any images of Madagascan swords?

[colin henshaw]

Originally Posted by ausjulius

well thats a presumed statement as..

Incorrect.

Extract from "The History of Mankind" by F Ratzel, 1896 and another extract from "The British Museum Handbook to the Ethnographical Collections", 1910 :-

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by colin henshaw

Incorrect.

Extract from "The History of Mankind" by F Ratzel, 1896 and another extract from "The British Museum Handbook to the Ethnographical Collections", 1910 :-

Excellent references Colin! well support your observation regarding 'swords' and Madagascar.
While Madagascar is one of the larger islands in the world, it was remote and only tribally populated until about the 18th century. Tribal cultures typically have the spear as a primary weapon, which serves both for hunting and warfare. Most tribal cultures, especially in isolated context, have not had inclinations toward the sword, unless incidentally by exposure to outside cultures. Even then, the sword is seen more as a curiosity and an item of prestige more than an actively used weapon form.

As a maritime replenishing station, it was visited by vessels frequently, especially as well known in the golden age of piracy 17th into 18th c.
With this of course, these kinds of instances would have provided certain types of weapons and tools of European styles in limited degree, but there would not been any sort of native production of these. Naturally, limited forging of smaller metal tools or weapons is always possible in these native cultures.

It seems the early inhabitants populating the island were of Indonesian origin, coming from the Malay peninsula by outrigger, but this must have been an arduous journey as open sea voyage of that distance would have been impossible in those times. With this, it does not seem that any sort of regular contact would have been likely in earlier times, so any steady or ongoing Indonesian influence would not seem the case. However trade from western India to East Africa was well known and with Arab trade networks so that source for influences may well have had presence.

[Sajen]

Historical background: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indone...scar_relations

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Tribal cultures typically have the spear as a primary weapon, which serves both for hunting and warfare. Most tribal cultures, especially in isolated context, have not had inclinations toward the sword, unless incidentally by exposure to outside cultures. Even then, the sword is seen more as a curiosity and an item of prestige more than an actively used weapon form... As a maritime replenishing station, it was visited by vessels frequently, especially as well known in the golden age of piracy 17th into 18th c... With this of course, these kinds of instances would have provided certain types of weapons and tools of European styles in limited degree, but there would not been any sort of native production of these.
.

I follow Jim's and Colin's path in that one may find traces of outside (European) vestigials of swords but not of local sword production.
Madagascar coast was first touched by Europeans when Portuguese Diogo Dias, in August 10, 1500, saw his ship deviated from the main fleet by sea currents, while in route to the Far East. He named the island São Lourenço, the saint of the day. It is beleived that later some beligerent contacts took place, the locals being a very hard or impossible crowd to admit intruders; massacres might had happened.
Then, when jumping to the XVII-XVIII centuries, we have records of piracy activity on the East coast of the island; not that the famous Libertatia pirates sanctuary has yet been passive of evidential proof, but there a cemitery Saint Marys island), highly plausible to be one of period pirates.
To say that, it is nothing fictious to beleive that, through all these historical incursions, one could find one or two surviving swords, or their remnants, even those modified and adapted to ceremonial activities or symbols of power, like in other registered cases in Africa, for one.
As for the locals 'preferred' weaponry, history says that:
Peaceful coexistence ended in the second half of the 16th century, when the ruler Andriamanelo (c.1545-1575), started a series of wars against the Vazimba communities, forcing them to flee or assimilate. Adriamanelo is credited with the first use of ferrous spearheads in Madagascar, which gave his troops a great advantage on the battlefield.
His son Ralambo (1575-1612) continued his father's policy... He was also the first ruler to earn firearms from merchants in coastal provinces with contacts with Portuguese and Arab countries.


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