Battle of Ambuila
At the time of the Battle of Ambuila (or Battle of Mbwila ) the October 29th 1665, the Portuguese armies overcame the troops of the Empire Kongo and decapitated the king Antonio Ier of Kongo, also known under the name of Nvita Nkanga , putting fine at indigenous control on the country.
Portugal and the Empire of Kongo had been business partners for two centuries. However, Kongo tried to put a term at the trade of the slaves, which disorganized its company. The leaders of Kongo had very early adopted Christianity and various Portuguese uses, of which use of the names and first names within the framework of their relations with Portugal. However, the Portuguese were worried primarily perenniality of their slave activities.
The Portuguese and their allies gathered in the town of Luanda. Under the command of Shine Lopes de Sequeira, a mongrel soldier, the Portuguese troops were organized around a group of 450 Mousquetaire S and two parts of light Artillerie. The army of Kongo included/understood many peasants and archers, but also a regiment of 380 men armed with Mousquet S, including 29 Portuguese directed by Pedro Dias de Cabral, also mongrel. King Antonio carried with him the treasure and the files of the Empire, by fear of their catch by a rival during his absence. It should be noted that Vita Nkanga was a legitimate king of Kongo while Portuguese wanted to impose one of their choice of them. At the time of Vita Nkanga, Kongo is already divided into several independent states of which some under the Portuguese cut (basuku bayaka etc).
After the battle, the King (or Manikongo ) was decapitated and its head was buried by the Portuguese in a vault located on bay of Luanda during a religious ceremony, while the crown and the sceptre of Kongo were sent to Lisbon like trophy. After the death of the king and his lieutenants, the Empire was parcelled out by the local Civil war and kingdoms or rather by the competitions between independence kingdoms and protectorates Portuguese and Dutch, English or different.
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