António Cavazzi’s Missionary Account of Kongo and Angola
- Date of account
- Published 1687; observations and reports gathered mainly in the 1650s–1660s
- Location
- Kongo, Matamba, and Angola
- Source
- model_recalled_reference
- Record updated
- 2026-10-10
Record summary
António Cavazzi’s 1687 account describes Capuchin missions in Kongo, Matamba, and Angola, including healing specialists, spirit mediums, divination, possession, visions, and the conversion campaigns associated with Queen Njinga’s territories. It is a major early source for comparing altered-state practices and competing interpretations of extraordinary experience. The text combines observation, hearsay, polemic, miracle narrative, and translation across cultures. Its illustrations and descriptions should be checked against Kongo and Mbundu concepts rather than accepted through the author’s demonological framework.
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