The Strange Adventures of Andrew Battell, of Leigh, in Angola and the Adjoining RegionsBattell, Andrew
History
The Strange Adventures of Andrew Battell, of Leigh, in Angola and the Adjoining Regions
Battell, Andrew
Angola -- Discovery and exploration; Congo (Democratic Republic) -- Discovery and exploration
BERNARDO II, a son of Alvaro II, only reigned for a few months, for he
was killed by his brother, ALVARO III, and a complaint addressed to him
by the Governor of Angola about the admission of heretical Dutchmen to
trade in Sonyo was answered by his successor. This Alvaro III, the
fratricide, is nevertheless described by Cavazzi as having been “wise,
modest, courageous, and above all a zealous Christian.” It was during
his reign, in 1619, that the Jesuits founded a college at S. Salvador. A
proposed mission of Italian Capuchins came to nothing, for King Philip
of Spain, by royal letters of September 22nd, 1620, forbade foreign
missionaries to enter Portuguese colonies without first obtaining a
royal license.[355] Alvaro III died on May 26th, 1622, and was succeeded
by D. PEDRO II AFFONSO, whom Cavazzi describes as a son of Alvaro III;
whilst a Jesuit canon of S. Salvador,[356] who wrote an interesting life
of this prince in 1624, makes him out to have been a son of Mbiki a
ntumba, Duke of Nsundi, and a descendant, in the female line, of the
first King of Kongo. If this biographer can be trusted, he was a man of
much promise, and of a mild, forgiving temper; for although the Duke of
Mbamba had sought his life, he conferred upon him the marquisate of
Wembo. His reign was a short and troubled one. In August, 1622, the Duke
of Mbata had been killed by rebels, and his vassal, the King of Kwangu
(Ocango), had suffered a defeat. João Corrêa de Souza, the Governor of
Angola, summoned him to surrender Luandu Island and all the copper
mines; and this being refused, the Portuguese under Luiz Gomez, aided by
the Jagas, crossed the Dande at Ikau and invaded Nambu a ngongo, and (in
December) also Mbumbi, where the Duke of Mpemba and many others were
killed and eaten by the Jagas, in spite of their being Christians. The
people of the invaded districts revenged themselves by killing the
Portuguese living in their midst, the King vainly endeavouring to
protect them. These invaders had scarcely been driven off, when Captain
Silvestre Soares, with a body of Jagas, entered Ngombe and Kabanda. But
that which gave most pain to the King was the destruction of the kingdom
of Bangu, and the murder of its King by the Jagas, with the aid of the
King of “Loango,” which was the “trunk and origin of the kingdom of
Kongo.”[357] In the midst of these afflictions, the King was rejoiced to
learn the arrival of D. Simão Mascarenhas at Luanda; but he met with an
accident, and died on April 13th, 1624, after a short reign of less than
two years, and mourned by six sons and two daughters.[358]
D. PEDRO’S SUCCESSORS, 1624-1641.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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