State Building in Africa Practice Test

Across many African regions before 1900, rulers built states by blending centralized authority with local governance. For example, some empires appointed provincial officials to collect tribute while leaving village leaders in place, and they used kinship ties, marriage alliances, or age-grade associations to organize labor and loyalty. Which generalization best reflects this pattern of African state building?

In the Kingdom of Kongo in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, rulers centralized authority over provinces and used tribute and trade to support the court. After diplomatic contact with Portugal, Kongolese kings adopted aspects of Christianity and literacy for court administration, while negotiating alliances and rivalries. Which outcome best illustrates how external contact could be used for state building in Kongo?