Assumptions of the intercultural encounter and failure of the first Jesuit mission in the Kingdom of Kongo (1548 - 1555)

• Grant number: 12/08956-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2012
• End date: June 30, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History
• Principal Investigator: Adone Agnolin
• Grantee: Tomás Motta Tassinari
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This work is focused on the first Jesuit mission in the so-called Kingdom of Kongo. The Jesuits arrived in Central Africa in 1548 and the last representative of the order went back to Europe in 1555. The first contact between the Portuguese and the Congolese occurred in 1483. Our investigation aims at studying a specific seven-year period, which took place more than half a century after the first contact between the different cultural matrices involved. Since this intercultural encounter had already been shaped in a very specific way when the Jesuits were sent to the Kingdom of Kongo, our study will examine a critical moment for the development of Christianity in the region. This moment will be investigated through the analysis of the missionaries' cognitive tools, which were responsible for their understanding of African reality. (AU)