Its capital was located on the Inkisi River, near the present-day village of Mbanza Nsundi in Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to traditions retold by Duarte Lopes, Kongo's ambassador to Rome, and published by Filippo Pigafetta in 1591, Nsundi was formerly an independent small kingdom.
But the subsequent history of the country does not support the idea that the heir apparent always held this post, and kings of Kongo came from many different provinces.
[2] When King Álvaro II renamed the provincial nobility along European lines in the late sixteenth century, Nsundi was declared a Duchy.
[3] During the civil wars that followed the Battle of Mbwila in 1665, Nsundi gradually became more or less independent under a line of dukes from the Kimpanzu branch of the royal family.