Kingdom of Loango
Kingdom of Loango | |||||||||
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| c. 1550–c. 1883 | |||||||||
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Coat of arms
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Approximate location of the Kingdom of Loango in relation to the modern-day Republic of the Congo | |||||||||
| Capital | Buali (or Mbansa Loango) | ||||||||
| Common languages | Kikongo | ||||||||
| Religion | Bakongo | ||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Established | c. 1550 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | c. 1883 | ||||||||
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| History of the Republic of the Congo |
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The Kingdom of Loango was a pre-colonial African Kongo state, during approximately the 16th to 19th centuries in what is now the western part of the Republic of the Congo, Southern Gabon and Cabinda. Situated to the north of the more powerful Kingdom of Kongo, at its height in the 17th century Loango influence extended from Cape St Catherine in the north to almost the mouth of the Congo River.
Loango exported copper to the European market, and was a major producer and exporter of cloth.
The English traveller Andrew Battel, when he was there in about 1610, recorded that the predecessor of the unnamed king ruling at that time was "Gembe" or Gymbe (modernized as Njimbe), possibly the founder of the kingdom. With the death of King Buatu in 1787, the succession of leadership is uncertain.