In 1526, the king of Kongo wrote to the king of Portugal and begged him to stop the slave trade.
The letters still exist. You can read them.
King Afonso I — Nzinga Mbemba.
He was not a victim of ignorance about Europe. He was literate in Portuguese, Catholic, and had welcomed Portuguese traders as partners. Then he watched what the trade actually did.
He writes that merchants are seizing people every day — nobles, family members, free subjects — and that his country is being emptied. He asks for teachers and doctors instead of ships. He asks, plainly, for it to stop.
Portugal's king replied with a letter pointing out how profitable Kongo's trade was and how little else it had to offer.
The trade continued for another three hundred years and helped destroy the kingdom.
An African head of state put his objection in writing in 1526, in the language of the people doing it, and was told the arithmetic did not work in his favour.
"They didn't know" has never been available as an excuse. The correspondence is in the archives.
This song in 1980 caused ripples in the Catholic Church to the extent that the Vatican asked the Bishops in DRC to intervene. Mobutu also stepped in to curb the spread of the song. Most of us black Africans who don’t speak Lingala did not know what the song was about until now that it is subtitled in English. This is a rendition of the original song, but the lyrics and music are unchanged. Happy Sunday Bazalwane
This is why we are not allowed to enter most areas throughout the Grand Canyon. So many signs and artifacts that look like an ancient Egyptian civilization.
mr.mountainbeast on TikTok is a MUST FOLLOW.
FANTASTIC‼️
In 2020, Kenyan 🇰🇪 police arrested a man who robbed people at night by disguising himself as a seductive woman.
He would lure in unsuspecting victims, who only realized the ruse when it was too late.
He figured the smartest way to pull off nighttime robberies was to dress up as an alluring female.
Lipstick? On point. Heels? Strapped on. Victims? Eventually handed him right over to the authorities.
Officers caught him right in the middle of flirting with his next target.
This Is The Painful Reality Many Undocumented Africans Face Abroad 💔 Hunted Down Like Cr!minals, Arrested Without Warning, And Deported Immediately Leaving Behind Their Hard-Earned Money, Properties, And Everything They Suffered To Build In Foreign Lands.😔