The Kingdom of Loango is a pre-colonial African state, during approximately the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries in what is now the western part of the Republic of the Congo.
Situated to the north of the more powerful Kingdom of Kongo, at its height in the seventeenth century Loango influence extends from Cape St Catherine in the north to almost the mouth of the Congo River.Loango exports copper to the European market, and is a major producer and exporter of cloth.The English traveler Andrew Battel, when he is here in about 1610, records that the predecessor of the unnamed king ruling at this time is named "Gembe" or Gymbe (modernized as Njimbe), possibly the founder of the kingdom.
With the death of King Buatu in 1787, the succession of leadership is uncertain.The kingdom is certain to have come to an end with the Conference of Berlin (1884–1885) at the latest, when European colonial powers divide most of Central Africa between them.
