Note 64 — Chapter IV · THE PORTUGUESE IN AFRICA
Reading edition
In 1621 Pope Paul V sent a mission to the King of Kongo at São Salvador; and thenceforward, until 1717, the Kongo kingdom was evangelized by Italian and Belgian Capuchins, and after 1673 by Belgian Recollets friars. But in 1717 the Capuchins were expelled by the king’s people. In 1760 Catholic missions were resumed in Congoland (Loango and Kongo) by French, Italian and Portuguese missionaries; but these too came to an end by 1800, and for some eighty years the Kongo kingdom relapsed into complete barbarism.