Islamic Axe for I D and Comment

[kahnjar1]

Originally Posted by kahnjar1

Thank you Gentlemen for your comments and information so far.
I would now like to make some assumptions and would like some feedback on what you think.
1.We now seem to agree that this axe is from what is now modern day Tanzania, which of course was the name given to the combined countries of Tanganyika and Zanzibar.
2. It is assumed that the language spoken in Tanganyika was some sort of african dialect.
3. Zanzibar was under the control of the Sultanate of Oman from 1698 until 1890 when the British interfered.
4. It is assumed that the language spoken in Zanzibar at that time would largely have been Arabic.
5.This axe has a cartouche in Arabic, so we assume that it "lived" in Zanzibar.
6. Assuming that the date 1307 (1889ad) on the cartouche is accurate, then this axe existed in Zanzibar under Omani rule, as the British did not take power until 1890.
If the above IS correct then this axe, although of african origin in design, is actually of Arabian (Omani) heritage.

It was never my intention to say that this axe ORIGINATED in Zanzibar but that at some stage it "lived" there. As we are well aware from other threads, the existance of BORDERS as we know them, meant nothing to the tribes who inhabited the land, and it was not until the colonial powers started taking their "empires", that actual borders came into existance as we know them today. For the sake of agreement can we say that the axe comes from East Africa, and at some stage in its life has had some definate contact with the Arab world?

[Tim Simmons]

From " Manfred A. Zirngibl & Alexander, Panga na visu" very nice book. I think Ujiji was the furthest west Arab trading market.

[kahnjar1]

Originally Posted by Tim Simmons

From " Manfred A. Zirngibl & Alexander, Panga na visu" very nice book. I think Ujiji was the furthest west Arab trading market.

Thanks Tim, I think this confirms Tanzania (Tanganyika).
Stu

[Jim McDougall]

Good discourse, and clarification.....well placed examples from Zirngibl/Alexander.
For those reading, it should be noted that Ujiji would have been a trade outpost in western Tanzania, and located near Lake Tanganyika. It was indeed near a slave trade route.

I think we agree that the axe is likely East African, and as noted has been embellished with Arab decoration, with the possibility that this derives from slave related commerce that corresponds to routes coming out of Zanzibar, part of the Sultanate of Oman, known for that particular activity.