Editing Cabinda Province (section)

=== Portuguese Congo ===
Portuguese explorers, [[Missionary|missionaries]], and traders arrived at the mouth of the [[Congo River]] in the mid-15th century, making contact with the [[Manikongo]], the powerful King of the [[Kongo people|Bakongo tribe]]. The Manikongo controlled much of the region through affiliation with smaller kingdoms, such as the Kingdoms of [[Ngoyo]], [[Kingdom of Loango|Loango]], and [[Kakongo]] in present-day Cabinda.

Over the years, the Portuguese, [[Netherlands|Dutch]], and [[England|English]] established [[trading posts]], [[logging]] camps, and small [[palm oil]] processing factories in Cabinda. Trade continued and the European presence grew, resulting in conflicts between the rival colonial powers.  Between 1827 and 1830, the [[Imperial Brazilian Navy]] maintained a [[Eastern Naval Division|naval base]] in the western part of Cabinda, making it the only Brazilian colony outside of South America.

[[File:CarteBasCongo1913.JPG|thumb|250px|1913 map of [[Bas-Congo]] and Cabinda]]

Portugal first claimed sovereignty over Cabinda in the February 1885 [[Treaty of Simulambuco]], which gave Cabinda the status of a protectorate of the [[List of Portuguese monarchs|Portuguese Crown]] under the request of "the princes and governors of Cabinda". This is often the basis upon which the legal and historical arguments in defense of the [[self-determination]] of modern-day Cabinda are constructed. Article 1, for example, states, "the princes and chiefs and their successors declare, voluntarily, their recognition of Portuguese sovereignty, placing under the protectorate of this nation all the territories by them governed" {{sic}}. Article 2, which is often used in separatist arguments, goes even further: "Portugal is obliged to maintain the integrity of the territories placed under its protection". The [[Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda]] (FLEC-R) argues that the above-mentioned treaty was signed between the emissaries of the Portuguese Crown and the princes and notables of Cabinda, then called Portuguese Congo, giving rise to not one, but three protectorates: Cacongo, Loango, and Ngoio.

Through the Treaty of Simulambuco in 1885 between the kings of Portugal and the princes of Cabinda, a Portuguese [[protectorate]] was decreed, reserving rights to the local princes and independent of Angola. Cabinda once had the Congo River as the only natural boundary with Angola, but in 1885, the [[Berlin Conference]] extended the territory of the [[Congo Free State]] along the Congo River to the river's mouth at the sea.

During this time rubber was harvested and traded in Cabinda. Atrocities such as the cutting of hands were also committed there, although comprehensive reports on these atrocities were more scant and less publicly known compared to the neighbouring Congo Free State.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://atrocitieswatch.org/publications/mutilation-and-brutality/ |title=Mutilation and brutality |access-date=13 February 2023 |archive-date=13 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213154516/http://atrocitieswatch.org/publications/mutilation-and-brutality/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Van Reybrouck |first=David |date=2014 |title=Congo: The Epic History of a People |location=London |publisher=Fourth Estate |isbn=978-0-00-756290-9}}</ref>