The Sword of Kanta, a Nimcha and Some Clues as to the Origins of Both

[Changdao]

Originally Posted by TVV

The Ottomans conquest of Egypt was happening at approximately the same time as Muhammed Kanta's rebellion against Songhai, and Ottoman expansion along the African Mediterranean cost over the next several decades was mostly due to the efforts of corsairs, who aligned themselves with the Sublime Porte. I am not aware of any evidence for direct interaction between Kebbi and Constantinople, but of course trade routes reached further than diplomacy.

Trying to study early swords is like trying to figure out the full picture of a puzzle consisting of a thousand pieces based on only a few pieces available. This is why I find the nimcha from the Gold and Damascus Steel exhibition exciting, as its hilt is the closest thing I have seen to the hilt on the "Sword of Kanta".

I tried to search for pictures of the "Sword of Kanta" online and only found the one below. Apparently all of the swords are part of the regalia at Argungu. The top one was a gift from Queen Elizabeth II. Then we have our sword, unfortunately still in its 19th century Bida sheath. The katana like thing is described as a judicial sword for executions in use for the last two centuries - if true, certainly an interesting story in itself. The bottom one reportedly belonged to Muhammadu Sama, who ruled in Argungu between 1920 and 1934 (courtesy of Wikipedia), with the scabbard reportedly having a 25% gold content.

Attachment 241523

Thanks for this new picture! This is a beautiful sword.

Regarding diplomatic contacts, I'm not aware of any directly (though I would not be surprised there were, given that Bornu was the main rival of Kebbi in the second half of the 1500's and the Bornu-Ottoman rivalry in the Fezzan), but it certainly saw Egyptian and North African trade directed through its land as master of the Hausalands. We know this trade happened in a very significative volume, and Kebbi collected important taxes from it.

Besides, contemporary Songhay people were making trips to Egypt all the time, from hajj to scholars going there to study. Askia al-hajj Muhammad went to Egypt in 1497-98 as part of a hajj and the Abbasid caliph bestowed him the title of khalifa and gifted him a sword, that became sword of state and was still around in the 1590's. One of his sons, also called Muhammad, did a hajj as well and later in the second half of the 1500's became Askia too. We know of many scholars of Timbuktu making the pilgrimage and stopping in Egypt for a time.

Given that Islam was growing steadily during the 1500's in the Hausalands, maybe something similar happened. Whatever the mechanism, Kebbi was known in the Mediterranean world. Giovanni Lorenzo d'Anania, in his L'Universale fabbrica del Mondo overo Cosmografia (1582) states:

"Then comes Borno on the banks of the River Negro (where there is a great lake, caused by aforesaid river), a very great city having much commerce. It has its own king. . .He is attended with a great group of eunuchs, and certain young girls, who are made sterile by certain potions, so that in our speech they would be called 'female mules'. The ancient Lydians did the same thing: Omphale became angry over the matter and made a bloody dispute over it. In writing to foreign princes, they use the Arabic language, as I am informed by Signor Giovanni di Vesti, a most honourable person. Among the Turks, where he was the slave of a great count, he himself saw a letter which he [the Mai of Bornu] wrote to the Bassa [Pasha] of Tripoli, with much eloquence and very great art. This prince is so powerful, that he has several times put into the field 100,000 men against the King of Cabi [Kebbi]. Because of his power, the Negroes deem him to be an emperor. They also have a great multitude of horses, which the Arabs bring in from their countries, selling them for at least 700 or 1000 scudi each. These do not live long, for, when the sun enters the Sign of the Lion, many die each year from the extreme heat. . .And from there set out each year merchants who carry such quantities of the best Cordovan [leather] that it is accounted a great thing in the Fizzan [sic], whence they return with infinite numbers of horses for their country, accompanying the caravans of Negro merchants."

I'm not sure if he talks later on in more detail about Kebbi, maybe he does, but in any case they were aware of the scope of its conflicts with Bornu for hegemony in the Hausalands.

So, we must not assume a delay in the dating for this sword. As soon as it appears in the Middle East, it should be available for Kebbi and co., especially in this case in which it is the ruler himself who would be buying it. I'm not sure about the Hausanlands in this era, but Leo Africanus certainly states that on the other side of the Niger Bend there was active trade with Europe through North African merchants. Likely the same was the case for Kebbi (and the Hausa in general) with Libya/Egipt:

The people of the land make considerable profit from the trade in cotton cloth which they carry on with the Barbary merchants. For their part, these merchants sell them many European cloths, copper, brass, and arms, such as gianettoni.

[Jim McDougall]

The katana amidst this regalia is truly intriguing!
Interesting that despite their isolationism, the Japanese had diplomatic embassies pretty much worldwide as it would appear. However it does not seem these contacts were directly connected to the regions where these katanas would turn up.

I recall an article by Dr.Peter Bleed concerning the occurrence of Japanese katana with the Plains Indians in latter 1800s. This if course recalls the 1971 Charles Bronson film "Red Sun" with Toshiro Mifune as a Samurai set on recovering a diplomatic katana in the 1870s western US.

Also, it seems a Japanese katana was among weapons recorded with early American colonists at Jamestown.

Trade and its complex networks were far more notably dynamic than ever accurately recorded, and certainly account for the diffusion of influences and materials that exceeded any direct contact between peoples and cultural spheres.

[TVV]

If the question is whether it is possible for the hilt to date to Muhammed Kanta's time, then the answer is Yes. The guard with quillons terminating in monster heads turned towards the blade existed in the Islamic world as early as the 14th-15th century and the hilt may have been exported to Egypt and from there all the way to Hausaland. This may have even happened before the Ottomans made it to North Africa.

If the questions is whether it is plausible, then things get more complex. The main problem is the lack of similar hilts we can compare it to. In fact the only example of a hilt made entirely of metal with this kind of guard and a pommel in the shape of a monster or lion head is the one on the nimcha, #67 in the "Gold and Damascus Steel" catalogue. Number 1005 in Buttin comes close, but it has a typical nimcha guard.



Hopefully there are other examples out there, but these are the ones I am aware of. A couple of examples are far from enough to establish any trends, but for what it is worth, Buttin dates 1005 as late 16th, early 17th century. Number 67 in "Gold and Damascus Steel" is dated as early to mid-17th century and that dating makes a lot of sense to me.

And then there is the blade on the "Sword of Kanta", which we cannot see in its entirety, but which we know is a European blade, most likely from Northern Italy and dates most likely to the 17th century as well. But the blade itself is not sufficient to provide dating, because as Bivar points out, it could have been paired with the hilt at a later point. Broadswords were preferred over sabers in the Sahel, but then there is another sword in Bivar, from the Emirate of Katsina's regalia, which as a 14th or 15th century Mameluke saber blade. Based on that we cannot dismiss Bivar's point - this may have originally been a saber with the hilt then transferred to a European straight blade.

Overall, it is more likely that this sword is from the 17th century, and belonged to one of Muhammed Kanta's successors, but there is a possibility that the hilt may indeed have been something he held and used.