The Manding sword, the Tuareg aljuinar and Omani curved kattara: Are they connected?

[Jim McDougall]

For many years I wondered about the distinctive curved sabre of the Manding of Mali and contiguous Saharan regions, and if they could possibly have been somehow influenced by the open (without guard) cylindrical type hilts of the Omani saif (kattara).

It seemed there was little interest in the idea, and years later (2016)there was a thread begun seeking the origins and age of the Manding sabre, but again no real progress. It seems the idea of Omani influence was dismissed as there was no evidence of Omani trade extending as far as the Sahara, though in some degree in East Africa with slaving and ivory.


Still if we consider that influences in material culture, religion, and weaponry can be transmitted via networks and interaction in trade centers via the relay factor, then possibilities of diffusion even in absence of persons of other regions with whom they are associated become feasible.


While the 'open' and somewhat cylindrical hilt of the Manding sabre is of course more locally represented, and with a sphere as a pommel it remains in my view mindful of the Omani curved kattara.


Also of interest is that among Tuareg tribes according to findings by Lee Jones in his field research in the Sahara, there were instances of curved blade takouba referred to as 'aljuinar'.
Is it possible these suggest transmission of curved blades, presumably European, from points eastward via trade routes, and perhaps having Omani curved kattara among them?


Also, the distinctive flared scabbard tip, which is characteristic in many if not most kaskara from Darfur and other Sudanese regions, seems to appear characteristically on these Manding swords. While the possibility of any connection is typically summarily dismissed, why are these so consistant on Manding swords, but not seen elsewhere but Sudan?
Is such a pecularity likely to be convergently developed?



It does not seem that the Manding sabre is of particularly early period and seems more likely a product of mid 19th c. They seem most often to be mounted with French cavalry sabre blades, or in some cases with Solingen sabre blades, whose availability in 19th c. colonial and trade activity would support. The Manding were of course among the Mande peoples in the Mali general regions who were primaries in the trade activities there.


It is interesting that the Manding seem to have worn these sabres as a kind of badge of office or prestigious stature much in the manner the curved Omani kattara was worn. It does seem possible that such a convention might have carried through the interaction of traders via the conduit of these networks just as with goods and other matters.


Any ideas on if there might be connections in these loosely similar cases with these sword types?

The bottom photo is of a Manding with what appears an early 19th c. German blade.
The figure wearing the Manding sabre is wearing it much in the manner many Sudanese wear the kaskara….just noting.
The map is focused on West Africa but illustrates the geographic scope tribally of these people.
Mostly the Manding sabres are associated with Timbuktu and Mali (in upper right) and environs in those Saharan regions.
There are 'open' and somewhat cylindrical hilts known in Sierra Leone and others, with some of these swords having three central fuller straight blades like kaskara….again reflecting some sort of influence from the 'east' and Sudan.