Peace Corps bring back: Modern Cameroon utility/ bush knife/ machete

KuKulzA28 · 18th August 2013, 11:35 AM

Good stuff! Looks like what machete aficionados call a tapanga.

I think companies like Ralph Martindale from the UK and Chinese companies make a lot of the machetes for Africa. I have also noticed machetes being popular in Papua New Guinea, and of course in Latin America where they replaced palmwood and hardwood machetes of the Pre-Columbian natives. SE Asia, India, and China seem to stick to their traditional bush knives such as aruval, e-nep, dha, parang, golok, chai dao, etc.

I have noticed that certain machete designs have greater popularity in different areas. What is typically called an El Colin in Puerto Rico or pata de cuche in some places, the stereotypical slim bush machete, is ubiquitous. The panga and tapanga styles seem pretty popular in parts of the Caribbean, Guyana, and Africa. The costeno and colima designs originated and were popular in part of Mexico. There are also various saber-like machetes, and the cutacha which I think was made as a sword for Cubans. I believe the so-called "bolo style" may have come about after the Spanish conquest of the Philippines, though it doesn't look like many of the Filipino bolos - still a useful design however, fulfills the same role as the panga. The history of machetes is a very interesting field (to me). In Trinidad and Guyana, they're called cutlasses in the local creole, which sort of betrays the origins of the machete as descended from Spanish cutlasses and shortswords adapted to fulfill the role of the Amerindian bushwhacking sticks.

18th August 2013, 11:35 AM	#7
KuKulzA28 Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: between work and sleep Posts: 731	Good stuff! Looks like what machete aficionados call a tapanga. I think companies like Ralph Martindale from the UK and Chinese companies make a lot of the machetes for Africa. I have also noticed machetes being popular in Papua New Guinea, and of course in Latin America where they replaced palmwood and hardwood machetes of the Pre-Columbian natives. SE Asia, India, and China seem to stick to their traditional bush knives such as aruval, e-nep, dha, parang, golok, chai dao, etc. I have noticed that certain machete designs have greater popularity in different areas. What is typically called an El Colin in Puerto Rico or pata de cuche in some places, the stereotypical slim bush machete, is ubiquitous. The panga and tapanga styles seem pretty popular in parts of the Caribbean, Guyana, and Africa. The costeno and colima designs originated and were popular in part of Mexico. There are also various saber-like machetes, and the cutacha which I think was made as a sword for Cubans. I believe the so-called "bolo style" may have come about after the Spanish conquest of the Philippines, though it doesn't look like many of the Filipino bolos - still a useful design however, fulfills the same role as the panga. The history of machetes is a very interesting field (to me). In Trinidad and Guyana, they're called cutlasses in the local creole, which sort of betrays the origins of the machete as descended from Spanish cutlasses and shortswords adapted to fulfill the role of the Amerindian bushwhacking sticks. Last edited by KuKulzA28; 18th August 2013 at 11:46 AM.