The African Great Lakes and The Omani Empire.

[Peter Hudson]

Considerable thick fog shrouds details on both parts of my tltle. Several years ago I located one important detail about the middle of the region while tracing Omani Traders and what they were up to operating inland from The Zanj and how they were involved in slavery and other persuits like hunting for Ivory Rhino, and where Slavery fitted into the picture a lot of that. To that I must add the other commodities being traded by the Omani merchants who were hauling a lot of goods into the region such as cotton and other items since the Great Lakes was an excellent Iron producer and also did a lot of business in trading salt. Said the Great who ruled Oman from 1806 was apparently fond of Zanzibar although I now believe the lobby from the famous Indian Kutch traders who had settled in Zanzibar were more important in convincing him to move there than we may have thought..Supporting these trading specialists would bring fabulous wealth to Omans coffers and set up several large shipping organisations ensuring a monopoly in the Indian Ocean.

Surprisingly it wasnt til 1840 that he made the crucial decision to move Omans capital there to Stonetown . By then Zanzibar was a gigantic spice Island region filled with Cloves ...again it was the Kutch who shipped that around the Oceans. The Cloves were transplanted on Zanzibar from Mauritius.The growth in Slavery was met by Omani Slave Traders working in the Great Lakes...as well as exporting Black African slaves up the Red Sea and the Gulf even though this was deemed illegal but it didnt stop until 1970 ! and it only stopped by Royal Decree when slaves were all given their freedom and allowed to choose an Omani surname instead of a single name such as Jumma (Friday)

Slave traders by the mid 19th C still had 100 years to play their game. It cannot be over emphasised how important the ruler was and he was instrumental on a number of odd inventions... One of his wives...Sheherezad had invented some...including a Royal Khanjar with a redesigned Hilt and the Royal Turban as well as a beautiful Camerbund . The Hilt of the Sayf Yamaani was to be awarded Royal status by being heavily decorated in silver. One sword which is called The Sayf...was made for Pageants Weddings and both Eids and used in the famous and important traditions called the Funnoon ,,,It was a cheap but effective march past the Ruler item and given to guards and military for parading and for the Razha mimic dancing done as part of the Funnoon celebration dancing even Today. Although the Sayf was simply decorated it was also the fashion that Vips could have their Sayfs highly decorated since they had the money etc... The Terrs could also accompany the Sayf.

On discovering the track through the jungle and mountains the Omani Traders also came to realise that a better blade was available particularly in the middle region of The Great Lakes...A Country that is now Bunyoro...but I shall give the full name later...In the early 18th and 19th C this had been the mightiest of nations in that region but was filled with mystique and legend Today it is much reduced spanning the Eastern side of Lake Albert and only a fraction of its original size...

Weirdly and in keeping with the mythology all the people vanished after a Royal cow disappeared one night and the nation declined drastically....Some said they all went below ground or into one of the Great Lakes.....

By then ...about mid 1850 ...the other sword had appeared and became known as the Kittara and was a badge of office carried by Omani Slave Traders. It was curved with heavy unsharpened backblade on a long handle which was identical to the Sayf hilt and given the Terrs in the same way as the Sayf but in this regard its name was different.. It was called The KITARA

The name of the famous Country in The Great Lakes is Bunyoro-Kitara.

Peter Hudson.

[Peter Hudson]

Map of Bunyoro-Kitara Light blue egg shape being The Empire Bunyoro and Kitara making this a single word Bunyoro-Kitara...The operational area of Tipu Tip is to its west and takes up a huge swathe of Central Africa.

[Peter Hudson]

Please see https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...RM=VRDGAR&ru=%

A very interesting Video by the BBC on the key points about the Great Lakes development. I have to add that it does earmark industries like metalworking, banana cultivation cattle herding and salt production while it misses out totally the slave trade. It is well worth seeing.

Peter Hudson.

[Kubur]

Dear Peter River Hudson Pasha,

Please send us some photos of the about mid 1850 ...other sword had appeared and became known as the Kittara and was a badge of office carried by Omani Slave Traders. It was curved with heavy unsharpened backblade on a long handle

elf Shukran habibi

Kubur

[Jim McDougall]

Peter, it is fantastic to see this material placed here. For many years the curious Omani broadsword known as the KATTARA remained simply a little known anomaly in the collecting community.

At the time I first acquired one of these, a little over twenty years ago, these were seldom, if ever offered in sales or auctions, a what little was known on them was in the seminal reference on Arab arms, "Arms and Armor of Arabia" by Robert Elgood (1994). Beyond that, there was the reference by Richard Burton ("Book of the Sword", 1884, p.166), which was actually taken from Demmin (1877), and showed a drawing of one of these tapered cylinder hilts without guard.

There were no references to the antiquity or origins of these open hilt swords, nor to the term 'kattara' by which they were known.

When meeting Peter some years ago, and with him having been situated in Oman for many years at that time, and with his interest and knowledge in Arabian edged weapons, the topic of the 'kattara' came into focus.

He knew these as the ceremonial broadswords used in traditional 'sword dances' in the Funoon events he has described. These had become part of these ceremonial functions from the time of Said the Great (c.1806).

The key to the mysterious origins of these Omani swords seemed to have come from his important Sultanate in Zanzibar, which had become one of the prominent trade centers of the 19th c. This was apparent as Burton (1884) had noted these distinct swords as from Zanzibar.

In retracing Burton's activities in Africa in his famed explorations which involved for the search for the source of the mighty Nile River. .....I found a remarkable reference by him:
From "The Lake Regions of Central Equitorial Africa", R.F.Burton , 1859.
'Journal of the Royal Geographic Society" vo.XXIX (1859, p.381).

"...swords in East Africa are carried only by strangers. The Wasawahila and the slave factors preferred the KITTAREH, a CURVED saber made in Oman or Hadhramaut or in its stead, an old German cavalry blade. The Arabs carry as a distinction, the 'firanji'- a straight thin double edged guardless and two handed sword , about 4 feet long and as sharp as a carving knife".

The merchants and traders of Oman,via Zanzibar would trek into the African interior deep in to these regions of today's Uganda,and they were likely the 'strangers'; 'slave factors' and prestigious merchants that are described by Burton.

These figures are likely those noted by Burton again in 1884 (Sword, 1884,p.166_), "....the Arabs of Zanzibar preserve the old two handed weapon of Europe, with a thin , flattish, double edged blade ending in a beveled point".
Further, " the usual shape carried by Arab gentlemen, is three feet to three and a half feet long; the long tang tapers toward the hilt, and is cased in wood and leather; the pommel is cylindrical, and the grip wants guard and quillons. Demmin (p.396) finds it 'difficult to understand how this singular weapon could be wielded. It serves mostly for SHOW, and when wanted is used like a quarterstaff with both hands. ".

It is noted that the Bedouin around Muscat had won or bought many ancient weapons from older days, and conserved them with religious respect.

Here we note that the broadswords of Oman and Zanzibar we have known as 'kattara' were clearly well known by the 1850s in the interior of Africa, and with that to the Omani Sultanate in Zanzibar, but they were not known by that term, only as usual, as sayf.
As also shown, these were worn as symbols of prestige and power, but not intended as weapons.

In the regions of the interior, and as clearly adopted from the traditions there, in the then Kingdom of Kitara, the sword was the key element of stature and power, and called KITARA.

From "The Warrior Tradition on Modern Africa", ed. Ali Amin Mazrui (p.24)
"...in Bunyoro too, the word 'KITARA' , means a sword but has historically come to signify an empire, worn by individuals possessed of significant virtue".
from "Bunyoro Kitara in the North Interlacustrine Region",
by G. N. Uzoigwe, "East African Kingdoms".

As seen here, a compelling source for the term KATTARA for these broadswords we have now known for considerable time, without knowing the origins of the form nor the term. This information on the trade activity into the African interior, the bustling and significant center of Zanzibar reveals the true origins of both in compelling degree.
The style of the open hilt resembles not only the well known Omani khanjhar, but much earlier Seljuq Turk, Mamluk and other forms with open hilts and cylindrical type grip and pommel.

It has seemed, as discovered by Peter, that the KITARA term was used primarily for the curved examples of these open hilt swords, with the sayf term as typically used collectively, applying to the broadswords.
The curved examples may well have been seen with a certain hubris as reflecting ones experience and activity in the interior.

The broadswords, often mounted with prestigious European blades, were soundly regarded in the weapon category by that feature, but were worn more in status circumstances.

The examples later produced exclusively for use in the traditional dance ceremonies had lighter blades, but reflected the character of the traditional sayf and kitara worn by the higher echelons and merchant class.
These were obviously never intended as weapons, but for use in the dance ceremonies.

The first pic is of the humble example I acquired in the late 90s, which is clearly one of the 'dance' swords.
Next, an example of 'kitara' saber, with probably early 19th c. or earlier cavalry saber blade, this probably East European but many were indeed German as noted. These were easily acquired with profound German presence in trade activity in East Africa.,

[Peter Hudson]

Thanks Jim, Your input is accurate and precise with superb references supporting your post ...as always. Thank you for your supporting evidence. A good deal of further evidence can be found simply by tapping Omani Swords into SEARCH and this function is free and easy to use by Forum members.

A number of vital parts of the puzzle are also important such as the part played in the Omani Funoon which are the unwritten acted out traditions... The Funoon. Its a big subject but in short it is the unwritten traditions from the beginning handed down through music, dance, and poetry as well as a sort of Pantomime enactment that that reaches way back to pre 8thC. In this way they record many events mimicking camel trains, ships trading chests of silver and gold and of course war all set to music/ drum beat or poetry and singing. For the sword enactments we see the Sayf and Terrs being used. In fact much of the Rythm is absorbed by the Slave Trade especially from Central Africa and Zanzibar which has left an indelible imprint on Omani music and dance down the ages. In addition myth and legend has erased much of the BunyoroKitara facts because like the Omani form these pageants and enactments took over from the written word thus events were simply passed down and often changed or forgotten in lieu of myths and legends...That is clearly seen in the Bunyoro-Kitara model.

Regarding swords a clear picture is retained in the Razha sword dance where mimic swordplay is acted out and scored with one single winning point when one swordsman touches the opponents thumb of his shield hand with the flat spatulate tip of his Sayf...end of contest. Another enactmant is carefully choreographed for the duelling Khanjar....The dance is called The Bar'aa.

Interestingly the terrs has been handed down so that it is carried with each sword from The Sayf Yamaani to the Sayf and then to The Kitara. ....

In this post I will show the link between the Sayf Yamaani to the dancer.. Later a picture of the individual who ordered the form...and was responsible for moving the Omani capital to Zanzibar in 1840 and thus the interaction with the Great Lakes. Said The Great.

[Peter Hudson]

Before I advance I want to place the Tughra or signature Of Said The Great as it is a mark we see on a lot of Omani Hilts of the Dancer Sayf form as above... and the Kitara. On Khanjar belts as well as Sayf Hilts and copied later onto Kitara hilts..The long Omani hilt is clearly copied onto the heavy Kitara and the Terrs Shield is handed also to it... as is an almost identical leather scabbard style. Since Oman takes virtual possession of Zanzibar and attracts many artesans from Oman so that Omani weapons are then produced at Zanzibar; the linkage is obvious. See below.
Peter Hudson.