Move over, Shaka! Kongolese Leaderhead-Afonso

Sub-Saharan Africa just got a little more crowded. Thought we could use 1 more Sub-Saharan African LH. I'm already using R8XFT's Mansa Musa and Sween's Zawditu Initially wasn't going to make this fellow b/c R8XFT was nice enough to share Nzinga & Moshoeshoe with us.

But then R8 made those LH's into population heads. Combined with Arne's African cities they're perfect for an African culture group. Except it would be silly if all citizens looked like clones of the LH. So here's Afonso.

Title: Manikongo
Name: Afonso

From Wikipedia:

"The Kongo Empire was an African kingdom located in southwest Africa in what are now northern Angola, Cabinda, Republic of the Congo, and the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. At its greatest extent, it reached from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Kwango River in the east, and from the Congo River in the north to the Loje River in the south. The empire consisted of six provinces ruled by a monarch, the Manikongo of the Bakongo people, but its sphere of influence extended to the neighboring states as well.

Before the arrival of the Europeans, the Kongo Empire was a highly developed state at the center of an extensive trading network. Apart from natural resources and ivory, the country manufactured and traded copperware, raffia cloth, and pottery.

In his travels along the African coast in the 1480s, Portuguese navigator Diogo Cão first encountered stories of a great empire that controlled trade in the region. In 1483, he visited Manikongo Nzinga in his capital, Mbanza, and persuaded the king to open his country to the Portuguese. Then were 6 states in the region: Sonho, Bamba, Pemba, Batta, Fango and Sundi. This last one (capital Ambezi) was the first to accept the portuguese protectorate. Catholic missionaries arrived in 1490, and ten years later the Manikongo himself was baptized and assumed the name Afonso. The king also sent his son Afonso to Portugal to be educated, and one of his grandsons later became the first black African bishop in the Catholic Church. The capital city was renamed Sao Salvador.

In the following decades, the Kongo Empire became a major source of slaves for traders from Portugal and other European countries. This began taking its toll on the Empire, and in 1526, the Manikongo (Afonso) wrote to king João of Portugal, imploring him to put a stop to the practice. His plea went unanswered, and relations between the two countries soured. Severely weakened by a loss of manpower and a victim of incursions by other neighboring states, the Kongo Empire went into decline. The Portuguese saw this as an opportunity to increase the number of slaves being taken from the region. Under increasing pressure from without and within, by the late sixteenth century the country had all but ceased to exist.

At the Battle of Ambuila in 1665, the Portuguese forces from Angola defeated the forces of king Antonio I of Kongo; Antonio was killed with many of his courtiers and the Luso-African author Manuel Roboredo, who had attempted to prevent this final war. Nevertheless, the country continued to exist, at least in name, for over two centuries, until the realm was divided among Portugal, Belgium, and France at the Conference of Berlin in 1884-1885."

Currently using the Nzinga city list. If you have a better one, please share!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to encourage me to improve the leaderhead. Extra to HooDoo for all the encouragement/advice & Kinboat for helping me out with animating colors.

PCX files included in download.
Download Here (17 MB)

RP,

Ideas are cheap -- they're a dime a dozen. But artistic talent ... a creative spark ... now that's special.

Thanks for sharing your gift with us.

That feeling is seconded - I've been awaiting this one for quite a while now by the way

BUT now that I have him for Congo has anyone given some serious thought to attributes (Commercial? Agricultural? - but I already use those for Mali ) and a unique unit?

Thanks, guys!

Commercial might work. They were a major center of trade.

I'm thinking absolutely Religious, even though their interaction with the Catholic world left them wanting, religion has always been central to their history. Most of the important historical figures (Kimpa Vita, Manuel Roboredo, Simon-Pierre Mpadi, Lourenco da Silva e Mendonca, Alvaro II, Simon Kimbangu, Antonio Vieria, Apolo Kivebulaya, Garcia II, etc) were all religious leaders. Some of these would work as military/scientific leaders.

Also wanted this leaderhead to represent the African diaspora into the new world. So you could even toss in African-Americans, Haitians, Afro-Brazillians...

I think UtahJazz tweaked the Guerilla unit to make him a specifically Congo-based unit. Dawa soldier? But that may be too late a UU. Kongo golden age should probably be in 1400s? I remember seeing somewhere that they fought against the Portuguese with muskets.

There's a good article here: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HSP/is_1_6/ai_106647781/pg_1 about their history. Shoot. Almost 2. Gotta go.

They not only used muskets, but cannons too, and their capital had the first printing press in Sub Saharan Africa I think..(Egypt had one pretty early)

It's a high class top ten leaderhead, great job RP!

Another for the African Continent Mod....(soon to come...in the distant future...)

Awesome

That's Michael Jordan, right?
Very slick Rita Poon. He came out great.
Btw, what's the word on that native american leaderhead you started a while back? have you abandoned the injuns, or is that a work in progress?

Thank you

BTW-Bungus, was kinda going for that Barack Obama look. Only Afonso's skin is a little darker. And he's a bit too muscular. Oh well.

Pueblo LH is still in the works. Just kind of stuck on the ancient era. Don't know how the Anasazi dressed.

Really good!!