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THE FIRING END What a person thought of European intervention, particularly their involvement in slave trade, depended on which end of the firearm they were on. Although Europe did not invent slavery, the slave trade that went on between Europe, Africa and the Americas involved an unprecedented violence enforced by weapons. There were three sides of the violence: those who owned, those who were owned, and those who were the captors. Everyone was affected. Nzinga Mbemba, oba, or king, of the Kongo Kingdom had all three sides of violence going on right under his nose. In the beginning, he was the equivalent of a captor in a nonphysical sense because he allowed the slave trade to go on until it was to out of hand. He welcomed the seed of European influence to be planted in his kingdom and then watched it grow out of control choking society as it did. Nzinga’s initial intentions were to cooperate with and be pleasing to the Portuguese agents and officials. He went so far as to convert to Christianity, making it the state religion, and changing his African name to a Spanish one, Alfonso I. Things did not go the way he had hoped. Those under him did not approve of his new behavior. Tension grew worse as European merchants