[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by Iain

Hi Ibrahiim,

To make a few points about influence from Africa.

1. The only similar hilt form I know of would be the Mandingo form.

2. The likelihood of that particular form making it from Mali to Zanzibar seems slim to me and raises the question of why that form and not the takouba, not the kaskara or other more regional influences. The main trading centers around 1630s should have been Hausa states, Kano, Katsina, Gobir, Zaria, Rano, Biram (Daura is off this list as it's a later settlement) and the Songhai empire (the weaponry of which we know relatively little about as with most of these areas that long ago). My understanding is that concentrations of Arab traders working the routes to Zanzibar and eventually Oman would be more likely to be active in the Hausa areas, who in turn handled the inner leg of trade from the more Western states.

3. The flood of German trade blades seems to me, to have had little influence on sword design per say, the blades were simply put into existing styles of hilts.

4. I know of no way to be truly sure of the age of most hilt mountings in Sahel cultures in a pre-Colonial context, there is no period artwork to go on as we have in European society and the frequency of remounting as witnessed in Tuareg society (for example) is not encouraging when it comes to connecting an old blade an assuming an old mount.

Just some thoughts...

Best,

Iain

Hello Iain. Please correct my date error of 1632 which should read 1652 for Oman taking Zanzibar. German blades do appear on lots of different hilts. I wonder when or if trade blades really impacted sword style in the Omani regions ? To my mind the Kattara is a "system" worked with a Buckler shield. The handle and shield are African possibly Takouba or a mixture finely tuned until the Omani Kattara emerged. I see absolutely no comparison however between the Omani Short and the Kattara long. I urge that the two are unrelated since they are different "systems" the former for close in battle toe to toe with the enemy like a Roman Gladius and the other for standing or dancing like a bantam weight but deadly boxer some 6 feet or more away and using the pivotal defensive and equally destructive Terrs shield vital to the combatants balance and ability to trap the opponents sword. I argue that the Short Omani Battle Sword appeared in the 8th Century after Oman became Ibathi Islamist and the Kattara long in the mid or late 17th because of Zanzibar and African influence. The two unrelated otherwise!