Les descriptions d’un banquet royal au Ndongo (Angola) en 1560 par le jésuite António Mendes : l’ambivalence des sources coloniales

When the first Jesuit missionaries arrived in Luanda in 1559 there was great conflict in the region between the king of Congo, Diogo-Ier, and the Ngola who sought emancipation from Congolese control. Francisco de Gouveia was part of a Portoguese embassy composed of another Jesuit priest, two brother...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Dora De Lima
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Institut des Mondes Africains 2014-12-01
Series:Afriques
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/afriques/1682
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1841552412085583872
author Dora De Lima
author_facet Dora De Lima
author_sort Dora De Lima
collection DOAJ
description When the first Jesuit missionaries arrived in Luanda in 1559 there was great conflict in the region between the king of Congo, Diogo-Ier, and the Ngola who sought emancipation from Congolese control. Francisco de Gouveia was part of a Portoguese embassy composed of another Jesuit priest, two brothers and the future governor of the colony of Angola, Paulo Dias de Novais. The four missionaries accompanied the ambassador and left diverse evidence of this episode of relations with the Ngola. António Mendes, one of the two brothers, left two letters. These provided a detailed description of the banquet organized by the Ngola in 1559 for the reception of the Portuguese ambassador. From the placement of the guests to the sharing of palm wine, António Mendes provided precious information on the history of the royal feasts of Ndongo at the end of the 16th century. In this article, I will present a comparative table of two documents, revealing their distortions and inaccuracies. I first shed light on the causes of contradictions between written documents sent to the same individuals only a few months apart. This first methodological exercise enables me to draw broader conclusions concerning the fragmentary knowledge associated with colonial sources in early Angola. Then, based on a comparison of these documents with later accounts of the dietary habits of the Mbundu and the description of the Ngola banquets, I present certain features of the feasts of the mbundu elite court until the definitive military conquest of the Ndongo by the Portuguese in 1671.
format Article
id doaj-art-18fb89df728941c48a56431fe86c3a53
institution Kabale University
issn 2108-6796
language deu
publishDate 2014-12-01
publisher Institut des Mondes Africains
record_format Article
series Afriques
spelling doaj-art-18fb89df728941c48a56431fe86c3a532025-01-09T13:02:51ZdeuInstitut des Mondes AfricainsAfriques2108-67962014-12-01510.4000/afriques.1682Les descriptions d’un banquet royal au Ndongo (Angola) en 1560 par le jésuite António Mendes : l’ambivalence des sources colonialesDora De LimaWhen the first Jesuit missionaries arrived in Luanda in 1559 there was great conflict in the region between the king of Congo, Diogo-Ier, and the Ngola who sought emancipation from Congolese control. Francisco de Gouveia was part of a Portoguese embassy composed of another Jesuit priest, two brothers and the future governor of the colony of Angola, Paulo Dias de Novais. The four missionaries accompanied the ambassador and left diverse evidence of this episode of relations with the Ngola. António Mendes, one of the two brothers, left two letters. These provided a detailed description of the banquet organized by the Ngola in 1559 for the reception of the Portuguese ambassador. From the placement of the guests to the sharing of palm wine, António Mendes provided precious information on the history of the royal feasts of Ndongo at the end of the 16th century. In this article, I will present a comparative table of two documents, revealing their distortions and inaccuracies. I first shed light on the causes of contradictions between written documents sent to the same individuals only a few months apart. This first methodological exercise enables me to draw broader conclusions concerning the fragmentary knowledge associated with colonial sources in early Angola. Then, based on a comparison of these documents with later accounts of the dietary habits of the Mbundu and the description of the Ngola banquets, I present certain features of the feasts of the mbundu elite court until the definitive military conquest of the Ndongo by the Portuguese in 1671.https://journals.openedition.org/afriques/1682feastbanquetNdongoAngolajesuitssources
spellingShingle Dora De Lima
Les descriptions d’un banquet royal au Ndongo (Angola) en 1560 par le jésuite António Mendes : l’ambivalence des sources coloniales
Afriques
feast
banquet
Ndongo
Angola
jesuits
sources
title Les descriptions d’un banquet royal au Ndongo (Angola) en 1560 par le jésuite António Mendes : l’ambivalence des sources coloniales
title_full Les descriptions d’un banquet royal au Ndongo (Angola) en 1560 par le jésuite António Mendes : l’ambivalence des sources coloniales
title_fullStr Les descriptions d’un banquet royal au Ndongo (Angola) en 1560 par le jésuite António Mendes : l’ambivalence des sources coloniales
title_full_unstemmed Les descriptions d’un banquet royal au Ndongo (Angola) en 1560 par le jésuite António Mendes : l’ambivalence des sources coloniales
title_short Les descriptions d’un banquet royal au Ndongo (Angola) en 1560 par le jésuite António Mendes : l’ambivalence des sources coloniales
title_sort les descriptions d un banquet royal au ndongo angola en 1560 par le jesuite antonio mendes l ambivalence des sources coloniales
topic feast
banquet
Ndongo
Angola
jesuits
sources
url https://journals.openedition.org/afriques/1682
work_keys_str_mv AT doradelima lesdescriptionsdunbanquetroyalaundongoangolaen1560parlejesuiteantoniomendeslambivalencedessourcescoloniales