kingdom · Central and Southern Africa

Kingdom of Kakongo

1550 CE – 1885 CE (approx.) · capital Kinguele

A small Kongo coastal kingdom between Loango and Ngoyo whose port of Malemba was a busy Atlantic slave-trading harbour.

Origins

Kakongo was one of the Kikongo-speaking kingdoms north of the Congo estuary that recognised the senior Kingdom of Loango in early times. By the mid-16th century it had its own king, ruling from Kinguele, with lands between the coast and the Mayombe forest.

Rule and society

Its sacred king was elected by senior lineages and surrounded by ritual restrictions, and regional chiefs controlled much of the land. In the 18th century the port of Malemba became a major market for French and English slavers, and the Abbe Proyart's history of Loango and Kakongo (1776), based on French missionaries' reports, described the court and customs.

Decline and legacy

With the end of the slave trade Kakongo declined into a cluster of chiefdoms. In 1885 its lands were divided between Portuguese Angola, where they formed part of Cabinda, and the Congo Free State.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Lineage

Kongo Empire 1390 CE – 1914 CEKingdom of KakongoPortuguese Congo 1885 CE – 1975 CE

More states of Central and Southern Africa →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Kingdom of Kakongo. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-kakongo
MLA
“Kingdom of Kakongo.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-kakongo. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Kingdom of Kakongo.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-kakongo.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Kingdom of Kakongo’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-kakongo (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻