Document 20-1: OLFERT DAPPER, King Alvaro I of Kongo Receiving the Dutch Ambassadors (1668)

A Dutch View of an African King

The history of the powerful central West African state of Kongo was profoundly shaped by European expansion and the emergence of the transatlantic slave trade. Portuguese explorers first arrived in Kongo in 1491. They succeeded in making an alliance with the ruling Kongo Empire, converting the royal family to Catholicism. The alliance gave the Kongo Empire a short-term advantage over their local and regional rivals, but it proved a disaster in the long run. As the slave trade intensified, Kongo became increasingly unstable, descending into endemic warfare and political disorder. Keep this in mind as you examine this image taken from a late-seventeenth-century Dutch book on Africa. What parts of the story of the interaction between Kongo’s leaders and Europeans does it highlight? What parts does it leave out?

image
Private Collection/Bridgeman Images.

READING AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1. How would you characterize the interaction between King Alvaro I and the Dutch ambassadors? What response might the artist have been hoping to evoke in viewers?
  2. What importance should we attach to the large chandelier that hangs over the king? What other evidence does the image provide of the importation of European goods into Africa?
  3. In the upper left corner of the image, we see a church in the distance. Why might the artist have chosen to include this detail?