Some period photos of African 'knights'

[colin henshaw]

Iain, very interesting photos - keep them coming...

[Iain]

Glad you enjoyed them Colin.

Few more for the evening...

First the palace at Dikwa. Built by the infamous Rabeh Ibn Fade-Allah.

Second another view of the palace.

Third some Tuaregs at Zinder also circa 1916. More about that city in a sec.

Fourth, the main gate at Zinder. A rather interesting city famed for local weapons production, swords, spears and even cannon! Photo from 1916.

Fifth some more Dikwa cavalry doing a mock charge. This should also be an early 1900s photo.

Sixth another view of Sanda Mandara on his horse - he appears quite young so I'm assuming the image was shot sometime between 1917 when he took the throne and maybe 1920?

[TVV]

Iain, thank you for the photos. Your passion for the knights of the Savannah and their takoubas is contagious and I appreciate all the work you have done on shedding some light on the arms and armor of Western Africa. It is nice to visualize the warriors that Smaldone writes about.

Teodor

[Mauro]

Many thanks Ian to share your material and knowledge. This is water for thirsty people !! I was impressed by all photos but regarding the swords from the 1st one is quite interesting . In fact, in that image a classical takouba, the one you call brass hilted takouba with a blade with almost simmetrical sides, is used together a large triangular blade, the wide bladed takouba, that I would have attributed to the Nupe. In this photo it seems that the latter one is used by an higher rank man. Any comment is welcome.

[Iain]

Originally Posted by Mauro

Many thanks Ian to share your material and knowledge. This is water for thirsty people !! I was impressed by all photos but regarding the swords from the 1st one is quite interesting . In fact, in that image a classical takouba, the one you call brass hilted takouba with a blade with almost simmetrical sides, is used together a large triangular blade, the wide bladed takouba, that I would have attributed to the Nupe. In this photo it seems that the latter one is used by an higher rank man. Any comment is welcome.

Hi Mauro, glad you are enjoying the photos. The wide blade takoubas are find among the Nupe but also the Hausa. The two cultures had some similarities (and a lot of wars!).

I would not say the brass hilted takouba is carried by a man with higher rank - in this photo they should all be the same rank. The position of body guard was often occupied by slave soldiers as they were considered reliable. So I don't think we can say much about the differences in these two swords from rank of the men.

My personal theory is that the wide blades are an older native form (not European trade blade copy), the symmetrical sword in this picture is very likely a European blade with one central fuller.


Colin,

Great photo! Interesting to note the use of a musket. Also on the one rider we can clearly see a telek hilt. I will try to dig up some more Tuareg photos as well this weekend.

[Iain]

Originally Posted by TVV

Iain, thank you for the photos. Your passion for the knights of the Savannah and their takoubas is contagious and I appreciate all the work you have done on shedding some light on the arms and armor of Western Africa. It is nice to visualize the warriors that Smaldone writes about.

Teodor

Hi Teodor, many thanks for your kind words. It's comments like these that make it so enjoyable and rewarding to participate on these forums.

I have a fascination with photography from this period and we are particularly lucky that photographers were able to accurately capture images of cultures that had changed very little in hundreds of years. Truly a chance to look back in time!

Cheers,

Iain