Mbanza Nsundi

Mbanza Nsundi was the seat of the rulers of Nsundi, a northern province of the Kongo kingdom. A mbanza was the residence of a chief and his household, a centre of authority rather than a densely built town. At Kindoki, near Mbanza Nsundi, the remains of houses and a burial ground reveal a settlement occupied over several centuries.

Kongo kings entrusted important provinces such as Nsundi to close relatives. In the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries João I and his son Afonso, then governor of Nsundi, expanded its territory. Long afterwards, a cemetery at Kindoki received people of high status; its graves contained glass beads, copper crosses and other objects, recalling a community in which local traditions and Christianity met.