Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T21:26:47.730Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Jaga Reconsidered

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Anne Hilton
Anne Hilton
Affiliation:
University of London
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Joseph Miller has argued that the ‘Jaga’ invasion of Kongo in 1568 was primarily an internal rebellion supported by people from Matamba or from Makoko and the Pool. In this article I suggest that the Jaga were more probably dislocated Kongo or Tio from the lower middle Kwango. They were the ancestors of the seventeenth-century ‘Muyaka’, who raided slaves for the Makoko market. Their invasion of Kongo probably began as slave raiding. It continued as an attempt to break the Makoko king's monopoly of slave trade outlets by gaining direct access to the European traders. The invaders succeeded in temporarily overthrowing Kongo for two reasons. Firstly, Kongo was generally ill adapted to withstand sudden invasion. Secondly, the Kongo ruling elite was divided while undergoing radical political and social change. The restoration of Kongo by Portuguese forces had two important consequences. Firstly, it confirmed and advanced the changes in the ruling elite which had begun in the early sixteenth century; it thereby laid the foundation for a monopoly of the throne by a slave-based patrilineal royal segment descended from Afonso I. Secondly, the restoration facilitated the development of a new cloth-trade route from Okango through São Salvador to Luanda which compensated the mani Kongo for his loss of coastal monopoly on slave exports. This new trade enabled Kongo to suvive economically and politically into the later seventeenth century.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , April 1981 , pp. 191 - 202
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Important contributions to the Jaga debate have been made by Birmingham, David, Trade and Conflict in Angola (London, 1966), 64–5Google Scholar; Vansina, Jan, ‘More on the Invasions of Kongo and Angola by the Jaga and the Lunda’, Journal of African History, vii, iii (1966), 421–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarMiller, Joseph C., Kings and Kinsmen, Early Mbundu States in Angola (Oxford, 1976)Google Scholar resolves many of the problems concerning the Imbangala, once confused with the Jaga of the 1568 Kongo invasion.

2 Miller, Joseph C., ‘Requiem for the Jaga’, Cahiers d'Études Africaines xiii, i (1973), 121–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Certain points in this article have been debated by John K. Thornton ‘A Resurrection for the Jaga’, Ibid., xviii, i–ii (1978), 223–7, and Joseph C. Miller, ‘Thanatopsis’, Ibid, xviii, i-ii (1978), 229–31.

3 E.g. Randies, W. G. L., L'ncien Royaume du Congo des Origines à la Fin du XIXe Siècle (Paris–The Hague, 1968), 106.Google Scholar

4 Bal, Willy (ed.), Description du Royaume de Congo et des Contrées Environnantes par Filippo Pigafetta et Duarte Lopes (Louvain, Paris, 1963), 106–9.Google Scholar

5 A point cogently argued by Miller,,/a ‘Requiem for the Jaga’.

6 Álvaro II to Pope Paul V, São Salvador, 27 February 1613, Cuvelier, J. and Jadin, L., L'Ancien Congo d'après les Archives Romaines (Brussels, 1954), 332.Google Scholar

7 Wilson, Anne, ‘The Kingdom of Kongo to the Mid Seventeenth Century’, Ph.D. thesis (University of London, 1978), 85–90, 177–9.Google Scholar

8 Most notably with the accession of Afonso I, when St James was said to have appeared on Afonso's behalf and secured him the victory against his ‘pagan’ brother. All the early chronicles document this episode and are republished in Brásio, António, Monumenta Missionária Africana (Africa Occidental) (Lisbon, 1952–1971)Google Scholar, series I, i.

9 Wilson, , ‘The Kingdom of Kongo’, 175–225.Google Scholar

10 Report of Fernão de Sousa to the king, Lisbon, 23 February 1632, Brásio, , Monumenta Missionária, viii, 147.Google Scholar

11 Report on the Conversion of Queen Nzinga, Archivio della Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, Scritture Ricevute nella Congregazioni Generali, 250, 20;, Wilson, ‘The Kingdom of Kongo’, chap. 4.

12 Wilson, , ‘The Kingdom of Kongo’, 30–2.Google Scholar

13 Ibid. 51–64.

14 Bal, , Description du Royaume, 36.Google Scholar

15 E.g. Cavazzi, Giovanni Antonio, Descripção do Congo, Matamba et Angola, trans. de Leguzzano, P. Graciano Maria, Cap, O.M.. (Lisbon, 1965), I, 19.Google Scholar

16 Wilson, , ‘The Kingdom of Kongo’, 29–32.Google Scholar

17 Bal, , Description du Royaume, 69.Google Scholar

18 Report on Kongo, 24 Jan. 1622, in Jadin, L., ‘Relations sur le Congo et l'Angola tirées des Archives de la Compagnie de Jésus, 1621–1631’, Bulletin de l'Institut Historique Beige de Rome, xxxix (1968), 265.Google Scholar

19 Confirmed by Dapper, Olfert, Naukeurige Beschrijvinge der Afrikaansche gewesten van Egypten, Barbaryen, Lybien, Guinea, Abyssinie (Amsterdam, 1676), 572.Google Scholar

20 The eastern and southern borders of the region and the whole of Pigafetta's eastern and southern borders can be seen on Cavazzi's mid-seventeenth-century map. Cavazzi, , Descripção do Congo, i, 12.Google Scholar

21 Wilson, , ‘The Kingdom of Kongo’, 19.Google Scholar Mid-seventeenth-century reports describe the region as arid and deserted. Report on Kongo, 24 Jan. 1622 in Jadin, 362; Pieter Moortamer to the Council of Brazil, on the Mauritius, 14 October 1642, Algemeen Rijksarchief, The Hague, Oude West Indische Compagnie, 68; Report of Seraphino da Cortona on the Mission to Dande and Nzinga, Archivio della Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda, Rome, Scritture Ricevute nelle Congregazioni Generali, CCR 250, 151–3; Cavazzi, , Descripção do Congo, i, 37.Google Scholar

22 Wilson, , ‘The Kingdom of Kongo’, 96–101.Google Scholar

23 Interpretation of Bal, , Description du Royaume, 34Google Scholar; Cavazzi, , Descripção do Congo, ii245.Google Scholar

24 Wilson, , ‘The Kingdom of Kongo’, 96–101.Google Scholar

25 The first reference to the king of the Jinju Tio (nukoko ansiko ) was made by Duarte Pacheco Pereira: Peres, D., Duarte Pacheco Pereira. Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis (Lisbon, 1954), 171Google Scholar. Bal, , Description du Royaume, 57Google Scholar, refers to the ‘kingdoms of the Anziques’. For a discussion of the problem of structure see Vansina, Jan, The Tio Kingdom of the Middle Congo, 1880–1892 (London, New York, Toronto, 1973), 451.Google Scholar

26 See the discussion on the problem of mobilization below.

27 D. Henrique (1567–killed in a war with Bal, Makoko., Description du Royaume, 104.Google Scholar

28 For the most detailed published account of late-seventeenth-century politics in the area see Bontinck, François, Diaire Congolais (1690–1701) de Fra Luca da Caltanisetta, OFM, Cap. (Louvain, Paris, 1970)Google Scholar

29 Wilson, , ‘The Kingdom of Kongo’, 96–101.Google Scholar

30 Vansina, , The Tio Kingdom, 454.Google Scholar

31 Miller, , ‘Requiem for the Jaga’, 128.Google Scholar

32 Van Wing, J. and Penders, C., Le Plus Ancien Dictionnaire Bantu (Brussels, 1928), i.Google Scholar This dictionary was compiled by Capucin missionaries to Kongo in the mid seventeenth century.

33 Laman, K. E., Dictionnaire Kikongo–Français (Brussels, 1936), 2.Google Scholar

34 Bentley, W. H., Dictionary and Grammar of the Kongo language as Spoken at San Salvador (London, 1887–1895), i, 87.Google Scholar

35 Wing, and Penders, , Le Plus Ancien Dictionnaire, 240.Google Scholar

36 P. Girolamo da Montesarchio to P. Bonaventura da Sorrento, 23 March 1650, Nsevo, Nsundi in Brásio, Monumenta Missionária, 486.Google Scholar

37 Cavazzi, , Descripção do Congo, i, 19.Google Scholar

38 de Bouveignes, O. and Cuvelier, J. (eds.), Jérôme de Montesarchio. Apôtre du Vieux Congo (Namur, 1951), 71, 102, 134–5.Google Scholar

39 Anon., do Reino do Congo, História, ed. António Brásio, Studia (1969), 27–8, 443.Google Scholar

40 Vansina, The Tio Kingdom, ch. xvi.

41 Evidence of Laman's notebooks, Janzen, J. M., ‘Laman's Kongo Ethnography. Observations on Sources, Methodology and Theory’, Africa, xlii (1972), 326.Google Scholar

42 Vansina, , The Tio Kingdom, iiGoogle Scholar and Map 12.

43 For contemporary evidence that Mazinga incorporated the Donde south of the Niari, see Bouveignes, and Cuvelier, , Jerôme de Montesarchio, 102.Google Scholar

44 Bontinck, , Diaire Congolais, 51.Google Scholar

45 António, de Oliveira de Cadornega, História Geral das Guerras Angolanas (1680–1681), ed. Delgado, José Matias and da Cunha, Manuel Alves (Lisbon, 1940–1942), ii, 133.Google Scholar

46 Ibid, iii, 191.

47 Ibid, iii, 278.

48 Ibid, iii, 193.

49 Bontinck, , Diaire Congolais, 164.Google Scholar

50 de Beir, L., Les Bayaka de Muene N-Toombo Lengelenge (Kinshasa, 1974)Google Scholar; Denis, J., Les Yaka du Kwango (Tervuren, 1965)Google Scholar; Lamal, F., Basuku et Bayaka des Districts Kwango et Kwilu au Congo (Tervuren, 1965)Google Scholar; Planquaert, M., Les Jaga et les Bayaka du Kwango (Brussels, 1932)Google Scholar; Planquaert, M., Les Yaka; Essai d'Histoire (Brussels, 1971).Google Scholar

51 A theory advanced by Planquaert, Les Jaga et les Bayaka and Les Yaka, although for different reasons.

52 Bontinck, , Diaire Congolais, 164.Google Scholar

53 Cadornega, , História Geral, iii, 19.Google Scholar

54 Ibid. 1, 278.

55 Wilson, , ‘The Kingdom of Kongo’, 62.Google Scholar

56 Ibid. 96–100.

57 For the little that is known of Makoko during this period see Vansina, , The Tio Kingdom, 445–51.Google Scholar

58 Interpretation of Bal, , Description du Royaume, 34Google Scholar; Cavazzi, , Descripção do Congo ii, 245Google Scholar (referrring the reign of Pedro II 1622–4).

59 Bouveignes, and Cuvelier, , Jérôme de Montesarchio, 66, 102Google Scholar; P. Girolamo da Mont-esarchio to P. Bonaventura da Sorrento, 22 March 1650, Nsevo, Nsundi, in Brásio, , Monumenta Missionária, x, 483–7.Google Scholar

60 Bouveignes, and Cuvelier, , Jérôme de Montesarchio, 93Google Scholar; Cavazzi, , Descripção do Congo, iv, 416.Google Scholar

61 Cavazzi, , Descrição do Congo, i, 245.Google Scholar

62 Bal, , Description du Royaume, 34.Google Scholar

63 Mentioned in the mani Kongo's titles, Afonso I to Paulo III, Kongo, 21 February 1535. Brásio, , Monumenta Missionária, ii, 38Google Scholar; Letter of Afonso I, Kongo, 12 February 1539, Brásio, , Monumenta Missionária, ii, 70.Google Scholar This suggests that the Suku paid tribute on at least one occasion, no doubt in anticipation of an exchange in European goods.

64 Lamal, , Basuku et Bayaka, 17–22.Google Scholar The Suku were mentioned in the mani Kongo's titles of 1583, Donation of Álvaro I to the Pope, São Salvador, 20 January 1583, Cuvelier, and Jadin, , L'Ancien Congo, 161Google Scholar, but never again after that. This suggests that they had indeed moved beyond the reach of courtesy contact with the mani Kongo, especially as Kongo influence in the middle and lower Kwango increased in the later sixteenth century, as discussed below.

65 Wilson, , ‘The Kingdom of Kongo’, 16–17.Google Scholar

66 Ibid. 31.

67 A certain group killed D. Bernardo (1561–7). D. António da Silva, mani Mbamba to D. Fr. Manuel Baptista, 15 Dec. 1617. Paiva reads the group as Suquas, de Paiva Manso, Visconde, História do Congo (Documentos ) (Lisbon, 1877), xcvi, 166.Google Scholar Delgado, following this reading, identified the word with Cuqua = Makoko. It could equally refer to the Suku. Brásio, however, reads the word as Jaguas. Brásio, , Monumenta Missionária, vi, 102, 296.Google Scholar

68 Bal, , Description du Royaume, 70.Google Scholar

69 Wilson, , ‘The Kingdom of Kongo’, 41–50.Google Scholar

70 For a full discussion of these political and social changes see Ibid. 64–96.

71 Official Enquiry of D. Diogo, Congo, 10 April 1550, in Brásio, , Monumenta Missionária, 11, 248–62.Google Scholar

72 Wilson, , ‘The Kingdom of Kongo’, 79–94.Google Scholar

73 Bal, , Description du Royaume, 70.Google Scholar

74 These states begin to be mentioned in the mani Kongo's titles from 1583 onwards. Álvaro I to Pope, Kongo, 20 January 1583, Brásio, , Monumenta Missionária, iii, 238Google Scholar (references to Lula and Kongo dia Nlaza). Okango was first mentioned in 1595. Report on the Kingdom of Kongo, Lisbon, 25 November 1505, Brásio, , Monumenta Missionária, iii, 506.Google Scholar

75 Wilson, , ‘The Kingdom of Kongo’, 126–7.Google Scholar

76 Wilson, , ‘The Kingdom of Kongo’, 121–9.Google Scholar