Native North African sword

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Tim Simmons

It could be a native blade. Or perhaps native finished. I would not like to suggest that native smiths were lacking. However it does appear to me that it is steel that has been through the mill so to speak, I could well be wrong. It is also more than possible that trade went east west as much as west east. Zanzibar is a long way away from Mali and the "Manding".

Hi Tim,
The native smiths in North Africa were actually very good, especially the Hausa, however this blade seems more modern and as you note, pretty rough. You're right about the vast distance from Zanzibar to Mali. When studying trade routes though, it gets more amazing as we find the phenomenon of networking, which accounts for seemingly impossible connections. The diffusion of influence is quite subtle from what I can understand, and I have often been surprised when certain weapon forms show up in extremely unlikely places.
A guardless weapon in many cases may have been furbished as such simply because the native fabricator may have only had a blade and simply contrived a rudimentary handle on it.

Best regards,
Jim

[Chris Evans]

Jim,

Thank you for those very informative quotations on heat and armour. It must have been a huge problem.

Cheers
Chris

[Jim McDougall]

You're very welcome Chris, and thank you for acknowledging my notes. I recalled having looked into this topic some time ago in a discussion, and somehow actually found some of my notes. It was a very key problem, and like so many logistical problems associated with battles and armoured combat, something seldom included in historical references.
I think one of the best reference books concerning actual logistics and psychological impact encountered in combat (though this specific topic is not addressed) would be "Face of Battle" by John Keegan. It offers incredible perspective on the actual texture of these monumental and traumatic events.

All the best,
Jim