Kaskara for comment

[Iain]

Hi Ed,

Few questions if I may, I'd always associated the silvered/metal domed ;pommel kaskara with Darfur. Would that region still have been furnished by cutlers from the eastern Sudan, at Kassala and Atbara? Maybe in an analogous situation to the western Sahara were most mounting was carried out in the larger Hausa cities.

Second point I wanted to raise was about the tassel. Is this a fairly recent addition? I've seen both these cloth tassels and leather braided thongs. Older swords I often see neither - although perhaps that's just due to loss of material over time.

[Edster]

Iain,

I don't think I've inspected any Kaskara known to have been made before the Mahdiya. My guess it that before the British ended the Khalifa's reign in 1899 most blades were either imported as you describe, or of locally wrought iron or wood. After the British took over good quality steel was readily available especially along the railroads at Atbara.

The Khalifa, from Western Sudan, concentraated most of the tribes in Omdurman so he could keep an eye on them. Also, there was an armory in Omdurman during the Khalifa's rule, and I imagine a lot of swords were made or reworked there from captured British and Eqyptian weapons. No dodubt a lot of design motifs were shared, but any one purchaser probaably preferred the traditional motifs of his tribe to exhibit an identity.

Keep in mind that sword smiths and silver smiths are completely different crafte, technically and socially. Silver workers were held in higher esteme. Were no doubt more wide spread than sword smiths. Also, silver fittings were really "after market" items as the sword smith delivered a sword with simple rough wooden grips and silver mountings could have been attached virtually anywhere and remote from blade manufacture. Even the scabbards were made in a different leather market, The purchaser would buy a sword with plain handle and scabbard and take them to the silver smith of outfitting as he choose and could afford. But that leaves open the question as to where (in what craft shop) the Hadendowa tassel was actually affixed.

I have seen tassels on swords of Western Sudan (like the fine "Ali Dinar" piece on a previous thread), but they were attached to the handle with a cord 8-10 inches long. The Hadendawa tassles, always black, are a part of the handle. Can't say if they are a recent innovation, but I would assume that they are traditional to the Mahdiya Period. The Hadendawa traditionally used spears and the hooked knife in the bush and maybe adopted the sword in the Mahdiwa, although I can't say that with any certainty.

Iain, I'm not sure I answered your questions, but the alternative is to say "I don't know".

Regards,
Ed

[Iain]

Ed,

Many thanks, that's about as good a explanation as I could hope for.

The separation of metal workers based on specific material is something I'm familiar with from the Hausa. At least there you have castes based on iron/steel working and white metals (silver, tin, brass, copper etc.).

Part of the reason I'm asking so many questions is that in some sources such as Barth, he talks about a large number of blades being imported to Kano, hilted and reexported out, in part, to the Sudan. However as the term at the time included a rather more massive area than the current country it's hard to know just how accurate his report is and just how far this would have extended. I'm trying to find out what I can about the overlap in these regions between takouba and kaskara and a large part of that is obviously the hilts.

The notes about the silver fittings being more or less after market finishing is rather fascinating for me. Given the somewhat close connections between the eastern and western Sahel in terms of metalsmith casts and practices gives me some insight into how the two sword forms were manufactured differently (brass hilted takouba being impossible to finish in a half way stage due to the integral nature of the brass to the overall hilt design).

I'm not sure why I thought the tassels were a latter addition, perhaps the older blades I've seen in museum and private collections just had them removed, or aging took a toll on the organic material.

Your insights are fascinating as always. Thanks for sharing.

Best,

Iain

[Mefidk]

Iain & Ed - thanks so much for the information and insights, its really fantastic that you are willing to so readily share this information.

If I might push my luck a little further and ask what may be a couple of naive questions. Firstly I wondered about the weapon production in Kassala and the arms trade in the area in general. Kassala is very close to Eritraea and so I wondered how far east the use of the kaskara would be expected? Or was it simply that the manufacture of arms was a big export business in these areas and kaskaras went west and shotels were made there too and went east?

Secondly, this whole region appears to have had a very turbulant history, except for Ethiopia which as far as I understand it has had pretty stable boundaries. So I would I be right in thinking that Ethiopea has a more easily traceable weaponary than the rest of the region because of the amazing longevity of the Solomonic Dynasty (1270-1974)? For instance I believe I read somewere that the shotel can be traced back perhaps as far as 4th centuary BC. If so perhaps there are some more solid delineations as we move into Ethiopea? As a newly interested collector in north African arms it might be nice to feel that there was something solid in the shifting sands of human migrations in the region to use as a reference point

Chris

[Edster]

Chris,

Yours are very intriguing and tough questions. I'm sure Iain and others have a greater depth of knowledge, but I'll try to draw from my limited perspective.

I think we haave to conside that Sudan and Ethiopia have separate cultural and religious foundations and were mostly enenies. Trade in slaves and goods was fairly common across the border in the areasa decent rainfall near the Atbara River. Sudan was and is based on the Nile Valley and has influence from Arabia beginning in the 16th Century when Arabs came into the country to teach Islam. Ethiopia really started historically in the lowlands near Eritrea with Axum, etc and didn't reach the highlands until later. I think that both cultures were grounded in agriculture.

The Hadendawa who are the Kassala swordsmiths are part of the large Beja, a separate ethnic group with a long history in the area from Kassala throught he Red Sea Hills and into the uplands to the East. The Beni Amr are related Beji peoples from mainly the lower lands of Eritrea. Both are pastoralists specializing in camels. The sword of Afar from the Afar Depression of Ethiopia and Eritrea is more like the shotal than the kaskara.

I think the traditional weapon of both Sudan and the Hadendawa were spears, but different styles.. I don't know when the Kaskara become the main battle weapon, but I'd guess around the time of the Mahdia in the 1840s. Others would know this better than me. I'd like to learn more about this history myself.

By tradition, apparently the Hadendawa become dedicated weapons makers at the request of Othman Digna, their war leader during the Mahdia. They apparently used Kaskaras then, but not exclusively. The 1939 version of the film Four Feathers shows some good scenes of authentic Hadendawa weapons.

The blacksmith market in Kassala was build in the 1940s by Italians from Ethiopia. The export of Kassala weapons to other regions apparently started in the 1960. The Hadendawa had a traditional double edged hooked knife/short sword called a soa'tal as I recall. I show a photograph on one with its belt on a post.

Bottom line. I think that the Beja "tribes" would have been more influenced by Ethiopian weaponry than the Arabized Sudanese who looked to the west and south down the Nile. Wouldn't be surprised if the Kaskara came to Sudan from the Fulani/ Nigeria since Sudan was the major pilgrimage route from West Africa to Arabia and not from the east.

Hope this doesn't confuse you further.
Take care,
Ed

[Edster]

Chris,

Yours are very intriguing and tough questions. I'm sure Iain and others have a greater depth of knowledge, but I'll try to draw from my limited perspective.

I think we have to consider that Sudan and Ethiopia have separate cultural and religious foundations and were mostly enenies. Trade in slaves and goods was fairly common across the border in the areas of decent rainfall near the Atbara River. Sudan was and is based on the Nile Valley and has influence from Arabia beginning in the 16th Century when Arabs came into the country to teach Islam. Ethiopia really started historically in the lowlands near Eritrea with Axum, etc and didn't reach the highlands until later. I think that both cultures were grounded in agriculture.

The Hadendawa who are the Kassala swordsmiths are part of the larger Beja, a separate ethnic group with a long history in the area from Kassala throught he Red Sea Hills and into the uplands to the East. The Beni Amr are related Beji peoples from mainly the lower lands of Eritrea. Both are pastoralists specializing in camels. The sword of Afar from the Afar Depression of Ethiopia and Eritrea is more like the shotal than the kaskara.

I think the traditional weapon of both Sudan and the Hadendawa were spears, but different styles.. I don't know when the Kaskara become the main battle weapon, but I'd guess around the time of the Mahdia in the 1840s. Others would know this better than me. I'd like to learn more about this history myself.

By tradition, apparently the Hadendawa become dedicated weapons makers at the request of Othman Digna, their war leader during the Mahdia. They apparently used Kaskaras then, but not exclusively. The 1939 version of the film Four Feathers shows some good scenes of authentic Hadendawa weapons.

The blacksmith market in Kassala was build in the 1940s by Italians from Ethiopia. The export of Kassala weapons to other regions apparently started in the 1960. The Hadendawa had a traditional double edged hooked knife/short sword called a soa'tal as I recall. I show a photograph on one with its belt on a post.

Bottom line. I think that the Beja "tribes" would have been more influenced by Ethiopian weaponry than the Arabized Sudanese who looked to the west and south down the Nile. Wouldn't be surprised if the Kaskara came to Sudan from the Fulani/ Nigeria since Sudan was the major pilgrimage route from West Africa to Arabia and not from the east.

Hope this doesn't confuse you further.
Take care,
Ed

[Iain]

I think Ed gave a pretty good stab at this. I'll add a few points.

The relative political stability of Ethiopia combined with a habit of outsourcing blade manufacture in the (caveat) 19th century, means that for a certain period the shifting sands, shift, well a bit less. Otherwise you can find kaskara even crossing over, include, if memory serves correct in church iconography/wall painting.

Kaskara use extended into Bornu, so it certainly went west, Ethiopian weaponry I think stayed a bit more bottled up, partly due to cultural/religious differences and partly just due to geographical factors. Natural barriers and the type of trade going through Ethiopia from the Sahel.

The date of popular kaskara use I also have no idea about, but I have often wondered if the Mahdist period ignited some interest in the type due to association with the sword of Mohammed and religious connections with swords in Islam.

As Ed noted Kassala was relatively late to the party in terms of being an arms center. Omdurman was noted for mail product and other military gear during the Mahdi years, however earlier than that less is known at least to me, about Sudan specifically.

What I do have to go on are a few period sources like Barth reporting on the Kano re-export business. I still have a problem understanding why less of the same trade blades in kaskara turn up in takouba and also why kaskara hilts don't seem to be know at all in Hausa areas. Sometimes you get cross over - I'm attaching a Peter Kull bladed takouba with re profiled tip that sold in Germany a little while back (unfortunately not to me). THis is the exact same blade as found in kaskara, just profiled as a takouba. However these are few and far between in my experience. However the vast majority of takouba and kaskara blades don't really match up, particularly the wide fullered kaskara - making me question if the form was carried into Sudan from the west. I would still subscribe to the Mamluk influence theory and export of weaponry from Cairo. Even maille from Cairo was showing up in Egypt so any weapons trade certainly went both ways.

In short, you don't really find a spot where the sands don't shift a bit in the Sahel. You have two wildly different hilt types in the kaskara and takouba, that seem to have shared some common sources for blades, you have long and well used trade routes to propagate forms outside of their source zones and you have similar styles of warfare and large empires/kingdoms bumping into each other. In short it's a highly enjoyable mess.

Best,
Iain

[Mefidk]

Guys, thats really fantastic information. Thank you. I'm not more confused, but I guess I'm beginning to see just how much there is to know that I don't know ...but that's one of the great attractions of these weapons - lots to find out and no easy way to do it