[RFC-DoC] History of the Congo

[Lone Wolf]

A new RFC-DoC story. Modified 1.10, slightly harder version of Viceroy, Congo.

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The people of Mbanza Kongo watched the warriors of King Lukeni lua Nimi parade though the town streets.

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The procession was lead by the king himself, richly dressed in finest fabrics of Congo region.

It was clear to the wise men of Mbanza Kongo that the new king is ambitious, and that his ambitions are larger then those of most rulers in the Congo river basin. Rumours were that Lukeni saw himself as the first ruler in a chain of successors whose destiny is to control far more then just Congo basin...

The Congo kingdom prospered under Lukeni lua Nimi. Harvests were good. Ivory trade was expanding.

When the king was already very old and had only a few years at most left to live, strange ships with white-skinned people were sighted docking in Kongolese fishing villages. They were led by someone called Joao Cao. Lukeni thought that it was a funny name, yet he accepted Cao's proposal of sending some of the king's nobles to Cao's native land of Portugal, in order to establish diplomatic contacts.

When the Congolese nobles returned, they've found that their king had died, but his son, Nzinga a Nkuwu, was only too glad to listen to them. The nobles told of a continent with many kingdoms, with the populace of most of them believing in a single God who died on the Cross in order to save humanity. The King was intrigued.

Spoiler :

Soon, many missionaries flooded the kingdom of Kongo. Catholic Missionaries from England, Portugal and Spanish New Mexico (who already were experienced in converting non-Christians) taught the people of the kingdom the art of proper boat-building and European calendar system. They also exported horses to Kongo, though the beasts didn't do well in its hot tropical clime and remained only of limited use.

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In 1412, Nzinga a Nkuwu himself converted to Christianity, claiming to receive a vision of St. James and St. Mary.

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[Knux]

This seems promising. Just a question, though, what the hell is a "Lombard League"? I've never seen that before.

 

[mrrandomplayer]

I am eager to see the difference between this and constantinople's Congo story. I can see that this is much different already, but both are good in their own right.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Lombard League? It's one of dynamic names for Italy.

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Nzinga a Nkuwu took the Christian name Alfonso. He was very zealous in converting his subjects, and sacrificed a lot of money to the churches. He and his Portuguese advisors supported the creation of a special social strata of scribes, who recorded everything that happened in every province of the kingdom, and greatly expanded the royal power. Local Congolese clergy was recruited from the nobility.

King Alfonso of Congo takes his tasks as a Christian monarch to heart... his kingdom is powerful and mighty, and subjugated many minor kingdoms and tribes. His devotion is so great, he knows more of the Church's tenets than I do.

-Rui d'Aguiar, the King's Portuguese advisor.

Spoiler :

Portuguese advisors kneeling before the King.

Alfonso paid attention to all the news about wars and unrest in Europe.

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In the following decades, the Kingdom of Congo became a source of slaves for European powers. State-sanctioned slavery wasn't new in Congo. Alfonso and his descendants made quite a profit from selling war prisoners to European (mostly Portuguese and Spanish) traders.

Spoiler :

The rulers of Congo, however, were worried about illegal slave trade, which was conducted by the Portuguese without permission from the Congo authorities.

Sir, Your Highness should know how our Kingdom is being lost in so many ways that it is convenient to provide for the necessary remedy, since this is caused by the excessive freedom given by your agents and officials to the men and merchants who are allowed to come to this Kingdom to set up shops with goods and many things which have been prohibited by us, and which they spread throughout our Kingdoms and Domains in such an abundance that many of our vassals, whom we had in obedience, do not comply because they have the things in greater abundance than we ourselves; and it was with these things that we had them content and subjected under our vassalage and jurisdiction, so it is doing a great harm not only to the service of God, but the security and peace of our Kingdoms and State as well.

And we cannot reckon how great the damage is, since the mentioned merchants are taking every day our natives, sons of the land and the sons of our noblemen and vassals and our relatives, because the thieves and men of bad conscience grab them wishing to have the things and wares of this Kingdom which they are ambitious of; they grab them and get them to be sold; and so great, Sir, is the corruption and licentiousness that our country is being completely depopulated, and Your Highness should not agree with this nor accept it as in your service. And to avoid it we need from those (your) Kingdoms no more than some priests and a few people to reach in schools, and no other goods except wine and flour for the holy sacrament. That is why we beg of Your Highness to help and assist us in this matter, commanding your factors that they should not send here either merchants or wares, because it is our will that in these Kingdoms there should not be any trade of slaves nor outlet for them.1 Concerning what is referred above, again we beg of Your Highness to agree with it, since otherwise we cannot remedy such an obvious damage. Pray Our Lord in His mercy to have Your Highness under His guard and let you do forever the things of His service.

-From a letter written by King Joao of Congo to the Portuguese King.

The Portuguese Royal Court didn't wish to satisfy the Congolese request. Instead, they demanded Congo to be a Portuguese protectorate, in exchange for the Congolese King receiving a rich pension. Naturally, Congo refused such an offer.

Spoiler :

 

[trexeric]

Subbing! Your stories are always top quality, Lone Wolf! Also, wouldn't you automatically lose if you said 'yes'?

 

[mrrandomplayer]

Dun dun daah! [insert dramatic music here]

Good thing Alfonso knew that

Link to video.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Yeah, had I agreed with the proposal, it would've resulted in a "you have been defeated" screen.
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"So," began the Congolese king, "we have reliable reports from our scouts that the warriors of Portugal are massing on the other side of the river".

"How many cannons we have?" asked Antonio Silva, one of the few Portuguese advisors the King still had.

"We lack the good metal necessary for making these appliances which you white-skinned folk use", said the King with a tone of annoyance in his voice.

"Indeed, Your Majesty", interjected Alvaro of the Kilwu family, one of the other advisors, who was a native of the Kingdom. "Our forges can still produce weapons, albeit of lesser quality".

Spoiler :

And so, the Congolese forges worked non-stop on basic artillery.

The bombardment of Portuguese positions was successful, but the actual assault, less so. Many brave Congolese warriors died under Portuguese cannon fire.

Spoiler :

The Portuguese artillery, however, was itself greatly damaged by the actions of Congolese Pombos. Tactical mistakes from the Portuguese command resulted in the destruction of Portuguese cannons in the battle of Mbanza Congo and in total elimination of Portuguese Musket-armed troops during their retreat.

Alvaro of Kilwu was given great honors by the Congolese kingdom. His military tactics became legendary among the people.

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[Moai_Spammer]

subbed

 

[Lone Wolf]

As the productivity of Congo grew, as royal cotton fields brought numerous profits to the treasury, as ivory trade prospered, the kings of Congo organized conquest and resettlement expeditions deep into the Congo river basin. Kalemie was a town founded next to large copper deposits, where both Congolese settlers and local tribesmen workers toiled daily. Occasional conflicts flared up with the minor kingdoms and tribes of the north, but they rarely managed even to pillage the cotton fields.

Spoiler :

Portuguese ships were occasionally sighted off the coast, but after the failure of the first invasion, the Portuguese didn't bother sending more expeditionary forces and limited themselves to minor coastal raids. After it became clear to Portuguese ruling circles that the war brings no benefit, they persuaded the Pope to act like an intermediary between them and Congo in order to sign a peace treaty. Things were not so peaceful in Europe, though, as liberal ideologues raised their heads while armies of France and the HRE overrun Italy and Poland.

Spoiler :

Not to say that things were that peaceful in Congo, either.

The work in copper mines, I see, is harsh and brutal, and working on the stoneworks for the new library, from what I hear, is not much better. The King proclaims to be a Christian monarch, yet his subjects suffer greatly under his whip.

- Diogo a Nkanga, a Congolese literati

Spoiler :

As the Congolese kingdom continued its expansion to the East, they've reached the nomadic communities of Kenya and the trading Swahili cities, which were in constant conflict with the Arabic Caliphate. Congolese scouts also reported news of Portuguese-controlled territory to the south of Swahili cities.

Spoiler :

 

[mrrandomplayer]

No! Not Italy!

 

[Moai_Spammer]

I hope poland manages to beat back those germy germans

 

[Lone Wolf]

After the Swahili kingdoms were conquered, the Congolese kingdom stretched from sea to shining sea.

Spoiler :

Kalemie, the City of Copper Mines just between the coasts, prospered as a major trade hub.

Mbwadi is a bit of a perfunctory UB. Good thing that the UU is good, and that UU and UB are rather minor parts of a civilization's uniqueness in RFC.

Spoiler :

The subjugation of the Holy Roman Emperor to the Caliph was a major shock to all European Christendom.

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Dom Braganza, the Portuguese nobleman who married the Congolese king's daughter, knew that his more prejudiced countrymen would mock his marriage. Not that he cared. The Congolese princess' blood was just as blue as his. She wasn't some African slave in Brazilian plantations.

Spoiler :

Congolese expansion advanced to the south with the founding of Madingou fortress in Zambezi river valley. Occasionally, Congolese expeditions to the south sighted isolated excursions of European soldiers from Dutch Cape Colony and English Natal.

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[Tigranes]

I was curious what exactly has been modified and why Viceroy was chosen? Also is this BC start or AD?

 

[baseballpie]

Are pictures not working for anybody else?

 

[Alexius08]

In the last update, every snapshot after the first one is missing.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Pictures fixed.

I was curious what exactly has been modified and why Viceroy was chosen? Also is this BC start or AD?

600 AD. Viceroy was chosen because playing Congo is handicap enough.

The most significant modifications, as compared to base 1.10, are:

Courthouses give +2 stability.
Tolerance for unhistorical expansion increased.
Plague removed.
AI now builds units at 105/90/85, depending on difficulty level, hammer cost of the human, instead of 120/110/100.
Rifling required for Asian Trading Company Conquerors.
Seljuks removed.
Some AI leaders' personalities changed.
City tiles now give 2 food/2 hammers/2 gold, instead of 2/1/1.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Everything seemed fine in the Kingdom. Merchants from all nations, from Spanish Mexico to Iran traded goods on Congolese markets.

Spoiler :

But most of Congolese economy still operated on simplistic tribal basis. In order to bring his kingdom closer to European nations, king Alvaro Nimi a Nkanga sponsored wide-reaching efforts to promote the most successful Congolese merchants, sponsoring the creation of native Congolese capitalist class.

Spoiler :

The fort of Mindouli became a symbol of Congolese expansion to the great lakes of Eastern Africa.

Spoiler :

I've set the Tamils to respawn to represent Vijayanagar. However, in this game, they conquered that city in Gujarat, then lost their core to British East Indies Trading Company. So, they OCC'ed in a conquered, severely culture pressured city up 'till the end. Also, ignore what Phillip says, we agreed to this trade. I've just added Ivory into the mix to make him agree. Hopefully, they've managed to train a few War Elephants in the Iberian Peninsula, or, better, in the Americas.

Spoiler :

It was no secret to Congolese ruling circles that as his Congo centralized, and as literacy went upwards as a result of the crown sponsoring lay teachers (called mestres in Portuguese-language documents), more and more people became aware of the horrors that Arabic, and, more importantly, European, slave traders perpetuate on their victims. Concerned groups of priests and more enlightened noblemen agitated for ending the slave trade. The noveau riche manufacturers and traders in goods other then slaves also resented the rich slave traders, both local and foreign. In 1778, Kalemie was shattered by a major slave revolt. The rebellious slaves called the local slave traders and the kingdom authorities, who condoned slave trade, to be traitors to their black skin.

The 1780 Emancipation Edict, that also forbade slave trading, was a result of anti-slavery trends coming together. In emancipating the slaves, it created a mass population of free hired labor, and allowed a major boon of manufacture and trading of non-slave goods.

Spoiler :

The Portuguese in Mozambique still maintained slavery. The new Congo could not tolerate such a malaise on the African Continent. The same year the Emancipation Edict was signed signalled a new war with the Portuguese in the name of freeing the slave toilers of Mozambique. The Arabian Sultanates, resentful at the loss of slave trading profits, joined Portugal in war with Congo, though their involvement was limited to minor coastal excursions.

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[Lone Wolf]

The mere fact of Kongo daring to oppose Portugal was enough for the Negus of Ethiopia to pass his kingdom to Mbanza Kongo upon his death.

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Congolese artillery shelled the defences of Quelimane. Portuguese artillery shelled back.

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During the Battle of Quelimane, many brave Congolese soldiers laid their lives under Portuguese bullets.

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But finally, the Portugese gave way.

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The capital of Portuguese Mozambique, Sofala, was a tougher nut to crack.

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Dramatic re-enactments of Congolese victories were held in the kingdom.

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The Portuguese governor fortified Sofala well with troops brought from Europe.

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He ordered an attack to retake Quelimane. The Congolese were pushed out of the city.

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However, that allowed the Congolese to storm Sofala, surrounding the Portuguese in Quelimane.

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Soon, Quelimane fell for the second time.

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Despite grumbling from expansionists who advocated a complete liberation of Africa from Europeans, the King of Congo signed a pact with the British.

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Portugal had no choice but to sign a peace treaty, with compensation to Congo for Portuguese participation in the slave trade.

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[Gruekiller]

Splendid. There ought to be more AARs with African civs on here.

 

[mrrandomplayer]

Expel those Portuguese from Africa!