Very old ? Zulu Assegai

[Ron Anderson]

The fact that that area has not got its own clearly identifiable type of sword is odd. The sword is so universal one would expect to find it everywhere. And it is common elsewhere in Africa.

However, the fact remains that tribal groups in South Africa seemed to buck that trend. Unless I'm wrong and someone can point to the kinds of swords that were carried in South African areas at the time.

Just a little to the north, the Shona have their own swords and daggers, instantly recognisable.

But I suspect the assegai was quite possibly the first hand-to-hand type edged weapon used among the Nguni.

As I understand it, life before Shaka was considerably less violent. While there were wars, differences were settled with comparatively little bloodshed. Shaka effectively changed that and ushered in a period of extreme violence throughout the region (a kind of holocaust known as the difaqane). The assegai played a very big part in that, as did Shaka's complete social re-engineering of the tribes who fell under his influence.

He wasn't simply a military strategist. Under him, society was completely re-structured to support his wars. It was a revolution, and changed everything in Nguni society - from marriage contracts to wealth alotment. And it transformed the entire sub-continent.

In this respect, he truly was a 'Black Napoleon'. South Africa would never be the same again. There is still a 7 million strong 'Zulu' nation there, and such a group never really existed before Shaka.