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

Mauro · 25th October 2011, 10:39 PM

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.

25th October 2011, 10:39 PM	#34
Mauro Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 83	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.