The Kongo monarchy has been a major…

The Kongo monarchy has been a major pawn in international struggles from the inception of Portuguese penetration into the old Kongo Kingdom in the late fifteenth century and well into the beginning of the scramble for colonies in the nineteenth century,

These conflicts had pitted the Vatican against the Portuguese crown for control of African souls, the Dutch (who began arriving on the west coast of Africa in the seventeenth century) against the Portuguese for control of the slave trade, and ultimately Spain against Portugal for sovereignty over the Portuguese Empire.