WEEK 1 INTRODUCTION TO READINGS Nzinga Mbemba (Affonso I), “Letters to the King ofPortugal” (1526) When Portuguese navigators and explorers reachedcentral West Africa in the 1480s, the Kingdom of Kongo, wasruled by King Nzinga a Kuwu. In 1491, he and his heir,Nzinga Mbemba, were baptized as Catholics. Mbemba, whoreceived the Christian name Affonso, succeeded his fatherin 1506 and ruled for nearly three decades as Affonso I.His own son, Henrique, was educated in Portugal and becamethe first West African bishop in the Roman Catholic Church.However, by the end of the sixteenth century, the Churchheld that only whites were fit to hold priestly offices.Under Affonso’s rule, the Kongo kingdom was open to tradein firearms, horses, and cattle from Christendom, as wellas new food items from the Americas. In this case, opennessto the world led not to prosperity, but to politicaldisintegration and disorder. In 1526, Affonso wrote thefollowing letters to King João III of Portugal, in anattempt to modify and ameliorate the relationship of thePortuguese to his kingdom. Unnamed author You also have a text to read this week by an unnamedauthor. WEEK 1 QUESTIONS Nzinga Mbemba (Affonso I) 1. What does the word “factor” mean as used in KingAffonso’s letters? (Note: the dictionary you have at handmay or may not have the definition of “factor” that fitsthis text. The best dictionary of the English language isprobably the Oxford English Dictionary, and it isespecially useful for learning about archaic meanings ofwords found in historical documents, such as this one. Itis available on the MIT Libraries website: Resources -> Virtual Reference Collection -> Dictionaries -> OED). 2. On what ground or grounds does King Affonso object toslavery? Would you object to slavery on the same grounds? Unnamed author 3. What reason or reasons does the author provide for hisvoyage? 4. What interested the author most about the people
View Full Document
Unlocking...