Encyclopaedia Africana

According to tradition, Lukeni (who flourished in the late 13th century) founded the Kongo kingdom. The sources, however, are not unanimous, for some claim it...

Tohugu (Tohogo), who flourished in the second half of the 15th century, became the first Nayiri (paramount chief) of Mamprusi (Mamprugu) in what is now...

Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst (1882-September 27, 1960) was a British suffragette (militant advocate of women’s suffrage) who became involved in Ethiopian affairs after the invasion of...

Augustin Kinzonzi (May 25, 1901-June 19, 1955) rose to prominence as a Thysville (now Mbanza- Ngungu) merchant and government official during the colonial period. Kinzonzi...

Nkanga Lukeni (ruled 1641-61) or Garcia II, was Mani Kongo (ruler of the Kongo) during a time of military conflict between the Portuguese and the...

Makitu (circa 1856-April 1899), a prominent merchant and caravan organiser, grew wealthy from the 19th century ivory trade between the Atlantic coast and the interior...

Sebastien Ngonso (circa 1940-October, 1965) was a young Congolese poet whose work expressed the anguish and suffering he experienced in life. In the 1950s Ngonso...

Mai Munene (who flourished in the mid-seventeenth century) founded the Lunda-related chiefdom, or state, of Mai Munene, located at the confluence of the Kasai and...

Mabera Benoit (circa 1890-1922), the Vui (paramount chief) of the Nguii people living along the Kasai River north of Kikwit, cooperated with colonial authorities in...

Lupungu (circa 1875-circa 1940s), the son of Ngongo Leteta claimed to be the legitimate successor to his father’s large domain, straddling the Lomami River southwest...