Mafa Dagger

[Pertinax]

I've added a new piece to my African collection.

I believe it's from Northern Cameroon.

Mafa / Matakam / Mafahay / Mofa / Natakan
The Mafa also called Mafahay, is an ethnic group localized in northern Cameroon, Northern Nigeria and also scattered in other countries like Mali, Chad, Sudan, Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone.
The Mafa occupy the centre of the Nothern Mandaras, consisting of the whole of the northern parts of the plateau of Mokolo and the mountain ranges north of Mokolo, leading down to the plain of Koza and reaching as far as the Moskota hills northwest of Koza.

This example clearly shows the influence of various tribes.
Handle shape – (sbula) Berber, Beja/Hadendoa, Morocco, Tunisia.
Pommel – Tubu/Daza.
Blade – Hausa, Kirdi (Cameroon).
Sheath – Tuareg, Kirdi, Hausa.
Sheath tip – Kirdi (Cameroon).
Leather decorations – Mandingo.

The connecting link is undoubtedly the Tuareg, who controlled the trans-Saharan trade for several centuries, and the Tubu/Daza, who led the caravans across the Sahara.

Overall length in sheath: 460 mm, blade length: 315 mm, width: 35 mm, thickness: 4 mm, weight: 223 g

[Sajen]

Hi Yuri,

A very nice and rare dagger and you described it very well! Great catch!

Regards,
Detlef

[Ian]

What an interesting transcultural piece! And very accurately described. Thanks Yuri.

[Pertinax]

Thanks, colleagues!

This is my first specimen of Mafa culture; it's always interesting to explore something new, unusual, and rare.

Actually, this was a gift from my wife; she asked me what I wanted for Christmas. Well, I chose it.

Sincerely,
Yuri

[TVV]

Merry Christmas! Really nice dagger. Wente-Lukas shows a very similar one, number 298 in her book, which she attributes to the Ndjeny, while mentioning the Daba use similar daggers. In the map of the region, the Ndjeny are shown in the Southern Mandara mountains (and so are the Daba), just north of the Fulbe.

On his site, Wolf-Dieter Miersch shows a couple of similar daggers as Ndjeny/Mafa, and posts a link to a 1910-1912 drawing of such daggers:

http://bildarchiv.frobenius-katalog....rpos=98439.png

Ultimately, your dagger is a really nice, complete example from the early 20th or late 19th century, and it does not get better than that.

[Pertinax]

Originally Posted by TVV

Merry Christmas! Really nice dagger. Wente-Lukas shows a very similar one, number 298 in her book, which she attributes to the Ndjeny, while mentioning the Daba use similar daggers. In the map of the region, the Ndjeny are shown in the Southern Mandara mountains (and so are the Daba), just north of the Fulbe.

On his site, Wolf-Dieter Miersch shows a couple of similar daggers as Ndjeny/Mafa, and posts a link to a 1910-1912 drawing of such daggers:

http://bildarchiv.frobenius-katalog....rpos=98439.png

Ultimately, your dagger is a really nice, complete example from the early 20th or late 19th century, and it does not get better than that.

Thank you very much!

This is very valuable information. Based on the catalog, I can truly confirm the authenticity of my copy.

I've reviewed numerous sources, but unfortunately, I couldn't find any information about the Ndjeny tribe. Perhaps we're dealing with a confusion of tribal names, which is common in Africa. In the accounts of 19th-century travelers, it's very difficult to decipher the names; each one called the tribe by their own name.

Sincerely,
Yuri