West African ? sword for I.D. and comment.

[Iain]

No problem, I forgot to write that article really only has detail about European trade blades. Almost nothing about native blades.

[colin henshaw]

Hi

Thanks to Iain and Mauro for their responses to my post about possible European influence to the hilts of some West African swords. Truth be told, I made the comparison to rondel daggers slightly "tongue in cheek" !

However its an interesting discussion, so I would like to counter some of the objections made and try to advance my theory...

Quote "do we have any reason to suspect it required outside influence to create this hilt form"

Given the propensity in West Africa to mimic European forms, particularly in regard to weapons, (we have already seen several examples), this possibility must be looked at, to arrive at an objective conclusion.

Its worth noting that in East Africa, where European contact, particularly in the hinterland was very much later, this form of hilt with a guard is not found. Seme and similar sword hilts there are straight sided - as are Omani kattarra sword hilts (but this may just be coincidence).

Regarding Ashanti/Akan hilts - there is clear evidence of some copying of European forms- here are a couple of images from a recent visit to the Wallace Collection in London.

The Mende also made copies of European swords and muskets, but in wood.

Food for thought, and looking forward to more ideas on this subject....

Regards.

[Iain]

Hi Colin,

Sorry if I missed the jist of your rondel dagger a bit!

I like a good discussion and this is shaping up nicely...

Given the propensity in West Africa to mimic European forms, particularly in regard to weapons, (we have already seen several examples), this possibility must be looked at, to arrive at an objective conclusion.

Mostly agree. Although I wouldn't say there's a propensity, I know of a few examples, like the ones you posted that are more or less exact copies. Otherwise we have blades that make their way into native mounts. However, I am struggling a bit to think of a wide spread obviously European derived mount?

I think the East African line is a bit of coincidence. For example Ethiopian blades, Sudanese or Omani would have been available in many of these areas. The fact that they did not get traded widely inland leads me to think there was no market, not sure why, but obviously they weren't in demand.

I'm afraid I don't see the influence in the round sword hilt in your pictures. I certainly do see it in the daggers, but as I mentioned before these are more or less pure imitations. The sword doesn't seem to be to me. But maybe I'm having one of my obtuse days and missing your point? Still I think we have to make a distinction between obvious copies and forms that are not obvious and therefore possibly older and without European influence.

Any pictures of the Mende sword copies? A quick Google didn't turn anything up I'm afraid. Muskets are of course a more or less European import to the region so I'd expect them to follow the European form.

I guess I'm very wary of direct attribution and connection to a European form except when clear cut, partly because European writers not so long ago were unable to believe in Africans making advances on their own (not that any of us are suggesting that is the case!). I don't want to go near the same pitfall. Personally I think it's a little to easy to draw some lines, connect the dots and come up with a connection. I also tend to think common problems breed common solutions.

Of course I can also think of many purely European forms in native styles, like the interesting Mossi sword with the bow guard hilt Mauro posted recently. Even I would be stretched to argue that wasn't taken directly from French military sabres.

So what can I say other than I agree in part, but I'm very cautious.

[Mauro]

Dear Colin, sorry if I lost the main road. Returning to your question I have to say that in my opinion I do not see so many influences of European hilts in West African swords. Naturally there are similarities of some hilt and especially the kaskara (or the takouba that in my opinion is a variety of the former) that, however, has also his own peculiarities. I do not see many similarities of the rondel dagger with other west African knives. I also do not see many similarities of the Ashanti “knife” that, in my opinion, is a very peculiar and extremely characteristic “knife”. I always was surprised by the incredible variety and creativity of the African people to generate weapons which form is different from that of the nearby tribes. May be there are some tracts in common but there is almost always some distinct character that show the peculiarity of a tribal heritage like a knife or a sword. In West Africa the other weapon that was strongly influenced by westerners was the Congo kingdom sword that recall the XVI-XVII century swords and that could be due, in my opinion, to a strong imprint left in the local tribes by the first powerful invaders. In East Africa, Portuguese arrived almost at the same time but remained in the country for a short time and were sent away together with the Jesuits. However, the local straight blade, the seif, has many similarities with the kaskara except the hilt that is again a local characteristic. As Iain says there was no market also because people wanted to have a sword or knife that usually would show the membership of the owner to a tribal group.

[colin henshaw]

Hi Iain

Thanks for your speedy response to my last post.

Quote "any pictures of the Mende sword copies ?"

Here are a couple of images from "Illustrated Catalogue of Ethnographical Specimens - W O Oldman"

Regards

[Iain]

Hi Colin,

Thanks for sharing the pictures. Very interesting muskets.

Regarding the swords, I'm afraid I don't see a lot of obvious European influence here. Unless I'm missing something? Looks like fairly typical wooden handles. Are these blades the wooden type you mentioned before?

I'm probably missing something but in terms of a European connection I'm really just not seeing it.

Cheers,

Iain