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18th September 2024, 07:39 PM | #1 |
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Names of African Swords
I propose to discuss the remarkable work of Joseph P. Smaldone "Warfare in the Sokoto Caliphate".
In the public domain: https://vk.com/doc358527_346946191?h...rsnDNweNlK5tHg In chapter 3 the author gives a description of the weapons: The heavy cavalry - a variety of swords (s. takobi; kansakali), war clubs (s. kulki; gulme; gwarmi; gwama), and battle-axes (s. gantama; gatari; gafiya; masari) were also used by the heavy cavalry when fighting at close quarters. The light cavalry - the lance and sword were the principal weapons for close combat. Swords (s. takobi) were slung over the shoulder by the hamila, or sling, and daggers carried in a sheath affixed to the left forearm. Infantry: The archers (yam baka or masu baka) - some carried small shields (s. kunkeli) and swords (s. takobi). Warriors armed with swords and shields were also organized as light and heavy infantry forces. The size, shape, and quality of both shields and swords varied widely. The most common type of sword, used by cavalry and infantry alike, was the broad-bladed two-edged straight fate-fate; other swords were modifications of the straight pattern or of the curved saber type.58 58Other straight swords included the dunhu, a plain unmarked weapon; the tamogas 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. Also of interest is A Glossary of Hausa Military Terminology: almulku - single-edged saber (= bisalami) bisalami - curved one-edged sword (= almulku) dungi - giraffe-hide shield hankatilo - scimitar of Kanuri origin (= almulku = bisalami) sword sling (= hamila) kansakali, kansakula - any sword (= takobi) lafaranji - single-edged sword takobi, takuba - any sword (= kansakali) tama - type of cheap sword tamogas or tamogashi - sword with three lines running parallel along the blade zabo - type of sword. Among all the names of the swords published in this work, only Takuba is widely known. What is characteristic is that the names of Kaskara, Mandinka, etc. are missing. |
19th September 2024, 08:15 AM | #2 | |
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Regards Marc |
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19th September 2024, 08:48 AM | #3 | |
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I raised this topic because the current names of African swords and daggers are mostly invented by researchers/collectors or taken, for example, from the name of the people or tribe where this or that item was discovered/made. But in reality they had other names. P.S. There is a mistake in the first post: dungi - plain sword, without markings Regards, Yuri |
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19th September 2024, 11:59 AM | #4 | |
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"Mandinka" sabres are absolutely one example. These were used by the Mandinka, the Wolof, the Fulani (many branches of them: Toucouleurs, in Futa Djallon, in coastal Senegambia, etc), but it is rather common to see them attributed only to Mandinka when it is actually unknown. I actually believe that they originated within the Mandinka, just that it happened way back in the XV-XVIth century and it gave way to a rather large weapon family |
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19th September 2024, 04:27 PM | #5 | |
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The author provides interesting data in the note to chapter 3: 19 Leather- and metal-crafts were important native industries. Although many sword blades (s. ruwan takobi) were made locally by the cire-perdue, or "lost wax," method, imported tempered blades were superior and preferred to the more brittle domestic variety. Barth estimated that Kano imported annually about 50,000 sword blades, mostly from Solingen. These were mounted and sheathed by native craftsmen and sold throughout the Sudan: Travels and Discoveries, I, 519-20. |
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20th September 2024, 05:32 PM | #6 |
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You might find this dagger interesting. Scroll down to figure 8 in the link you provided. Although the scabbard is different you see the same weapon. This is obviously 20th century and pristine. It could be "earlyish" having been well kept all its life outside of Africa , who knows, but who cares as it is as I said in pristine condition.
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Yesterday, 01:04 AM | #7 | |
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The 'Mandinka' sabers are as noted typically regarded as from this tribe and from Mali, but obviously there are not distinct geographic boundaries to their regional presence. As far as I have known, there has never been a term for these sabers distinctly assigned, nor a distinct regional categorization...simply that it is a Mandinka saber. The Mandinka tribes as I have understood were keenly in control of Trans Saharan trade routes which of course went through the important hub of Timbuktu in Mali. This alone would account for the diffusion of these type sabers, and the distinct leather work which seems to come from the west. It is notable that the flared scabbard tip which is a distinctly Sudanese feature from the kaskara is present on these Mandinka sabers. Also notable is that these typically have European saber blades, which is atypical for the preference of straight broadsword blades from Sahara to Sudan with the takouba and kaskara. Here I would note that some Tuareg swords with takouba type hilts have such saber blades and are known as ALJUINAR in Taureg parlance. As far as the MANDINKA saber, I was once discussing these with a Fulani man from Guinea and showed him photos of one of these. He immediately recognized it and called it KOTA........and pointed out the scabbard as called HOLGA (= house, apparently). The study of the diffusion of these sabers is far more complex, but of course reflects the importance of the trade routes and how they carried not only goods but many cultural influences far and wide. |
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Yesterday, 09:42 AM | #8 | |
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Collectors call this type of blades from South Africa - Shona. However, in the territory of modern Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia live different ethnic groups and it is very possible that they have different names for these swords. |
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