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. The following is part of our Atlas’ Notebook series, featuring art, poetry, literature, cartography, and photography, all centred on a particular place. For the full map of Cosmographia posts, see here.The Kingdom of Kongo was a powerful Central African kingdom that ruled over territory that stretched across what is now northern Angola, western DRC, southern Gabon, and the Republic of Congo, for over five centuries.
First established in 1390 AD, the kingdom grew into a major regional power with a sophisticated economy, vibrant art, and much-feared military. With a diplomatic presence on three continents, a textile trade that rivalled that of the European powers, and highly developed urban centres, the Kongo was much more than the tragic victim of European colonialism that it has sometimes been reduced to in Western narratives. Not to be confused with the Congo Free State — private colonial property of King Leopold II, where the most horrifying crimes against humanity took place — the Kingdom of Kongo was fiercely independent, cosmopolitan, and wealthy, entirely on its own terms.
