African pastors on the horizon of the “occupation” of Central Angola: Ngulu, Keto and the expansion of the congregational mission

Abstract

In the final decades of the 19^th century, significant sociopolitical changes were taking place in the interior of Central Angola. Such processes would culminate in the advancement of the Portuguese military campaigns on the sobados of Viye and M’balundu. Despite the continuous and ambiguous connections with European agents, these territories had maintained their political autonomy until that moment. In this context, the first protestant missions were established in the region. Among the West Central African Mission’s first converts, there were characters such as Abraham Ngulu and Jacob Keto, local young men that would become pastors, teachers, and community leaders. Their trajectories appear sparsely in the missionary writing produced during the first years of the mission in Central Angola. Through examining aspects of their contributions, such as their activities as evangelists, their role in the codification of the written vernacular, and the dynamics of conversion, we seek to contribute to the understanding of their roles in the context of the expansion of imperialism and Christianity in Africa.