Congo, Republic of (Brazzaville) Women Fashion Jewellery 37

Congo, Republic of (Brazzaville) Women Fashion Jewelry.
By Aamir Mannan
Emergence of the Nation. The first inhabitants are believed to have been forest dwellers such as the Teke. Other ethnic groups joined them to form the three kingdoms that ruled the area before the arrival of Europeans: the Kongo, Loango, and Teke. The mouth of the Congo River was the base for the Kongo Kingdom which encountered the Portuguese in 1484. Trading contracts gave the Congolese textiles, jewelry, and manufactured goods in return for ivory, copper, and slaves. Western education and Christianity were introduced into the region at that time.

The Portuguese did not venture into the interior but bought goods and slaves through African brokers on the coast. When the slave trade diminished because of depopulation, the Portuguese bought slaves from other tribes. Fighting between the tribes weakened them as a group, including the Kongo. This increased the power of the Europeans and strengthened the slave trade. This situation continued until the European powers outlawed slavery in the late 1800s.

The Teke Kingdom of the interior signed a treaty with the French in 1883 that gave the French land in return for protection. Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza