Writers choice

Question:

Why were the Portuguese slave merchants able to Purchase Kongolese captives? What was the Kongolese kings remedy for the problem? [206]

READ THE BELOW paragraph AND GENERATE YOUR OWN response: Response should be a minimum of have a page to full.
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Portuguese slavers were able to purchase Kongolese captives through internal conflict among peoples; seeking wealth and the ability to gain a foothold in Atlantic trade, many inhabitants of Kongo would abduct their own kinsmen, falsifying their backgrounds, to sell to white invaders. They were then branded like cattle, an incredibly degrading act intended to mark individuals sold as property. Attempts to restore those wrongfully kidnapped to freedom would be met with resistance by the white slavers, who claimed that they had fairly purchased the captives. The Kongolese king, Afonso I, wrote a letter to the monarch of Portugal informing the king there that the slave trade must from then on go through the Kongolese nobility; only Dom Manuel Manisaba, Dom Pedro Manipunzo, and Goncalo Pires — all high ranking officials — could authorize the removal of captives from the nation. In this way, the sale of freedmen (as occurred in the case of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo) to Europe and across the Atlantic could be prevented. However, due to the vast amount of profit made through the slave trade, King Afonso did not condemn the practice altogether, fearing that a cessation of cooperation with the Portuguese would lead to severe restrictions on trade goods coming into the region.
Because King Afonso couldn’t meet the Portuguese’s demands for captives, the Portuguese side-stepped his decree of monopolization of the slave trade, and began trading for captives with chiefs and governors of the Kongolese provinces. These chiefs and governors, who, according to King Afonso, greatly yearned for European goods, broke the rules and began kidnapping and selling free Kongolese citizens and nobles instead of prisoners of war and criminals to the Portuguese. King Afonso’s remedy for this problem was to write a letter to the king of Portugal complaining about the wrongdoings of the Portuguese merchants and proposing that group of trusted nobles check the captives the Portuguese bought from the provinces to make sure that these were not free Kongolese citizens or nobles before they embarked on the journey to the New World. If these demands were not met, King Afonso threated to cut his tradig ties with Portugal, however, this threat seems empty as throughout the letter, King Afonso was extremely defferential to the Portuguse king which shows that he really did not want to cut trading ties with the Portuguese.
As a result of King Afonso not complying with King John III of Portugal trading demands. The chiefs and governors of the Kongo kingdom went behind the Kings back, because of greed, to get Europeans goods. The Portuguese slave merchants were able to purchase Kongolese captives, as a result of the Kongolese leaders capturing their own people and selling them to the Portuguese in exchange goods. The leaders would capture the people, and exchange them late at night so they would not be spotted. The Portuguese will then use a hot iron and brand them, and claim them as their property. In response, King Afonso demanded that the Portuguese slave merchants must notify the three nobles and officers of the Kongoglese kingdom, who are in charge of trade. They will decide if the captive slaves are free men or not, and if they are not, they will take the captives. King Afonso gave this command as a favor to King John III of Portugal, because of his influence in trading.
Portuguese slave merchants were able to purchase Kongolese captives because people of the Kongo Kingdom would secretly kidnap and transport free citizens of their own land and sell them to the Portuguese in exchange for their goods and merchandise. King Afonso I, ruler of the Kongo Kingdom, saw this as a great problem, and sought to “reduce the devastation” by writing a letter to King John III of Portugal, proposing a solution. He wrote that those who buy slaves from the kingdom would have to notify the three nobles and officers of the Kongolese court, where they would verify whether the captives are free men or actual slaves. If they turned out to be liberated citizens, they would be “confiscated” from the kidnappers. But, if they were really slaves, then they would be able to embark and used for the slave trade.