jul 6, 1526 - Nzinga Mbemba, Letters to the King of Portugal João III (1526)

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Portuguese navigators traveled as far as the south of the Congo River in 1483 and made contact there with peoples of the Kongo kingdom, the largest state at the time in west-central Africa. The Kongo king sent emissaries to Portugal, and they returned in 1491 with European goods and Catholic priests. That same year the king and his son, Nzinga Mbemba (also known as Afonso I [ruled c. 1506 - c. 1543]), converted to Christianity.

Afonso encouraged conversion to Christianity within his kingdom and envisioned even greater state expansion through their partnership with the Portuguese which in the long run destabilized the Kongo kingdom.

Afonso acknowledged the damage caused by Portuguese merchants and missionaries in his kingdom and wrote 24 letters to João III, the king of Portugal, asking that he limit the cross-cultural interaction that accompanied trade.

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