Just as the political system of the Kongo was very advanced so is true about the family and kinship of the Kongo. Like many African societies The Kongo was based on a matrilineal system, where the power of the society was passed down through the mothers’ line of lineage. This was referred to as kanda, the kanda held power of the land and thus power of the majority of the society. The structure of kanda left much room for a system of hierarchy, chiefs would try very hard to keep their family in power, also dictating the amount one paid for land or how much they charged their produce or product for.
Kanda’s were seen as the root of the family and kinship side of the ancient society, they were deeply embedded into the culture dictating every aspect of a Kongolese person’s life. They ruled marriage laws, family and community relationships as well as trade patterns. The matrilineal kanda were normally exogamous, promoting growth and expansion of the empire. This exogamous nature lead to the idea of a more community based society instead of an individualistic one, thus titles like “brother” and “mother” were applied to many people who many have not been blood. A free man could normally depend upon four chiefs in their kanda; their mother’s head, father’s head and his paternal and maternal grandfathers.
If the case was an enslaved man though the kanda would completely shift, I would like to point out that the idea of enslaved person is completely different, the Kongolese people understood an enslaved person as someone who did not belong to a kanda. The enslaved person was not necessarily inferior to his owner; his enslavement was due to lack of connections within the community. A person could break free of enslavement if they married into their “owners” family, changing their status from belonging to no kanda group from immediately belonging to one. Making enslavement one of constant change and morphing social situations, based upon a person’s connections to the community.