The Regions: Central Africa

The following objects originated in West Africa:

The region is dominated by the Congo and Ogoue river systems. Trade and communication followed the waterways but the equatorial rain forest surrounding them was largely impenetrable without iron technology. This was brought in by the first Bantu-speaking peoples between 2300 and 2000 years ago. The only other groups to exploit the equatorial resources effectively were the pygmies, the forest people.

Village groupings probably developed into small states through the actions of powerful individuals. The kingdom of Kongo was well established when the Portuguese arrived in 1483CE.

The Portuguese introduced Christianity and exported slaves, copper and ivory. Catholicism was grafted onto an existing belief structure which assumed the existence of a universal power nzambi mpungu. In the lower Congo area, this was harnessed, by means of a range of objects and procedures known as minkisi, to a desired outcome whether it was controlling witchcraft, injuring enemies, or promoting the fertility of women or crops. The procedures included the use of objects activated by pieces of iron or other items being attached to the object.

The state of Vili, closely related to Kongo, from which most of the items in this section originate, was alone among coastal kingdoms in opposing Portuguese control of internal trade, even though it still took advantage of their access to external markets.

A conference in Berlin in 1884-85 decided to divide parts of Africa up between European nations, principally Britain, France and Germany. In May 1885 Leopold II, King of Belgium, acquired two and a half million square kilometres of land in central Africa as his personal property. He called it the 'Congo Free State'. It later became known as the Belgian Congo, gained independence in 1960 as Zaire, and was re-named the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1997. The instability it has suffered in recent years can be traced back to Leopold's exploitation of its rich mineral resources.

Read about Dennett and Fortescue who collected these artefacts.

Visit the Compass site at the British Museum and follow the 'Tours' link to the 'African Galleries' page for more examples of African objects.

The Collection of African Artefacts site provides a wealth of photographs.