AFONSO I

died c. 1550 also called Nzinga Mbemba ruler of the Kongo Kingdom (in present Congo [Kinshasa] and Angola), the first of a line of Portuguese vassal kings that lasted until the early 20th century. Nzinga Mbemba, who became the sixth manikongo (lord of the Kongo) in 1506 or 1507, encouraged the penetration of his country by the Portuguese that had begun under his predecessor, Nzinga Nkuwa. Becoming a Christian and adopting the Portuguese name Dom Afonso, he made an agreement (the Regimento, 1512) with Manuel I of Portugal by which the Kongo accepted Portuguese institutions, granted extraterritorial rights to Portuguese subjects, and supplied slaves to Portuguese traders.