Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Iain · 10th July 2011, 01:42 AM

Hi David,

Thanks for the detailed reply. If you don't mind I'll make a few counter points.

I wouldn't personally term it an African Soligen persay, although iron certainly had something to do with the settlement of the area. But just for contrast most Hausa centers on the Nigerian plain were also built around iron ore deposits and had far better agricultural conditions. I'd probably frame the importance of the region a little differently.

I think the main factors behind Mandara ethnic diversity are brought about by the historic relationship between the Muslim emirates and the pagan peoples. Many groups moved into the hills to escape religious pressure and slaving, many were small groups that lacked the military ability to contest the rising power of the Bornu or Hausa emirates (later of course the Fulani as well). Slaving was one of the main commercial ventures of the Islamic rulers (for a sample of this the translated diary of HAMMAN YAJI, D.H. MADAGALI is particularly interesting). The area was marked as a naturally defensible position for groups forced to migrate and move from the easier to cultivate areas in the Sahel and around Lake Chad. The episode when Denham accompanied a slaving trip out of Bornu into the Mandara highlands also gives a good feel for the relationship between the emirates and the Mandara peoples. This constant threat then was I think a more likely reason for the diversity and high population density in the region than the iron smelting and smithing industry.

With that said, the level of ironworking is obviously high in the region and there are unique smelting techniques in place, but I seem to have misplaced a link that showed one. I will try to dig it out.

Thanks for the link, I'm pretty familiar with the author of the Mandara website and recall having leafed through this presentation before. Recently I've been lucky enough to open communications with a few Nigerian academics in the north who I am hoping will also open up contacts inside north Cameroon. There may or may not be some at least graduation level work based on the history of the region which has yet to be widely published.

I certainly agree about cross pollination of forms and in such a small space one would assume a lot of cross influence. However from the one scanned page I have of Wente-Lukas (sadly my German isn't up to digesting the entire book and I haven't found a reasonably priced copy either) showing different forms, different groups seem to have kept rather distinct designs. Certain groups did however adopt the takouba form, although shorter blades seem to have been in vogue (among the Lamang and Bana for example). This should date partially to the Fulani Jihad that attempted to conquer the Mandara region with only partial success.

Although you've probably seen it there's a decent overview of the Guduf here: http://www.mandaras.info/Guduf.html

While a different ethnic group and topic entirely, PBS did have a NOVA program on the Mafa and the use of fire ants which gives some nice views into at least one Mandara culture: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ants/ With a little searching I think you can find the parts on youtube.

Cheers,

Iain

10th July 2011, 01:42 AM	#5
Iain Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Olomouc Posts: 1,680	Hi David, Thanks for the detailed reply. If you don't mind I'll make a few counter points. I wouldn't personally term it an African Soligen persay, although iron certainly had something to do with the settlement of the area. But just for contrast most Hausa centers on the Nigerian plain were also built around iron ore deposits and had far better agricultural conditions. I'd probably frame the importance of the region a little differently. I think the main factors behind Mandara ethnic diversity are brought about by the historic relationship between the Muslim emirates and the pagan peoples. Many groups moved into the hills to escape religious pressure and slaving, many were small groups that lacked the military ability to contest the rising power of the Bornu or Hausa emirates (later of course the Fulani as well). Slaving was one of the main commercial ventures of the Islamic rulers (for a sample of this the translated diary of HAMMAN YAJI, D.H. MADAGALI is particularly interesting). The area was marked as a naturally defensible position for groups forced to migrate and move from the easier to cultivate areas in the Sahel and around Lake Chad. The episode when Denham accompanied a slaving trip out of Bornu into the Mandara highlands also gives a good feel for the relationship between the emirates and the Mandara peoples. This constant threat then was I think a more likely reason for the diversity and high population density in the region than the iron smelting and smithing industry. With that said, the level of ironworking is obviously high in the region and there are unique smelting techniques in place, but I seem to have misplaced a link that showed one. I will try to dig it out. Thanks for the link, I'm pretty familiar with the author of the Mandara website and recall having leafed through this presentation before. Recently I've been lucky enough to open communications with a few Nigerian academics in the north who I am hoping will also open up contacts inside north Cameroon. There may or may not be some at least graduation level work based on the history of the region which has yet to be widely published. I certainly agree about cross pollination of forms and in such a small space one would assume a lot of cross influence. However from the one scanned page I have of Wente-Lukas (sadly my German isn't up to digesting the entire book and I haven't found a reasonably priced copy either) showing different forms, different groups seem to have kept rather distinct designs. Certain groups did however adopt the takouba form, although shorter blades seem to have been in vogue (among the Lamang and Bana for example). This should date partially to the Fulani Jihad that attempted to conquer the Mandara region with only partial success. Although you've probably seen it there's a decent overview of the Guduf here: http://www.mandaras.info/Guduf.html While a different ethnic group and topic entirely, PBS did have a NOVA program on the Mafa and the use of fire ants which gives some nice views into at least one Mandara culture: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ants/ With a little searching I think you can find the parts on youtube. Cheers, Iain