African sickle swords

[Changdao]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Your fascination with these weapons is well placed, and while African edged weapons are often collected and viewed for their unusual, often even bizarre blade shapes and overall styling from an artistic sense. Christopher Spring in his "African Arms & Armor" noted the often tenuous western need to speculate on how they were used, most notably the familiar 'throwing knives (known as 'shongo' in Azande parlance).

Thanks for taking the time to post! As far as I know, both my own and wildwolberine's are of a form more typically associated with the Ngombe and Ngbandi, further southwest following the Ubangui river. Zande sickle swords, as far as I've seen, are usually of a slightly different profile, and fullered, just like the one in the old picture you posted.

It's interesting that we see these blades in the Sudan, and it is indeed an evidence of the dynamism of the area during the XIX century. The Zande fought against the Khedivate, the Mahdists and the Belgians for a long time, so it isn't surprising that their weapons appear further North along the Sudan, either as loot or in use by Zande (and other peoples) in service of those powers (mercenaries, pressed into service, or both).

I didn't notice them in The Four Feathers! Truth being told, I watched that movie many years before I knew anything about African weaponry.

Regarding function, I think there are many years of weird discourse around them, and many weird judgements from the colonial period. Probably because of the lack of dedicated study integrated into a coherent Military History for Africa, especially Central Africa, it seems like up to date analysis of many sources from a military history lens isn't there yet.

For example, the one in the OP is functionally a dagger-axe, in a way similar to a zaghnal minus the hammer bit and with extra hooking capabilities. In all sickle swords, from mine to the more choppy ones, the hooking makes sense, both for manipulating the enemy shield and just for reaching targets behind the shield. I haven't encountered any primary sources talking about it in relation to Central Africa, but they do exist regarding Ethiopia.