#10: Brazil’s Black Kingdom: How Enslaved Africans Created Their Own Nation

The last main episode of Black History Unveiled explored the rise and fall of the Kingdom of Kongo—a powerful Central African state that met a devastating blow at the hands of the Portuguese in 1665. In the aftermath, Kongo not only lost its king but also saw much of its nobility captured, enslaved, and forcibly taken across the Atlantic.

Most of them vanished into the brutal anonymity of the transatlantic slave trade, their names erased from history. But not all. Some survived the passage of time. One such figure is Ganga Zumba.

Leading a daring escape, he and other fugitives from slavery carved out a stronghold deep in the jungles of Brazil.

This is the story of how enslaved Africans fought back, built their own nation, and came close to toppling the Portuguese colonial power.

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