Question

source 6.3 the slave trade and the kingdom of kongo
king affonso i | letters to king joão of
portugal | 1526
sir, your highness of portugal should know how our kingdom is being
lost in so many ways that it is convenient to provide for the necessary
remedy, since this is caused by the excessive freedom given by your
factors and officials to the men and merchants who are allowed to come to
this kingdom to set up shops with goods and many things which have
been prohibited by us, and which they spread throughout our kingdoms
and domains in such an abundance that many of our vassals, whom we
had in obedience, do not comply because they have the things in greater
abundance than we ourselves; and it was with these things that we had
them content and subjected under our vassalage and jurisdiction, so it is
doing a great harm not only to the service of god, but to the security and
peace of our kingdoms and state as well.
and we cannot reckon how great the damage is, since the mentioned
merchants are taking every day our natives, sons of the land and the sons
of our noblemen and vassals and our relatives, because the thieves and
men of bad conscience grab them wishing to have the things and wares of
the kingdom which they are ambitious of; they grab them and get them to
13 multiple choice 1 point
what did affonso identify as the root cause of his loss of authority in his kingdom?
the arrival of english merchants in his kingdom
the availability of new portuguese trading goods in his kingdom
the struggles between european and islamic traders for control of trade in his
kingdom
the conversion of many in his kingdom to christianity
14 multiple choice 1 point
which of the following reflects affonsos attitude toward the slave trade?
he wanted to end the slave trade, which threatened to depopulate his kingdom
he wanted all the profits of the trade to flow directly to him through a monopoly
of the trade.
it was a useful way of removing excess population from his kingdom that could
not otherwise be fed
it was unclean and should be banned
15 multiple choice 1 point
what distinguished the slave trade in kongo from that of wytfliet as described in

Explanation:

Question 13

To solve this, we analyze each option:

• Option 1: The passage doesn't mention English merchants, so eliminate.
• Option 2: The text says the merchants bring goods (prohibited by the king) in abundance, making vassals disobey as they have more of these goods. This matches the loss of authority cause.
• Option 3: No mention of Islamic traders, eliminate.
• Option 4: The passage focuses on trade goods and merchants, not conversion to Christianity, eliminate.

Analyze each option:

• Option 1: The text says merchants take natives (depopulating the kingdom) and cause harm, so he'd want to end it. This fits.
• Option 2: No mention of monopolizing profits, eliminate.
• Option 3: The passage shows the slave trade is harmful (depopulation, loss of authority), not a useful population control, eliminate.
• Option 4: The text implies the trade is harmful, not uncertain, eliminate.

Answer:

B. The availability of new Portuguese trading goods in his kingdom

Question 14