Since 1485, when the first Kongolese people had been shipped in the fleet commanded by Diogo Cão to Portugal, many Africans had come to the Kingdom to be instructed in the faith, culture and languages of the western world. Some of those who landed in Lisbon and the other ports in the north and Algarve were free individuals, representatives of Manicongo and members of the African kingdom elite. Most, however, came to Portugal as slaves (Boxer, 1989). Conversion to Catholicism occupied a central place in the relationship with the peoples of Africa, both on the continent and beyond (Thornton, 1992). Thus, the brotherhoods became important tools in the catechesis of Africans remaining within their dominions, as well as their descendants enslaved in other parts of the Iberian Peninsula and the Americas.