|
Battle of Kombi
The Battle of Kombi, which took place on October 29, 1647, was a pivotal confrontation between the allied forces of the Kingdom of Kongo, the Kingdom of Ndongo, and the Dutch, against the Portuguese and their African allies. BackgroundIn the early 17th century, the Kingdom of Kongo, under King Garcia II, was in conflict with Portugal, which sought to expand its influence in Angola and beyond. King Garcia II aimed to strengthen his authority and counter Portuguese presence in Angola. Simultaneously, the Kingdom of Ndongo, led by Queen Nzinga, was also resisting Portuguese expansion. The Dutch, engaged in war with Portugal, had occupied Luanda in 1641 and were seeking to establish alliances with African kingdoms to weaken Portuguese influence. On October 29, 1647, a combined force of over 8,000 men, including soldiers from Kongo, Ndongo, and 400 Dutch troops, faced an army of approximately 30,000 Portuguese and their African allies, comprising 600 Portuguese and Luso-Africans. The battle occurred somewhere north of Massangano, Angola..[1] The allied forces inflicted a decisive defeat on the Portuguese, killing or wounding over 3,000 of their soldiers. This victory enabled Queen Nzinga and her allies to lay siege to three Portuguese presidios in Angola: Ambaca, Massangano, and Muxima. However, these sieges were unsuccessful, primarily due to a lack of sufficient artillery to conduct effective attacks. When Portuguese forces reinforced by Salvador de Sá e Benevides arrived in 1648, Queen Nzinga was compelled to abandon the sieges and retreat to Matamba..[2] ReferencesSources
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
