by share in the surplus to the village ruler Buenaventura de Cerolla Relasion de los ritos gent li cos ca APF SOCG 249 fol 337 and GAVAZZI 1687 no 179 On the concept of rent used here derived from MARX 1967 III 790-813 see HINDESS HIRST 1975 I88-I93

The 17th-century data provide no picture of life sufficient to deduce the possibility of elder status being used to extract surplus On the importance of at least potential ability to separate producers from the means of production see HINDESS HIRST 1975 234-259 and their auto-critique of this work 1977 63-72)

These details on the operation of the slave mode of production are derived from Sonyo in 1680 and have been applied to Kongo town sectors in general See also THORNTON i979a 118-129

For example Kongo nobility required their slaves to grow luko which by 1640 had become an exclusively noble food Capelle to J.-M Nassau 1642 in JADIN 1966 224 In 1705 Lorenzo da Lucca passed whole nelds given over to this crop near Mbanza Sonyo CUVELIER 1953 90 Town districts were in fact

great agglomeration of villages in 1700 Mbanza Sonyo had 134 village-like settlements Antonio Maria da Firenze 1705 APF series Scritture riferite nei Congressi henceforth SRC) Congo III fol 127 Giuseppi Monari da Modena Viaggio al Congo Biblioteca Estense Ms Italicus 1380 alpha N-9-7 98- 98-)

328 JOHN THORN-TON

yielded surplus to the town collected annually in the form of taxes typically easily transportable articles that made up for gaps in the productive capacity of Salvador iron non-ferrous metals copper principally) salt wild animal products hides and ivory) cloth made from tree bark and produced mainly the heavily wooded eastern regions and some slaves This permitted the capital to specialize in bulk goods for noble consumption while many of the products from the provinces were useful extensive international trade Without this source nobility would have been unable to live fully in the style of luxury that was the sign of their class Cavazzi 1687 no 327).10 To insure the regular collection of taxes large section of the urban aristocracy lived for varying periods in the countryside Thus both town and country were dominated politically and economically by the representatives of ruling class Taken as whole then the entire social formation functioned as single economic system directed towards producing surplus for its town-dwelling upper-class even though this system permitted wide economic leeway for the subordinate mode of production or outside of direct noble control.11

The existence of these two modes and their interrelationship condition ed the existence of the State and established its limits at the same time as it guaranteed the reproduction of the conditions in which it operated The power of the king was based in large part upon his control of Salvador whose estates produced surplus far larger than that available in the rural regions where relative poverty viewed from the noble point of view made life unattractive One 17th-century observer noted that it was the policy to keep the people in miserable poverty so as to rule them more easily.12 The economic structure led to concentration in the capital not only of luxury goods obtained from all parts of the kingdom and other social formations but also of large amounts of freed labor fed from the estates and able to serve for large building projects standing armies retinues for personal service and other signs of luxu rious life The king dispatched members of the nobility out to rule the provinces and insure this continued flow of goods but life in the country side being unattractive he also promised them return if they did well Thus any career in Kongo tended to start out in minor rural province to

10 It is clear that however important export trade may have been to her rulers it was internally generated surpluses that created the possibility of noble lifestyle and the need for this foreign trade in luxuries Kongo did not have

trade-based African mode of production as suggested by COQUERY-VIDROVITCH 1969 68-69)

11 The combination of powerful State and largely independent village communities is often seen as an Asiatic mode of concept recently revived by French authors GODELIER 1969 SURET-CANALE 1969 The concept of an Asiatic mode of production has been severely criticized in HINDESS HIRST 1975 178-220) and SERENI 1976 has suggested that it is best to see such economies as social formations combining two different modes of production An approach similar to this one for African societies is that of TERRAY 1975)

12 Il Sitio del Regno di Congo ed una Relatione di Esso ca APF SOCG 250 fol 77-77

THE KINGDOM OF KONGO CA 1390-1678 329

move from there to more important rural districts and finally to Salvador either in the State bureaucracy or host of lesser positions Since the term in the province was limited they had little incentive to invest in rural base the poverty of the countryside with its scattered population and meager resources acting as further disin centive In contrast obedience and prompt functioning as tax collector insured lavish retirement in the capital town These economic incen tives for obedience and reproduction of Salvador as unique noble center were supplemented by strong political ones The available surplus and free population made possible by it meant that the metropolis could easily raise large military force for its defense in addition to the standing army which was also fed upon the surplus Provincial revolt aimed at attacking the capital and unseating an unpopular king was impossible if he was firmly in control of the town.13 Civil clashes in 17th-century Kongo typically occurred at the time of the election of

new king when none of the contenders might control the capital and the arrival of well-organized force to support faction might turn the election.14 Rulers of provinces should they wish to revolt at any other time could be punished with ease by simply being ignored and left in rural poverty or dealt with in leisurely fashion by ambitious nobles who might hope to win an unexpectedly high position through military valor and thus speed up their advancement to an honored place Salvador.15 So pervasive was this combination of economic and political incentives to centralization that even people who could claim hereditary title to rural region were anxious to seek bonds with member of the urban upper-class so that they or their descendents could retire to the capital.16

The functioning of this system was finally integrated through the kin ship structure of the Kongo nobility All the noble kin groups tended to form great pyramid whose apex was occupied by the household Other kin groups were united with it through series of marriages with relatives of varying closeness to the king or to clients of his Powerful lineages might operate in similar way with regards to lesser ones so that the great pyramid capped by the household was composed of lesser pyramids of patron and client groups The major offices in the provinces

13 This seems apparent in the detailed description of the revolt of lvaro brother Afonso 1621 Mateus Cardoso Rela do alevamento de Afonso irm do Rei lvaro III Archivùm Romanùm Societas lesu Lusitânia 55 fol 115-117 and CARDOSO 1973 232-233)

14 Such was clearly the case with Garcia usurpation of 1641 Giacinto Brugiotti da Vetralla Alcuni appuntamenti notabili circa la Missione di Congo

ca APF SOCG 250 fol 198 199 Antonio de Teruel Descripci narrativa de la misi ser fica de los Padres Capuchinos en el reyno de Congo

Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid Ms 3533 fol 124) 15 lvaro III handled his revolt in 1621 first ignoring him then

giving Manuel Jord the province if he could subdue it See supra fn 13 16 For example the hereditary nobility of Nkusu refused to marry local

women in 1648 its members hoping to match with women from Salvador BN Madrid Ms 3533 fol 78)

330 JOHN THORNTON

or the royal staff were given out according to the status thus created members of the own household getting them while client lineages got lesser ones The holders of each of these posts might in turn give charges over to their relatives or clients Thus the kinship pyramid extended from Salvador all the way down to poor rural functions that controlled no more than few villages.17

This system might remain stable during the reign of king but at his death certain instabilities naturally entered in The king was elected technically by set of traditionally designated electors and actually by the most powerful members of the royal and main client households Thus the succession was settled as family dispute but family made more complex due to its size and extensiveness Ambiguous claims made by or former relatives or by client lineage could produce serious struggles for control of the kingship In these struggles factions would emerge as various contenders united to form coalitions against other branches of the same or other households Once the struggle was over and it often did not last long the losing coalition would be reintegrated into the clientage-kinship system and disappear altogether Since alliances tended to unite powerful kin groups with lesser ones participation in conflicts of this kind might promote the latter to important positions and in time allow them to covet the monarchy Documentary and oral records mention several instances of change in the ruling lineage during the course of the loth and i7th centuries although the earlier struggles are not so thoroughly documented as the later ones.18

The functioning of the dominant mode of production thus shaped the entire political and economic system of Kongo The centralization of slaves at Salvador the additional surplus and its appropriation through control of the productive process forced nobles to return to the town This in turn reinforced the centrality of the mode of production by discouraging its growth into rural areas and permitting the king to maintain policy of deliberately curtailing rural investment Finally

two-sector surplus-producing economy reinforced the town-rural distinctions by creating single surplus obtained through complementary contributions from town and country

Thus having reviewed the main aspects of the Kongo social formation as it appeared in 1650 we can begin to trace its origin some two centuries earlier and then its final dissolution which was only about quarter century away Understanding the functioning of Kongo in its maturity can help us to unravel the scant documents and oral traditions pertaining to its beginning and to comprehend its sudden and devastating end

17 The formation of these kinship systems is illustrated with examples in THORNTON i979a 118-129

18 However remarkable document the Auto de devassa de written in 1550 is an interesting view of the pattern of lineage struggle in the mid- i6th century BR SIO 1952-71 II 248-262 On the 17th-century struggles see THORNTON i979a 118-129

THE KINGDOM OF KONGO CA 1390-1678 331

The documented testimony of eyewitnesses concerning Kongo goes back to the first Portuguese visits of 1483 time when the kingdom already existed so that only oral traditions relate its origins These oral traditions were primarily ideological documents whose first concern was the religious justification and delineation of an ideal Kongo that of the time in which they were recorded Thus despite their historical form many of the events are in fact ideological in nature and bear no definite relationship to what actually happened However there is reason to believe that interwoven with these ideological passages are facts that can be used to make historical reconstruction An understanding of the justificatory aspects of traditions as well as firm knowledge of the system they tend to explain are of great value in their use

These traditions recorded in the second quarter of the i7th century by Jesuit priests Cardoso 1969 Cavazzi 1687 II no 86-90)19 can be divided into two parts both of which were relevant for the functioning of Kongo at the time First there was the myth of origin which related how the kingdom was founded by Nimi aLukeni Wyatt MacGaffey in analyzing the religious aspects of this tradition has shown how much of it is in fact justification of particular rule The story tells how Nimi crossed the Zaire symbolizing the border between the underworld and the earth) fought the inhabitants of Kongo was revealed to possess the attributes of kingship and was finally consecrated by chthonian spirit medium MacGaffey 1974 422-425 The second part of the tradition is

king list with chronicle of the kings and genealogy woven in This served the dual purpose of not only eulogizing particular kings but also of justifying the ruling household of the time as proper descendent of Nimi aLukeni In the complex lineage politics of the i7th century this aspect of the traditions was particularly important and it needs hardly be added most subject to manipulation

The myth of origin rather than being simply the story of the founding king is in fact representation of the origin of the 17th-century social formation In the tradition Nimi aLukeni founds Salvador and leads the citizens of the town sector into battle He thus establishes the difference between the sectors and puts the urban one in dominance This dominance is further reinforced by Nimi establishment of the political constitution of the country by giving out the provinces to his captains for set term and not for life Cardoso 1969 45 further note that Nimi aLukeni in founding the city ordered mass of people assembled to drain marsh on the site suggests that the major function of the town sector the concentration of servile labor power in one spot was also established from the beginning Cavazzi 1687 II no 87).20

19 Details on the sources of traditions in THORNTON Bernardo da Gallo Conto delle Villacazione missionale 12 dicembre APF SOCG 576 fol 328-332

20 Bernardo da Gallo Conto delle Villacazione missionale 12 dicembre APF SOCG 576 fol 328 This passage only indicates Nimi role

332 JOHN THORNTON

Nimi aLukeni then is traditionally considered to be the founder of the slave mode of production centered on Salvador and hence the initiator of all its social and economic consequences Of course while Nimi aLukeni may well have been an important personage of the era the story turns him into symbol representing what was undoubtedly complex social product stretching over more than lifetime and involving

multitude of people as the work of single man While the main purpose of the myth is to establish the structure of the

kingdom and its religious justification there are number of details asides and other facts mixed in it that do not contribute in any one or another way to its ideological aspects From this it seems possible to reconstruct something of the social formation that preceeded Kongo in the era and some details of at least Nimi social setting First of all the traditions state that Kongo was divided into many different petty States without any political unity Cardoso 1969 43 Cavazzi 1687 II no 86 That group of such States did indeed exist is attested by the survival of their ruling classes in several provinces such as Mbata Nkusu and Mpangu into the i7th century where they exercised ancient hereditary title to their lands though by the lyth century they were anxious to mix into the families of the Salvador region and connect their careers with that town.21 It seems logical that the economy was not unlike that of the rural regions of the i7th century scattered population rendered surplus in kind to generally impoverished and only locally ascendent nobility who would never control firmly an area more than perhaps fifty kilometers in radius since beyond that limit transportation of agricultural surplus was impractical.22 Warfare in this time was nevertheless important for Nimi father was said to be raider who had sought his fortune by reducing one or another local stronghold and demanding tribute Cavazzi 1687 II no 86 Such adventurers would not be able to control their small empires long since they lacked the necessary resources to build permanent State structures encompass ing large areas Nimi father had in fact several times built larger political units that had fallen apart ibid.)

While there was lack of large-scale political organization in the region it was not without cultural unity The series of small States that stretched north and south of the Zaire river considered each other as

as gatherer of people the historical validity of their task that of draining marsh need not be true

21 Antonio de Teruel Descripci narrativa de la misi ser fica de los Padres Capuchinos en el reyno de Congo BN Madrid Ms 3533 fol 148 See also THORNTON 1979a 118-129

22 On the economic problems of transport and their effects on sovereignty economic life and social structure see CHAUNU 1974 190 have built this model of maximum transportability of food surpluses from the fact that in 1685 the prince of Sonyo collected agricultural tribute at Mbanza Sonyo while his subordinate in Kiova 70 kilometers away required separate special collection See Andrea da Pav Voyages apostoliques aux missions Afrique in JADIN 1970 450

THE KINGDOM OF KONGO CA 1390-1678 333

united by ties of apparent perpetual kinship Thus in the 17th-century Vungu the traditional origin point of Nimi aLukeni was the father of the king of Kongo while Mpemba Kasi lying just south of it was .23 In the i6th century King Afonso described the ruler of Mbata province in terms clearly suggesting positional uncle and hence

brother to Vungu and Mpemba Kasi and we can also suggest that the coastal province of Sonyo whose ruler was first described to the Portu guese 1491 as the uncle was also in reality positional uncle.24

version of the founding traditions names actual rulers of these areas as part of Nimi genealogy Cavazzi 1687 II ii0 86 Later conquest of most of the southern and northeastern regions under

kings and their direct subordination to the throne eliminated whatever other perpetual kinship titles there may have been there

Dating the period in which this pre-Kongo social system was current is difficult but by examining the genealogy of the kings and the king lists it seems plausible to date Nimi time to about 1390 although this date should be viewed with caution as the genealogies given their political significance to the 17th-century rulers may well be incorrect.25 The evidence does suggest rather late date since the final integration of Kongo as social formation dominated by the slave mode of production centered in Salvador was still in progress when the first Portuguese arrived in 1483 We could thus say that the process as whole occupied

23 Girolamo da Montesarchio Viaggio del Gongho cioè Relatione scritta da un nostro missionario Archivio Provinciale dei Cappuccini da Toscana Ms 1669 fol 39 on Mpemba Kasi

24 Rui de Pina Chronica dei Rei Joam in BR SIO 1952-71 61 This uncle was ruling in 1491 and still in 1506 when he helped Afonso against his enemies) which is long time for an appointed official His prestige is enhanced by the fact that he was one of the three electors of the other two Mbata was positional uncle and Vunda hereditary descendent of the original ruler of the

Salvador region This strengthens the idea that this uncle was really posi tional uncle who derived his prestige from the pre-existing system GAVAZZI 1687 II no 77 86 PiGAFETTA I591 49-5 on Sonyo and Afonso

25 Cardoso Cavazzi and da Gallo provide genealogical king lists which contra dict each other while CARDOSO is contradictory in several of his various historical writings in 1622 he wrote 1973 238 that two kings nephew and son succeeded Nimi aLukeni the son being Jo ruling in 1483 while in 1624 he writes 1969 47 that there were six princes between Nimi aLukeni and Jo In detailed genealogical tradition of the same year he wrote that two nephews succeeded Nimi aLukeni then his son and finally his grandson Jo Cardoso to Manuel Rodrigues in BR SIO 1952-71 VIII 291 Cavazzi while providing genealogical data for late kings says nothing about the early period and da Gallo APF SOCG 576 fol 328 has Jo as the fourth king following Nimi aLukeni Since the accounts make it clear that collateral relatives as well as sons succeeded Nimi aLukeni it is possible that some were telescoped especially if their reigns were short as Kongo kings reigns often were genealogy of 1624 would then provide the best guide to the chronology if Afonso were born in 1460 as CUVELIER 1946 suggests then Jo would have been born about 1430 his father in about 1400 and Nimi aLukeni in 1370 giving 1390 as likely date for the start of his reign Of course as HENIGE 1974 has pointed out such exercises are of questionable value The ultimate solution may be an archaeological one for the founding of social formation may be visible in the growth of Salvador

334 JOHN THORNTON

rather long period in the i4th and i5th centuries with 1390 recognized as the core of the most decisive period

There is nothing in the traditions to suggest exactly why through what series of conjunctures this stable system of petty States permitted the growth of large slave-based center one region we only know that it did happen and that the traditions give Nimi aLukeni credit for doing it

The process of growth of social formation around this newly dominant slave center can be guessed by the pattern of expansion describ ed in documents after 1483 The original foundation of the kingdom was then its central town and the provinces lying just around it plus close ties through perpetual kinship to such northern areas as Vungu Loango Kakongo and Ngoyo.26 There were also stronger bonds with the neigh boring perpetual uncle districts of Sonyo and Mbata which had submitted to direct control in exchange for the preservation of their ruling families the right to elect the king and to intermarry into the royal family.27 From here though new expansion occurred as the central town grew in size and luxury and the mature social formation began to develop Members of the royal family led expeditions against the northeast and southwest forcing direct submission of these areas to the throne under control of the royal family and its allies The goal of these expeditions was twofold first to bring back slaves for the central town and second to secure regions that specialized in the production of items unavailable in the capital Thus the ruler of Nsundi expanded early in 1491 and again in 1509 Portuguese assisted the subordination of Nsanga and Masinga on north while Afonso expanded the province to the east after 1497.28 This expansion brought not only slaves but control over areas producing iron and cloth Thornton i979a 88-90 Iron was also possible motive for the persistent attacks on Mpanzulumbu just south of the Zaire river which was finally reduced to submission only in 1535.29 Expansion southwest under the ruler of Mbamba drove south to Luanda whose nzimbu monetary shells fisheries were under Kongo control by 1500 but the salt-producing coastal districts north of Luanda

26 The structure that follows is deduced frorn the royal title which read King of Congo followed by and Lord of The regions over which he is king include Kongo and the perpetual relatives to the north such as Vungu Loango and so on He then styles himself Lord of conquered and tributary lands to the south and east which were outside this system

27 In Kongo both Sonyo and Mbata kept their independence due to their connections to the original perpetual kinship system but in time became so deeply intermarried into ruling families that many noblemen from these areas followed normal careers in system THORNTON i979a 115-116 131- 132)

28 Rui de Pina BR SIO 1952-71 135-136 and Armada de Gon alo Roiz ibid. IV 60-62 On campaigns see Francisco de Santa Maria céu aberto na ibid. 95

29 Mpanzulumbu mentioned as enemy Afonso to Manuel October 1514 in BR SIO 1952-71 319 and in his titles as recent conquest in Afonso to Paolo III 2i February 1535 ibid. II 38)

THE KINGDOM OF KONGO CA 1390-1678 335

Musulu and Chamgala were not under Kongo control until after 1560.30 Other attacks were carried out against the Dembo areas in the inland mountainous districts The Portuguese in 1513 joined in for one of them whose purpose was the taking of slaves.31

At the same time raids were conducted beyond the region under direct control against neighboring kingdoms to bring them under nominal submission to Kongo with payment of tribute Such areas kept their own rulers and were often powerful kingdoms in their own right in 1535 both Ndongo and Matamba were such tributaries.32 Again these attacks had economic motives the obtaining of commodities that could not be produced in the central town iron and salt were extracted in Matamba and cattle bred in Ndongo.33 Taking these products as tribute eliminat ed the need to give up other resources in trade although Kongo did trade with its neighbors especially the east and northeast Pigafetta 1591 i6 Series of such raids continued throughout reign 1506- 1543 and his successor Diogo 1545-1561 was especially active in the south and southeast which led to the direct control of Nkusu and the Christianization but not control of the Dembo region.34 After Diogo though the southern drive stalled and ended in unsuccessful attack on Ndongo in 158035 but the drive eastwards into the cloth rich areas continued unabated Two of successors died fighting in the northeast and lvaro 1567-1578 added the powerful eastern kingdom of Kongo diaNlaza and even the Kwango State of Nsuku to the southeast.36 After this expansion to the cloth-producing areas whose production could be traded with the Portuguese Pigafetta 1591 17-18) territorial growing stopped Maturity had been reached and balanced economy of slave production and rural specialization achieved so that the 17th-century record is devoid of expansionist wars and Kongo remained on the defensive Thornton i979a 175-176)

We have already shown in our analysis of Kongo in 1650 how the social formation which reached maturity by 1620 appeared quite stable It was not without instabilities however and these eventually led to its destruction in series of civil wars at the middle and end of the i7th cen tury Several important contradictions arose during the period of

maturity which the end led to the demise The first contradiction was that while economic forces made the slave

30 PEREIRA 1937 145 on Luanda islands Chamgala was still unintegrated in 1561 Apontamentos de Pe Sebasti de Souto ca in BR SIO 1952-71 II 477 while Musulu appeared in titles in 1535 as land where he was only

Afonso to Paolo III 21 February ibid. II 38 Afonso to Manuel October in BR SIO 1952-71 311-313

32 Afonso to Paolo III 21 February in BR SIO 1952-71 II 38 33 On Matamba PIGAFETTA 1591 i8 Ndongo Ant nio Mendes to Padre

Geral May in BR SIO 1952-71 II 502 34 Sebasti de in BR SIO 1952-71 II 477-481 35 Baltasar Barreira to Sebasti de Morais 31 January in BR SIO

1952-71 III 208 and PIGAFETTA 1591 57 36 lvaro to Pope 20 January in BR SIO 1952-71 III 238

JOHN THORNTON

mode of production centered on Salvador unique normal demographic growth led an increasingly large group of nobles to compete for its control No matter how firmly one lineage might control Salvador within one generation its growth and branching would produce several lineages equally eligible to rule

The economic structure imposed by dominance in Kongo did not permit this surplus of eligible contenders to be absorbed outside of

Salvador and as result history was characterized by series of political crises as one lineage in coalition with its allies would attack another Afonso had come to the throne in one such contest against another lineage-head named Mpanzu aKitama.37 At death struggle broke out between the eventual king Diogo and lineage called Kibala headed by son Pedro.38 lineage died out in 1567 and was replaced by one named Kimpanzu led by lvaro which ruled until it faced crisis in 1621.39 At this point it

shared the throne with client lineage the Kinkanga aMvika and in 1636 third lineage was involved in the struggle later known as the Kinlaza lineage.40 King Garcia II 1641-1661 of the Kinlaza lineage finally was able to end this long simmering conflict between the three lineages by forcefully imposing his own lineage on the throne see sources cited fn 14)

second contradiction arose to complement this cycle of lineage disputes which need not in themselves have ever led to more than series of short relatively limited civil wars which posed little threat to the structure of the kingdom itself This was the rise in the Atlantic coastal province of Sonyo of second slave mode of production centered on town the region of Mpinda-Mbanza Sonyo We have already pointed out that the structure of the Kongo social formation prevented the rise of rural centers of population with slave mode of production and Sonyo proves an exception to this rule This province acquired its host of slaves by accident being port of embarkation for slaves involved in the transatlantic slave trade and unlike other points in Kongo where arriving slaves could be easily moved on to the coast those reaching Mpinda port had to await suitable shipping to continue their journey The vagaries of Portuguese politics and transatlantic naviga tion were such that at times large numbers of slaves would be left there without further transport as indeed happened as early as 1548.41 An inevitable result of this forced holding of large numbers of surplus persons was the establishment of slave-based mode of production on the coast

37 Afonso letter to his Lords his People and the Pope in BR SIO 1952-71 260-269 270-272

38 Auto de devassa de in BR SIO 1952-71 II 39 Cardoso to in BR SIO 1952-71 VIII 291-292 40 On the complex lineage situation in the 16408 see THORNTON i979a 126-

128 41 Trelado da inquiri que oy tyrada nesta cidade de Congo ...] 12 Novem

ber in BR SIO 1952-71 II 197-206

THE KINGDOM OF KONGO CA 1390-1678 337

The speed with which this second population grew is not visible in the documents but by 1648 at the latest Mpinda-Mbanza Sonyo was suffi ciently populated to support social formation similar to that of Kongo to which Sonyo nominally belonged Thornton 1977 520)

Sonyo as one of the original provinces ruled by an independent nobility and holding an position as well could build up new town settlement effectively if given the chance although its ruling family was deeply intertwined with by 1636 when it declared its independence This touched off series of wars as Kongo tried to regain its lost province Although the loss of this territory was important what was more significant was that Mbanza Sonyo offered second hostile center where political refugees from lineage struggles could find sanctuary Sonyo did offer sanctuary to rival lineages and especially to both the Kimpanzu and the Kinkanga aMvika after Garcia II had forced them out of his coalition during the i64os and i65os There was thus during this reign conjunction of two contradictions the presence of unintegrated rival lineages on the one hand and the presence of powerful rival town based on slave mode of production on the other Thornton i979a 129-132)

To this situation was added in 1665 third and decisive circumstance the combination of military defeat and succession crisis for the rulers of Kongo at Salvador In October 1665 the armies of Kongo led by Garcia son Ant nio underwent crushing defeat at the battle of Mbwila by Portuguese-led force from Angola The death of Antonio in the battle along with his heir-designate caused crisis of succession in Kongo While the ruling Kinlaza lineage eventually chose lvaro VII they had not counted on the Kimpanzu lineage now resident in Sonyo With aid the Kimpanzu attacked Salvador and in the confusion placed one of their members on the throne as lvaro VIII in 1666.42 Although Sonyo was strong enough to place Kimpanzu on the throne they did not support him enough to keep him there and the Kinlaza soon counterattacked to place their own candidate on the throne This cycle was then repeated when Sonyo backing the Kimpanzu returned to the field and the series of wars continued almost without interruption including an abortive Portuguese intervention in 1670 until

Salvador was completely sacked and abandoned in 1678 Thornton 1977 523-524 173-203)

As Salvador was successively sacked and destroyed the slave- based mode of production upon which all of social formation had been based was dissipated Slaves were carried off to one or another corner of the country or simply melted into the general population glad enough no doubt to be rid of their dues in labor Although Sonyo probably benefitted from taking slaves from Salvador its population

42 For detailed reconstruction with sources cited for this period THORNTON i979a 173-203

338 JOHN THORNTON

doubled between 1645 and 1700 Thornton 1977 520-521) it did not replace Salvador as center of Kongo-wide social formation The nobles who had once called Salvador their home were forced into the countryside where they seized districts and provinces gradually turning them into hereditary holdings By the end of the i7th century Kongo resembled the original social formation it had replaced in the late i4th century based on bickering and fighting group of locally ascendent nobles who controlled small districts and drew surplus from the area

rent in kind They were interrelated by marriage and even the nominal reconstruction of the kingdom by King Pedro IV in 1709 failed to alter the new structural elements of the social formation Slavery continued to exist but it no longer constituted the dominant mode of production Thornton i979a 269-287)

Deprived of central town and slave-based mode of production Kongo politics altered considerably The lineage politics and pyramids of households centered on the king disappeared and were now reflected in alliances or hostilities between territorial-based powers The king became figurehead unable to control the careers of the nobility or indeed to offer them anything they could not obtain by themselves The revenue often derived from the sale of symbols of the old social formation such as habits of the Order of Christ or ritual duties ibid. With the change in the dominant mode of production the character of the social formation had likewise changed

From the above it is clear that periodization of history in the manner suggested by Balibar can be fruitful way not only of understanding it but also of rendering otherwise difficult sources meaning ful It is also clear however that the normal means of conceptualizing periods of transition that is periods when social formation dominated by one mode of production gives way to another need clarification

While the historical materialist approach considers the forces operating within the dominant mode of production as major motive for historical change this analysis suggests that the mainspring for change was the operation of forces working at the level of the social formation conditioned of course by the constituent modes of production The slave mode of production was not overthrown by its internal contradictions but by external ones resulting from competition with second but equally stable slave mode of production combined with another at the political level the lineage struggle and by contradictions with another social formation the Portuguese It is this conjuncture that eventually led to the transition Moreover the rise of slave mode of production was due largely to interactions between Kongo and Portugal whose own social formation demanded the use of slaves Nevertheless the operations of social formation were conditioned by the

THE KINGDOM OF KONGO CA 1390-1678 339

functioning of the dominant mode of production which gave place to each of the contradictions and conjunctures which eventually did lead to the overthrow of the system.43 The forces that were external such as the slave trade or the Portuguese military victory only operated in ways conditioned by the structure of mode of production based on slavery

Thus history the history of particular mode of production that dominated its social formation from 1390 to 1678 provides an interesting illustration of one way of seeing African evolution in histor ical materialist framework If it helps to illustrate the utility of the method it also points to future work both theoretical and factual needed for refining the approach.44

43 This analysis coincides with the theoretical conclusions reached by HINDESS HIRST 1975 260-307 1977 46-62 in their critique of the theory of transition in

Balibar and their remoulding of the concept of social formation 44 Research for my work in Kongo was funded in part by the Funda

Calouste Gulbenkian Lisbon and the Center for the Study of Portuguese Africa UCLA) who bear no responsibility for the conclusions reached here An earlier draft of this paper was presented to the African Activists Association at UCLA and has benefitted from the comments of the members present and especially Profes sors Edward Ferguson and Edward Alpers special thanks also to Linda Hey- wood who not only read and criticized earlier drafts but is responsible for my renewed interest in the validity of historical materialist approach to this subject

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