Kibango

Kibango, also written Kibangu, became one of the royal centres that emerged during Kongo's civil wars after the battle of Mbwila in 1665. Pedro IV based his claim to kingship here while rival dynasties competed over the divided kingdom. In 1698 a Capuchin observer saw him accompanied at a ceremony by knights wearing white tunics marked with the cross of the Order of Christ.

The prophet Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita was born near Kibangu around 1684. Her later Antonian movement demanded the restoration of the abandoned capital, São Salvador. That religious campaign challenged rulers and missionaries alike. Pedro eventually left his mountain base and defeated the forces occupying São Salvador on 15 February 1709. Kibangu's history thus belonged directly to the struggle over where royal authority should reside and how a fractured Christian kingdom could be reunited.