Names of African Swords

[Changdao]

Originally Posted by Tim Simmons

You might find this dagger interesting. Scroll down to figure 8 in the link you provided. Although the scabbard is different you see the same weapon. This is obviously 20th century and pristine. It could be "earlyish" having been well kept all its life outside of Africa , who knows, but who cares as it is as I said in pristine condition.

Those weapon figures in that book are mostly wrong. In Figure 8, most of those dagger are in a style usually associated with the Toubou, not the Hausa, and the dagger like yours is associated to the areas west of the Niger River bend, particularly to the Mandinka (at least the style of the leatherwork).

However, this type of dagger with the red leather is associated in particular with the Wolof in Senegal, at least according to the identifications and provenance of various pieces in the Quai de Branly Museum.

Examples here:

https://www.quaibranly.fr/en/explore...-son-fourreau´

https://www.quaibranly.fr/en/explore...t-son-fourreau

https://www.quaibranly.fr/en/explore...17333-poignard

https://www.quaibranly.fr/en/explore...rd-et-fourreau