The mysterious Mandinka saber

[Pertinax]

Originally Posted by Changdao

The disintegration of the great states of the Western Sahel during the late 16th and 17th centuries was definitely important in the history of these sabers. However, the collective use in this expansive and politically fragmented region nods to the earlier shared traditions of warfare. In the wake of the fall of Songhay, Mali and Djolof, chaos engulfed the Senegal and Niger regions. The states in modern Senegal, Wolof, Serer, Mandinka and Fula, became increasingly decentralized and broken up, with the Fula state of Denianke becoming an hegemon for the 1500's and 1600's before falling itself.

The fall of Songhay left the Middle Niger in utter chaos, with the Arma entrenched on the major cities (Gao, Timbuktu), the Tuareg ruling the deserts, Walata, and occassionally Timbuktu, and the Bambara forming warbands that ransacked the land and eventually coalesced in small chiefdoms led by warrior-chiefs. The Bambara eventually formed a state centered on Segou with the Fulbe of Massina as vassals, until they became independent in the late 18th century.

On the side of Mali, there was a total disintegration after their defeat at Djenne and the death of Mansa Mahmud IV. Kaniaga, which was the traditionally important faran-sura and had been functionally independent (and under Songhay suzerainty for a time), reasserted its independence. Concho, the most powerful state of the southwest ruling over Futa Djallon and the Susu states, and the sankara-zuma, also became independent. Kaabu, on the Gambia, was free of Malian rule and started a frenzied expansion in its region, surviving until the late 19th century. On the south, three Malian successor states splintered and divided between themselves the new Mandinka core. The trading outposts linking Mali with the Gold Coast also became independent, and eventually Kong rose up.

Functionally, this period affected the interior of West Africa in some similar ways as the fall of the Western Roman Empire did in Europe.


Regarding opinions of industrial era Europeans, one must be careful because they offer them in strong contraposition to their own capabilities. This was an era of machined tools and Bessemer steel, with machine guns, smokeless powder and self-loading rifles. Their own swords would have been made industrially. In that light, the techniques they encountered were primitive, but so would have been those used to forge a longsword in 15th century France. In a similar light, it is usual to see European spectator comment on how the natives "don't know how to fence" and how their swords are "poorly balanced". Of course, what they mean is that they are not very good to fence military saber style, which is rather obvious. Also, there's the point of the enormous regional diversity in crafting prowess, much like everywhere in the pre-modern world. Some African tools and weapons are very crudely made, but you also find Samory Ture's artisans being able to manufacture small amounts of functional Kropatschek-like rifles without machining tools.

Regarding the antique examples posted, I would say that all the top row look like they have European saber blades, and the second from the left on the bottom obviously has a machete blades. The others I'd say are of local manufacture. As to their use, neither of those is mutually exclusive. Swords are multidimensional objects, that have a use in combat but also a social and aesthetic value and symbolism. But they were used in war, even in very late dates when most West African soldiers would have been using a gun of some kind.

As an illustration, here is an engraving from 1868 depicting a battle between Bambara and Umar Tall's Fulani

Thanks to Changdao for this very important information.

But I would like to discuss specifically the "Mandinka" sabers, which date to the late 19th - early 20th centuries.

I have the following questions:

1. The production of the specimens shown in the photo involved various crafts—blacksmiths, tanners, coppersmiths (this is not the work of a lone artisan), similar to the Blacksmith Market (A. Suq al Haddad) in Kassala described in Edwin Hanley's brilliant essay. Where could such production have taken place at that time?

2. I rightly mentioned the Berlin Conference of 1884 and the colonization of Africa by the early 20th century. Did the colonizers in the occupied territories allow local residents to make swords and sabers?

All this calls into question the dating of these specimens.

Finally, the presence of such richly decorated scabbards calls into question the use of these sabers in combat.

Sincerely,
Yuri