Emanuele Ne Vunda

Antonio Emanuele Ne Vunda (died 1608), also Antonio Manuel Nsaku ne Vunda (or Vunta or Funda) was an ambassador from the Central African Kingdom of Kongo to the Vatican, sent by the king of Kongo Alvaro II to Pope Paul V in 1604–1608.[1][2] Ne Vunda traveled through Brazil and Spain and only reached Rome on 3 January 1608, but he died two days later of illness.[3][4]

Painting of Emanuele Ne Vunda, Sala dei Corazzieri, Palazzo del Quirinale, Rome, 1615-1616.

Emanuele (in Portuguese, Manuel) Ne Vunda is nowadays considered to have been the first African ambassador to Europe in history.[5]

A 1608–1609 bust of Ne-Vunda made in colored marble can be seen at Santa Maria Maggiore, by Francesco Caporale.[6]

A painting of Emanuele Ne Vunda is visible in the Sala dei Corazzieri, Palazzo del Quirinale in Rome, next to a painting depicting the 1615 embassy of Hasekura Tsunenaga from Japan.

References
  1. Lowe, p.112
  2. "A KONGO PRINCESS, THE KONGO AMBASSADORS AND THE PAPACY by Richard Gray (University of London)" (PDF).
  3. Heywood, Linda M.; Thornton, John K. (2007-09-10). Central Africans, Atlantic Creoles, and the Foundation of the Americas, 1585-1660. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521770651.
  4. Lowe, Kate (2007). "'Representing' Africa: Ambassadors and Princes from Christian Africa to Renaissance Italy and Portugal, 1402-1608". Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. 17: 101–128. JSTOR 25593873.
  5. Farisato, Letizia. "Nsaku Ne Vunda - Malaki ma Kongo". Retrieved 2015-06-14.
  6. University of Minnesota

Bibliography
  • Teobaldo Filesi, Le relazioni tra il Regno del Congo e la Sede Apostolica nel XVI secolo, Pietro Cairoli, Como 1968.
  • Luis Martínez Ferrer, Marco Nocca (ed.), “Coisas do outro mundo” A Missão em Roma de António Manuel, Príncipe de N’Funta, conhecido per “o Negrita” (1604-1608), na Roma de Paulo V, Urbaniana University Press, Città del Vaticano, 2003.


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