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Originally Posted by Kubur
Hi
You are so right.
To me the Arab matchlocks are just the continuation or copies of Ottoman matchlocks, it's the reason why they are so similar.
Best,
Kubur
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Kuber, you are probably right, the Ottoman involvement in both Arab lands and India is well documented. What is hard to understand is the almost complete disappearance of Ottoman matchlocks, even Arab matchlocks are not very common while Indian matchlocks are easy to find.
I have read about Individual bedouin tribes that could gather together thousands of matchlock armed men, and the Ottomans used matchlocks in the thousands for several hundered years, were did they all go?
Here is some information on the early use of Ottoman matchlocks from:Ottoman firearms, Janissary matchlocks and flintlocks. "Guns for the Sultan: Military Power and the Weapons Industry in the Ottoman Empire", by Gábor Ágoston, Cambridge University Press, Mar 24, 2005.