| Abstract: | No eyewitness has left a shred of direct evidence describing the people who invaded Kongo in 1568, Historians who have accepted the myth of the 'Jaga' on the authority of standard secondary accounts' win be surprised to learn that the only 16th c. documents purporting to illuminate the attack contain only an insignificant amount of factual material of authentic Kongo provenance. The bulk of this description draws on other sources: a Portuguese legend about a mysterious nation of savages believed to inhabit the unknown African in terior, generalized European beliefs about barbarian invaders of the civilized regions of the world. Unsettled Kongo domestic politics during the 1560's suggest that the 'Jaga' invasion was in fact an attack against the mani Kongo by one or more local enemies. Whatever the origin of the myth of the 'Jaga', the story fits perfectly with 16th century European misconceptions about Africa and Africans. Notes, map. French summary. |
AfricaBib 
Periodical article
Leiden University catalogue
WorldCat
