Nsundi
Nsundi was a province of the old Kingdom of Kongo. Its capital was located on the Inkisi River, near the present-day village of Mbanza Nsundi in Democratic Republic of Congo.
History
According to traditions retold by Duarte Lopes, Kongo's ambassador to Rome, and published by Filippo Pigafetta in 1591, Nsundi was formerly an independent small kingdom. It was incorporated into Kongo's domains probably in the early to mid-fifteenth century. The province had been expanded earlier east and west along the south bank of the Congo River, and in the late fifteenth century also on the northern bank of the river. In 1491 the kings of Kongo called on Portuguese military forces to aid in putting down a rebellion from sections on both banks of the river.
Later tradition suggested that Nsundi was often given to the king's chosen successor to rule. The earliest known ruler of Nsundi was Afonso Mvemba a Nzinga. A son of Nzinga a Nkuwu, who reigned in the late fifteenth century, Afonso Mvemba became king in turn in 1509. But the subsequent history of the country does not support the idea that the heir apparent always held this post, and kings of Kongo came from many different provinces.
Nsundi was a royal province, meaning that the king appointed its high official on a limited term, often three years. When King Álvaro II renamed the provincial nobility along European lines in the late sixteenth century, Nsundi was declared a Duchy. One of the more powerful of its dukes, Manuel Jordão, served as something of a king-maker in the period 1624-28. He was humiliated and removed by King Ambrósio I in 1628.
During the civil wars that followed the Battle of Mbwila in 1665, Nsundi gradually became more or less independent under a line of dukes from the Kimpanzu branch of the royal family.