''Nkutama a mvila za makanda'' is a "Catalogue of Praise Names of Clans" in the

Kikongo Kongo or Kikongo is one of the Bantu languages spoken by the Kongo people living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and Angola. It is a tonal language. The vast majority of present-day speakers li ...

language compiled and edited by Father Jean Cuvelier comprising a list of about 500

Kongo Kongo may refer to: Kongo culture *Kingdom of Kongo *Kongo cosmogram *Kongo language or Kikongo, one of the Bantu languages *Kongo languages *Kongo people *Kongo religion Places * Kongo, Ghana, a town in Ghana *Kongo Central, formerly Bas-Cong ...

clans in alphabetical order. The list was compiled by Cuvelier between 1926 and 1934 when he was inspector of schools for the

Redemptorist The Redemptorists, officially named the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (), abbreviated CSsR, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men (priests and brothers). It was founded by Alphonsus Liguori at Scal ...

Order in the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...

. The entries typically give the name of the clan, its praise name or ''mvila'', as well as its traditional itinerary and sometimes additional information drawn from its traditions. Often Cuvelier specified the village where he collected the tradition as well. Cuvelier's personal papers, now housed at the Catholic University at

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

(or Louvain) in Belgium, contain a considerable number of his original manuscripts from which the book was published, normally in school notebooks entitled "Mvila". The book was first published in 1934 at the mission's press, and a second edition was brought out under the same name in the missionary newspaper ''Kukiele'' in 1944. This second edition was not complete, but contained information and clan names not found in the original edition. A third edition also appeared, although its location and circumstances are not known. Following Cuvelier's death in 1962, his colleague Joseph de Munck brought out a fourth edition in 1972, which contained all the changes of the earlier ones, as well as a slightly reorganized format.

References

John Thornton, "The Origins and Early History of the Kingdom of Kongo, c. 1350-1550," ''International Journal of African Historical Studies'' 34/1 (2001): 89-120.

External links

''Nkutama a mvila za makanda'' (1934 edition) in PDF format History books about the Belgian Congo