The mysterious Mandinka saber

[Jim McDougall]

The Mali Empire began in Manding province in about the 13th century. The history of these regions in the Sahara are complex, and not necessarily relevant to my questions.

Just when did the distinctly Mandinka (Manding) saber appear in its well known form? and from what influences"
Further, what is it called?

While it is associated primarily with these Mandinka/Mandingo people in the Mali regions, these people also inhabit West African regions in Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast and Senegal.

An example with provenance shows the present form is from the collection of the governor of Mali (then French Sudan) Lt. Col. Joseph Gallieni , circa 1886.

The photo of a tribesman wearing one of these is c. 1907.

We know these are often with European saber blades, most often French, which is of course quite understandable. What is most intriguing is the distinctive leatherwork on the scabbard, guardless hilt, knob pommel, and most perplexing.....the flared scabbard tip.

Across the Sahara, this same distinct scabbard feature is seen with those of the Sudanese kaskara, and seems to have originated with the Funj kingdom of Sennar areas of S. Sudan from around mid 19th c.
Clearly the transSaharan trade networks might account for such diffusion, but which way? where was it first, and as yet, there seems no explanation for the feature.

What in the world were these Mandinka sabers called?
In one reference, it was said the name is fan-ho.

A Fulani man I once knew, from Guinea, told me the sword was 'kota' and that the scabbard was 'holga' (=house).

The top photo is the c1886 example from Gov. Gallieni.
The tribesman c. 1907

[Pertinax]

Jim, hello!

Mandinka sabre? Funny, don't you think that's our favorite name game? Especially when it comes to Africa.

I couldn't find any evidence of what Malinke called this sabre. Here's what he says (translated from French) Gallieni, Commandant «Mission d'exploration du Haut-Niger. Voyage au Soudan Français (Haut-Niger et Pays de Ségou) 1879-1881»:

Page 93
A remarkable construction caught our eye in Solinta. It was a large earthen furnace, roughly cylindrical, widening towards the middle, about three meters high and one meter in circumference. Openings were made at its base and at ground level. This furnace was used for preparing iron, used in the country for making sabers, knives, and primitive tools that we noticed in the hands of the natives. As we were seeing evidence of industrial activity for the first time in the region, we asked the Malinke around us for information; but it was a waste of time; it was good for blacksmiths to work like this.... An honest Malinke could not, without exception, engage in any occupation other than hunting or war.

However, we later learned how the metal was extracted. The ore comes from the nearby mountains where it is found in great abundance. The furnace is equipped with several openings, to which hand-operated bellows pipes are fitted. Another or vent, larger than the others, closed at the beginning of the operation, communicates with a rammed earth excavation, where the future casting will end. When it is a question of preparing a certain quantity of iron, all the blacksmiths of the village set to work at the same time. This working day is also a day of celebration for them. The casting is watered in advance with millet beer (dolo), the workers, excited by copious libations, pile up successively, in superimposed layers, the ore and the coal. The latter is excellent and comes from certain trees, the names of which the natives gave us and showed us samples. The fire is lit, the shouts and songs redouble, and everyone takes to the bellows, blowing until the metal is obtained. The latter is not cast iron; It is an iron similar to that obtained in the Pyrenees by the so-called Catalan method. It is then worked in the forge, as it comes out of the furnace and without any preparation.

Page 292
At Koukouroni, I noticed a Malinke blacksmith. His instruments were very simple; he used, as a hammer, a heavy iron mass and a small anvil placed on the ground. The bellows, crude, consisted of two leather tubes through which the assistant blacksmith presses the air through clay orifices. It is with these rudimentary means that the blacksmiths of the country make the irons of picks and axes that we see in the hands of the natives.

Page 424
The Malinke and Bambara often carry, along with their rifles, sabers whose blades, of varying length and poor quality, are fitted into leather scabbards, made by the country's shoemakers.

These notes prove that Malika did not produce good swords and sabres, and in 1904 these territories became a colony of France.

On page 17 there is an engraving of Guerriers du Oualo, he has a sabre that is well known to us, unfortunately I was not able to find out who the Oualos were.

The Malinke may have received these sabres from the Hausa of Sokoto or Kano.

[Pertinax]

Let's look at what sabers were called in the Sokoto Caliphate.

J.P. Smaldone «Warfare in the Sokoto Caliphate»:

Page 220
A Glossary of Hausa Military Terminology:
almulku - single-edged saber (= bisalami)
bisalami - curved one-edged sword (= almulku)
hankatilo - scimitar of Kanuri origin (= almulku = bisalami)
lafaranji - single-edged sword

Page 174 note to chapter 3
58 Other straight swords included the dunhu, a plain unmarked weapon; the tarnogas or tamogashi, a sword with three lines cut along the blade; the tama, a cheap sword; and the zabo. Muffett also lists the lafaranji, a single-edged weapon: "Nigeria - Sokoto Caliphate," p. 297, n. 20. Scimitars, or slightly curved one-edged swords, were less common and used principally by the cavalry. Swords of this type were first used in the Islamic world in the early fourteenth century, and reached North Africa by the early sixteenth century: Bivar, Nigerian Panoply, pp. 15-16, 27. Among the sabers used by the Hausa were the bisalami or almulku; the hindi was probably of Indian origin, and the hankatilo was Kanuri (Bornu). See Bivar, pp. 13-27, for a detailed discussion of some examples of these straight and curved swords, and his photographs, figures 1-11, pp. 45-55

Figure 5. Hausa Sabers and Scabbards. Smithsonian Institution

[Jim McDougall]

Yuri, you are amazing!!! Thank you so much.
You're right, how can we know what these sabers are called when it is not even clear what these tribes were called!
It was the Manding empire? kingdom? in medieval times. but then became the Mandinka tribes, which seem to be referred to as Mandang OR Mandingo?
Then the area became Mali or the Mali Empire, but the Manding/Mandingo/ Malinki? tribes became dissipated through much of West Africa.

With that, of course we go to the languages/dialects of the various tribes such as Fulani/Fula/Fulbe which were situated in many of same areas as the Malinka/Manding/Mandingo etc. and others.

Magnificent excerpts on these details which give great insight into these people and the production of these swords. Pretty sure the one I have has a locally made blade, while there are considerable numbers of older examples with mostly French military blades of course.

All best regards,
Jim

[Changdao]

This is a facinating topic I am very fond of.

First, some terminological considerations. These are often called Mandinka sabers in relation to the Mandinka, who were one of the main users. The Mandinka are an ethnolinguistic group, the main among the speakers of Mande languages, which speak Mandinka. With 11 million Mandinka in the modern day and a rich history of states tracing back to the 11th century, they qualify far above a tribe. But these sabers are very widespread in the region, so much so that calling them Mandinka sabers is a misnomer (or perhaps not, as we will see later). Bambaras (who also speak a Mande language, and diverged from the main Mandinka group in the Middle Ages), Susus (who also speak a Mande language and are other of the main historical branches of the wider Mande family), Wolofs (the main inhabitants of Senegal down to the Gambia river), Fulanis (in all their diversity west of Timbuktu, like Tukulors), all use these type of sabers.

However, the sabers belong to a wider weaponry family that also includes straight swords, daggers and spears. Focusing on "white" weapons, there are clear stylistic similarities between many in the region, but also great differences. All of this points to a very deep common origin. With this in mind, we must realize that one of the pivotal points of Medieval West African History is the migration of the Mande-speaking peoples, who started pushing towards the coast from their historical core in what is now Segou and contiguous regions to the south and west. The main of these were the Susu, who broke off the Ghana empire in the late 12th century and created a short-lived empire, and the Mandinka, who, led by Sunjata Keita, overthrew the Susu and created the empire of Mali. This process led to a westwards migration that resulted in the coastal Mandinka of Kaabu, the various Mande-speaking groups of Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast, and to the creation of a mechant Mandinka class that dispersed itself all across West Africa (adquiring eventually a new ethnic dimension as Wangara and Dyula). It's in this milieu that the sabers probably appeared, and it is plausible that they did within the empire of Mali (so calling them Mandinka would not be so far-fetched).

By the point we start getting external reports, in the 1450's, these sabers were already well established. An early witness is Ibn Battuta in the mid 1300's, who speaks of a saber wielded by Duga, an important figure in the court of the Malian emperor. The Portuguese attest that sabers were already very popular, with them being forged in the Gambia by Mandinka smiths and traded all over Senegal. It seems that owing to the high demand the European traders saw a lucrative market, and started exporting blades and finished weapons according to local tastes. So it seems safe to say that West African sabers predate European interactions, being already popular in the 15th century if not earlier. As should be remembered, the Gambia continued to be a local centre of bladed weapon manufacture, with Almada stating that "this land has more weapons than in any other of Guiné, because, as it has iron which they forge, they make many arms in the form of spears , dardos, stabbing daggers and frechas" and Dornelas corroborating that statement, and also adding the manufacture of shields, sometimes even by request of European clients:

"Here at Kassan excellent round shields are made, and if we order them they are made in our style. They are covered with leather and painted. And the tangomaos have sheaths made for the swords and daggers , and have them decorated, since there are good craftsmen here."

Likewise, Dornelas states that further south the Susu were great manufacturers of weapons and iron implements for the Sierra Leonian market, and other sources support this:

"Among the Susus iron is smelted in large quantity from which they make swords , spears , knives and iron tools to work the fields, and they bring them to sell in Serra Leoa"

The style of these weapons as described for example by Almada, corresponds to the modern ones in how they were hilted and the size of the blades, but otherwise we do not know the finer details. Likewise, the serpent-like scabbards are not mentioned, and indeed we also find in 19th century examples without that feature. When that appeared, we don't know.

As soon as direct contact was made with the Europeans, West Africa demanded saber blades, showing that there was already a mature market for their consumption in place. The Portuguese were importing cutlass/hanger blades and terçados into West Africa during the XVth-XVIth century, and between 1590 and 1618 there even was a group of Lisbon-based smiths producing bladed weapons for the Senegambian market.

In the 1460's there were efforts by the Portuguese crown to pursue lançados who were illegally selling weapons to West Africans, with Diogo Gomes being dispatched in 1460. Mendo Afonso, who had traded swords in Guinea, went to live in the coast among Africna Muslims until he got a pardon in 1463. The illegality was because a Papal bull had forbidden the sale of weapons to infidels, but there is a mountain of evidence that traders along the Mediterranean ignored it and traded anyway. Elsewhere I recapitulated the trade of Italian weaponry to Gao and Djenné, and the Portuguese on their side did the same. But not only the Portuguese were involved, as English, Dutch, Italian and French traders also chimed in, with Sephardic Jewish merchants playing an important role in connecting this extended network with Morocco and Senegambia.

In 1590, Manuel de Andrada Castelo Branco, writing in Spanish for Philip II (now king of Portugal after Sebastiao's death at Alcazarquibir) states:

"In Bezeguiche[Gorée ] capital of the Kingdom of Jaloffo , there is a large, capacious and beautiful Bay, where 100 deep drafted vessels may anchor … and here, in this port and "escale" arrive Lutheransfrom La Rochelle , Bordeaux , and Havre de Grace, and from Brittany, along with other pirates… and their navigation, unimpeded, brings to France much gold , amber , ivory , hides , various valuable civetall in great quantity, leaving behind an abundance of instruments of war for the Wolofs , who are in the process of accepting the sect of Mahomet , including lances , creses[Malayan daggers ], espadas , alfanges[cutlasses ], shields , and other objects that are prohibited by the Bull of Cena."

Here "alfanges" refers to short sabers, like those called by the English "hanger", or messer or dussack in the German world, which are basically variations on a theme. According to an Inquisition report in Lisbon in 1590, there was a growing clandestine manufacture of bladed weapons, with eight artisans charged with making swords going to the "Rivers of Guinea". The most demanded weapon was, according to that report, the alfange. And not only European weapons were sold, as the Portuguese pulled trade from their colonial empire and there are accounts of gilded swords from India reaching the African coast.

Reports from English and French travelers in the 1600's and 1700's show that sabers were everywhere in the West African coast, already in the form that is familiar to us.

So the picture that develops is that in an environment of high demand for short sabers, originally provided for by Mandinka smiths and other groups with artisans specialise in their craft, the European traders found a potential market. In a world of rising globalization, the Atlantic coast of West Africa suddenly became globally connected, and a variety of sources stepped up to answer the demand of saber-like weapons. This continued through the centuries, as we know that the trade of European saber blades kept rising in an environment of increasing demand with the reconfiguration of West African political networks in the aftermath of Mali and Songhay's fall and the growth of the Atlantic slave trade. Imported blades for elites who could pay for them coexisted with local sources of weapons (some high quality no doubt, but also more affordable blades), particularly Mandinka smiths, who kept active trade networks that had existed for centuries. Evidently, whatever shape those sabers had originally evolved to correlate with imported styles from Europe and the Mediterranean, becoming somewhat inserted into the "saber ecumene" of the 16th century Mediterranean (falchions, hangers, nimchas, storta, dussacks, messers, etc), but also mantaining the native hilting style and displaying a great regional disparity, maybe or maybe not tracing back to the Medieval period.

I'll make another post about the possible development of the hilting style and its particularities when I have some more free time.

[Pertinax]

Changdao provided a brilliant overview of the region from the 12th to the 18th centuries. But as we know, all empires have phases of rise and decline: some disappear, and new ones arise.

We have surviving examples of sabers called "Mandinka," dating from the late 19th to early 20th centuries. During this period, the Mandinka region and related tribes were in decline. According to 19th-century travelers, they practiced primitive agriculture and had primitive industry, including metalworking.

As I wrote above, in 1904 these territories became a French colony. The year 1897 proved fateful for the neighboring region, the Sokoto Caliphate. In January and February, a small, well-armed force, equipped by the British Royal Nigerian Company, invaded and destroyed the strategic southwestern emirates of Nupe and Ilorin, Adamawa and Kano in 1901, and Sokoto in 1903. However, after the Berlin Conference of 1884, the entire continent was colonized, leaving Liberia and Ethiopia as the only sovereign states in sub-Saharan Africa.

I've selected sabers that were freely available from the internet and offer them for discussion.

All the presented specimens date from the late 19th to early 20th centuries. The overall length ranges from 74 to 82 cm, and the blade length from 60 to 76 cm.

Almost all the blades are from European cavalry and infantry sabers. Judging by their overall length, these are blades with broken hilts. Based on this, one can conclude that these are not commercial trade supplies, but blades that accidentally ended up in the hands of good craftsmen for reworking.

The brass pommels of each specimen are different, but executed with great skill and taste. The same can be said for the leather work. The high-quality leather handles and scabbards are truly works of art. All this testifies to the presence of well-established handicraft industries, rather than isolated artisans.

I have no data on the existence of such industries in Malinke, but my neighbors did. Read J.P. Smaldone's "Warfare in the Sokoto Caliphate":

Page 139
This centralizing effect of war is clearly shown also in the organization of the various craft industries in the nineteenth century. In each emirate the craft industries operated under direct state control, each craft being organized under a chief responsible for quality and price control, tax collection, and production for the needs of the emir. The leather industry provided saddles, shields, sheaths, quivers, horse trappings, and baggage cases. Blacksmiths made swords, spearheads and arrowheads, horse trappings, flintlocks and shot for the gunmen; brass workers produced more exquisite and expensive varieties of these items. The weaving industry prepared "uniforms," blankets, tents, baggage, and suits of lifidi. As Nadel has written of Nupe, this organization of the craft industries amounts to a full control of the political system over all the more important industries
. . . this control was dictated by the needs of the state: based on constant warfare, committed to uphold the splendour of a huge court, the political system has to guarantee a dependable, uninterrupted supply of all that is needed - arms, tools, clothes, saddles, as well as the many symbols of wealth and status.

Looking at these specimens, one might speculate that these are not combat sabers. Ceremonial, status symbols, merchandise for tourists?

As always, questions, questions, questions...