A fine moroccan Musket for ID

TVV · 5th February 2013, 06:58 PM

The only reference I have on these is Elgoods "Firearms of the Islamic World". There he describes this type as Afedali and places its origin in the Sous valley in Morocco. It would not be surprising if these were used within a much wider area though.

I am not sure of a good reference on firearms used by the Tuareg, but it seems like they had no cultural reluctance to guns and acquired them at any given opportunity. Per Smaldone, the Tuareg controlled the Northern (or Trans-Saharan) route of firearms into Hausaland, and it would seem likely that many of the guns they obtained must have been of Moroccan manufacture, as these were probably the only ones available for the most part. The French and the other colonial powers in the region did everything they could to prevent a supply of modern firearms to the Tuareg and the Sudanic empires, for obvious reasons.

Smaldone also raises a very good point: the lack of a reliable supply of cartridges for breechloaders made muzzleloaders popular in the Sahel (and likely Sahara as well), since the ammunition for them could be locally produced.

Based on the above it seems pretty safe to conclude that muskets such as the very nice subject of this thread, must have been used among the Tuareg, at least for as long as they could not obtain anything better.

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5th February 2013, 06:58 PM	#12
TVV Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Bay Area Posts: 1,660	The only reference I have on these is Elgoods "Firearms of the Islamic World". There he describes this type as Afedali and places its origin in the Sous valley in Morocco. It would not be surprising if these were used within a much wider area though. I am not sure of a good reference on firearms used by the Tuareg, but it seems like they had no cultural reluctance to guns and acquired them at any given opportunity. Per Smaldone, the Tuareg controlled the Northern (or Trans-Saharan) route of firearms into Hausaland, and it would seem likely that many of the guns they obtained must have been of Moroccan manufacture, as these were probably the only ones available for the most part. The French and the other colonial powers in the region did everything they could to prevent a supply of modern firearms to the Tuareg and the Sudanic empires, for obvious reasons. Smaldone also raises a very good point: the lack of a reliable supply of cartridges for breechloaders made muzzleloaders popular in the Sahel (and likely Sahara as well), since the ammunition for them could be locally produced. Based on the above it seems pretty safe to conclude that muskets such as the very nice subject of this thread, must have been used among the Tuareg, at least for as long as they could not obtain anything better.