Chapter 2 tells the story of the conversion of the kings of Kongo. Nzinka a Nkuwu (King João) was baptised in 1491 but later apostatised and was succeeded by his son, King Afonso, who established an enduring Catholic dynasty in west central Africa. After acknowledging the significance of religious diplomacy, the chapter shows how the realm of immanent power was the most critical factor in the Kongo case. A close reading of the evidence indicates that the Portuguese or their ruler may have been considered to have a special association with the realm of the ancestors, while baptism was received as an initiation granting unusual powers, particularly in battle. This helps explain King João’s apostasy and is most apparent in the miraculous interpretation of the military victory that brought Afonso to the throne in 1506. However, it is also argued that conversion may have helped Afonso solidify his control of the religious field, as expressed in the iconoclastic sweeps that happened at several points in 1480–1530. The theme of cultural appeal is illustrated by a more general importation of the Portuguese culture by elites. Afonso is presented as a visionary with ambitions for societal recreation.

The Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) was a key turning point in the Age of Atlantic Revolutions. The most successful rebellion by enslaved people in world history, it prompted the first direct colonial representation in a European legislature and created the second independent state in the Americas. Broad-based liberation from slavery won on the battlefield, ratified with the emancipation decrees of 1793-1794, and secured with the 1802-1803 war of independence, served as a continuing reminder of the possibility of emancipation while pressing key questions about the proper structure of post-slavery reconstruction. Haiti was also the first independent state in the Caribbean and Latin America, and the first in the Western Hemisphere to be led by people of African descent. Haitian approaches to governance also paralleled French, Latin American, and U.S. debates about monarchy and authority, liberty and empire, and popular sovereignty and social order. Meanwhile, white U.S. and French responses to Haiti’s successes prompted many revolutionaries in those countries to curtail their ideas about the universalism of revolution.

This chapter centers the liberated African Adelino Mwissicongo’s biography from slavery to apprenticeship and from apprenticeship to incarceration for theft in the context of the struggles for “full freedom” by liberated Africans between 1850 and 1864, the radical transformation of Rio’s urban economy and social landscape, and the discourse on vagrancy and criminality that distinctly identified free people of color and Portuguese immigrants as objects of police surveillance in the last decades of slavery in Brazil. The chapter places Adelino’s story in relation to the problem of petty criminality and poverty as Rio underwent a rapid demographic transformation that saw a significant decrease in its slave population to under 17 percent by 1872, according to the first national census. I argue that the penitentiary became complicit in constructing a pathologizing discourse that branded liberated African men and women as “incorrigible” by collecting and providing documentary support for the denial or concession of freedom certificates.

Chapter 2 introduces the kingdom of Ndongo and focuses on its relationship to Kongo in terms of political and social structures. It looks at the election of Philipe Hari I to the throne of Pungo-Andongo, examining his rivalry with and family ties to Queen Njinga, and how the Portuguese used his election to foster trade relationships in Angola by introducing the baculamento tax system. The chapter then explores the role of João Hari II (Dom João de Sousa), also known as Ngola Aiidi, the son who succeeded Hari I, and the ideology of Francisco de Távora ‘Cajanda’, the Portuguese governor of Luanda at the time. It investigates the destruction of Pungo-Andongo and the sending of the kingdom’s princes and princesses, Queen Njinga’s nephews and nieces, to Brazil. The chapter is concerned with exploring the political environment of Angola and the wider region as the backdrop to Mendonça’s debate on freedom and enslaved Africans in the Atlantic region.

The African reception of Christianity is compared to that of Islam and found to be similar, with a pattern of quarantine, mixing, and reform. The story in West Africa is told via the connection to the slave trade, slavery itself, and the back-to-Africa movement. Cases from East and South Africa are also presented, and the chapter concludes with a discussion of Pentecostalism.

Traces the rise of stratified societies in West Central Africa and focuses on the history of Kongo through the reign of Afonso I

The Lunda empire reaches its height, while Kongo collapses in anarchy, Viye and Mbailundu become important regional powers and Portugal tries to reform Angola

The Lunda empire expands to the Kwango and borders of Mozambique, new kingdoms emerge in the central highlands of Angola, Kongo begins a long civil war and Beatriz Kimpa Vita tries to restore it

The Dutch come to Central Africa and Kongo and Ndongo join to fight the Portuguese, the Imbangala found the kingdom of Kasanje

Relates the Jaga invasion of Kongo, the entry of Portugal into West Central Africa, and Portugal’s war with Ndongo

Lunda becomes an important kingdom and begins expanding east and west, Matamba and Kasanje struggle over the Kwango Valley, the Portuguese consolidate their control over the colony of Angola, Kongo enters a period of civil war, and Beatriz Kimpa Vita tries to restore it

The Portuguese alliance with the Imbangala allows the defeat of Ndongo, but war on Kongo is unsuccessful, Queen Njinga emerges to lead Ndongo

Traces the struggle between Ndongo and Kongo over Ambundu and introduces surrounding areas in the Central Highlands and the Lower Kasai