Conolizing the Congo with Christianity
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has a longstanding history of colonialism and Christianity. I wanted to explore the historical background and significance of the narrative and how it sets up The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. To do so, I ventured to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in search of Christian art pieces from the Kongo Kingdom. While scarce, I found three crosses in Gallery 304 that dated back to the 14th century.
The figure on the left depicts a wooden cross with St. Anthony of Padua holding an infant Jesus in his left hand and a cross in his right. The triple-knotted belt signifies the Franciscan order and is Saint Anthony of Padua, the patron saint of Italy and Portugal. St. Anthony became popular in the seventeenth century when Italian Capuchin missionaries raided land to spread and convert their beliefs.
The figure in the middle is a visual depiction of the holy trinity over hundreds of years. Italian Capuchin missionaries brought prototypes of religious symbols which gained authority over the years. Three separate versions of a crucified Christ are welded together to interpret the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The figure on the right is another depiction of the Crucifixion of Christ but with African features, specifically broad feet and hands. Four individuals on the bottom, top, left, and right of the cross also share similar African characteristics and represent the cycle of human life through the day: dawn, noon, dusk, and midnight.
These three separate depictions of crosses and the Crucifixion demonstrate Kongo's visual expression of the land and the inhabitants' visual expressions. When the Kongo leadership adopted Christianity, they used these Western religious ideas to gain national authority.
Christianity in the Kongo dates to the late fourteenth century. King Nzinga, leader of the Kongo Empire, was baptized and converted himself and the entire Kongo Kingdom to Roman Catholicism. He established the Roman Catholic Church in Kongo while in cahoots with the Portuguese government. The Portuguese introduced Catholicism to the Kongo nation, and it is unclear if King Nzinga had any monetary motivation to convert the country as he had an increasingly intense relationship regarding the slave trade. Under his rule, economic exploitation flourished between the two nations, and King Nzinga received praise outside of Africa.
In the beginning of the Roman Catholic church in the Kongo, there were themes of tradition, but the King of Portugal decided there was a need for intense control. He aligned the Kongo with bishops and missionaries and was eventually acknowledged by the church as orthodox. Additionally, Kongo nobility leaned into Portuguese and Christian influence to establish themselves in the Western world by taking Western names and titles and sending their children to schools abroad.
By 1885, King Leopold II established a personal colony known as the Congo Free State. Ironic, right? In 1905, Belgium annexed and reestablished the land and people, renaming it the Belgian Congo. Took it over and reestablished the land and its people, calling it the Belgian Congo, able to convince world representatives that it was for the people's good. Essentially, they used Christianity to infiltrate and further exploit an already exploited nation.
The Heart of Darkness takes place in the 1890s, setting the book's contents during King Leopold II's personal rule and humanitarian disaster. Author Joseph Conrad details the terror portrayed throughout his book and King Leopold's excuse that he is corrupting society.
Overall, Christian influence began the minute European explorers entered the Kongo. It festered and spread over time by the help of local and foreign kings, missionaries, and church officials. King Leopold II used Christianity to gain access to raw materials and the slave trade, thinking about religion as an afterthought. The historical background aids audiences in a deeper reading of Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness as it exposes the destruction of a culture for money.
Works Cited
“Kingdom of Kongo 1390–1914.” South African History Online, www.sahistory.org.za/article/kingdom-kongo-1390-1914#:~:text=During%20the%20Berlin%20Conference%20of,occupy%20the%20territory%5Bxciv%5D. Accessed 20 Nov. 2023
Ross, Emma George. "African Christianity in Kongo." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/acko/hd_acko.htm (October 2002)
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