African Swords
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- Welcome to a new series on African Weapons and Armies! Hope you guys enjoy these videos, I'm not sure how often I'll be updating this series, but hopefully I'll have one for every main series video out.
Sources:
Ethiopia Sources:
The Book of the Sword - Richard Francis Burton (WARNING, RACIST UNDERTONES)
Ten thousand wonderful things - Edmund Fillinamd King (WARNING, RACIST UNDERTONES)
Armies of the Adowa Campaign - By Sean McLachlan
The Encyclopedia of the Sword - By Nick Evangelista
The Art of Attack and the Development of Weapons: from the Earliest Times... - By H. S. Cowper: (WARNING, LOTS OF FALSE INFORMATION)
Ashante Sources:
African Art And Leadership - By Douglas Fraser
University of Australia - African Art History Studies
Cloth as Metaphor - By G.F. Kojo Arthur
British Museum
Book of the Sword - By Richard Francis Burton (Also contains information regarding the Ashanti):
Central African Sources:
A History of Weapons: Crossbows, Caltrops, Catapults, & Lots of Other Things - By John O'Bryan
Atkinson swords.com
Springfieldmuseums.org
Britannica.com - www.britannica...
Blades of Beauty and Death - Barbara Winston Blackmun and Jacques Hautelet
Ngola: The Weapon As Authority Identity, and Ritual Object in Sub-Saharan Africa - Norman Hurst:
Shona Sources:
Islamic and Native Weapons of Colonial Africa, 1800 - 1960
Shona-English Name Dictionary - Elliah Chakanetsa Kapezi
Da'mon Stith:
/ @damonstith
Description:
Want to join a discord where you can argue with me and my friends about stuff?
/ discord
~ Credits ~
Songs:
1. J. Cole - Wet Dreamz (INSTRUMENTAL)
Ethiopia Sources:
The Book of the Sword - Richard Francis Burton (WARNING, RACIST UNDERTONES)
Ten thousand wonderful things - Edmund Fillinamd King (WARNING, RACIST UNDERTONES)
Armies of the Adowa Campaign - By Sean McLachlan
The Encyclopedia of the Sword - By Nick Evangelista
The Art of Attack and the Development of Weapons: from the Earliest Times... - By H. S. Cowper: (WARNING, LOTS OF FALSE INFORMATION)
Ashante Sources:
African Art And Leadership - By Douglas Fraser
University of Australia - African Art History Studies
Cloth as Metaphor - By G.F. Kojo Arthur
British Museum
Book of the Sword - By Richard Francis Burton (Also contains information regarding the Ashanti):
Central African Sources:
A History of Weapons: Crossbows, Caltrops, Catapults, & Lots of Other Things - By John O'Bryan
Atkinson swords.com
Springfieldmuseums.org
Britannica.com - www.britannica.com/place/Congo-River/The-people-and-the-economy
Blades of Beauty and Death - Barbara Winston Blackmun and Jacques Hautelet
Ngola: The Weapon As Authority Identity, and Ritual Object in Sub-Saharan Africa - Norman Hurst:
Shona Sources:
Islamic and Native Weapons of Colonial Africa, 1800 - 1960
Shona-English Name Dictionary - Elliah Chakanetsa Kapezi
here are some weapons of the Bantu people of Congo ex Zaire and some images of the ancient warriors of the congo taken at the end of the 19th century by the Europeans.
th-cam.com/video/NcYbQz0-zVY/w-d-xo.html
Why are you recommending book with racist and false information? Those are useless.
George Wilson He is just citing his sources
I know it's a bit late but there is an old book that has a substantial amount of information about african weapons. It's called "A Glossary of the construction, decoration and use of arms and armour in all countries and in all times -by George Cameron Stone" it's helped me identify manu of the swords I've come across over the years.
Thank you for making this video. It has been extremely hard to find data on African swords and their styles.
Easily your best video thus far. Very well organized and captivating. Not a single dull moment.
Thanks for the positive feedback :))) I'm looking forward to your next video xp
Was that a play on words?
Dennis M lol
I did not know the sword of the ashanti people could made out gold like that, that freaking dope
That Guy it’s dope af but I imagine it doesn’t make a very good weapon considering how soft gold is
@nightmare Shadow They were making steel weapons in Africa in what is now Tanzania. The Haya tribe smelted iron ore to make carbon steel from around 2300 bc - 2000 bc.
@@marielaveau6362 Citations, please.
@@karlshaner2453
*Schmidt, Peter; Avery, Donald (1983). "More Evidence for an Advanced Prehistoric Iron Technology in Africa". Journal of Field Archaeology. 10 (4): 421-434. doi:10.1179/009346983791504228.
*Childs, S. Terry (1996). "Technological history and culture in western Tanzania". In Schmidt, P. (ed.). The Culture and Technology of African Iron Production. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press.
@@Niani23455 I will take a close look at them thank you.
African Swords Sudan Sudanese Sword call the Kaskara Swords its long
People think Africa only had spears for the same reason people think samurai didn't use guns, surface reading pop-culture. If it wasn't for the Zulu's you'd get people saying Africa didn't have war and was completely peaceful.
But war wasn't rife like it is today. Tribes were never going to war to conquer.
@@biggrhymees88one never hesrd of ashqnti empire, Mali, Songhay, bantu tribes? Most of those empires were bigger than many european states today. Of course they were conquerors
@@biggrhymees88one Thet weren't tribes back then but kingdoms and empires
For Honor should add an African faction; Since they go by the weapon first and not the character, and Africa is rich with wacky weapons that they have to add!
Good video, man. I didn't learn about Africans and swords until I listened to the Africa-based medieval fantasy novel, TIMBUKTU CHRONICLES: AIDA AND THE CHOSEN SOLDIER. It really opened up my eyes to a whole lot of fascinating Black/Aftican history that we're not thought about in schools.
The Congolese Tribes that carried the Ngombe actually carried two. One that was about 18 inches total length for battle and another one up to 26 inches used for execution. The Congo doesn't have a documented history due to the lack of a written language structure. a man named Pritchard documented the uses of various central African swords in his books. The most modern picture I have found of the mambele dates back to 1920 but people tend to flock to the mambele's river tribe cousin the makraka cause its smaller. also I work with da'mon in the Historical African Martial Arts Association in the co founding counsel.
very good stuff. I'm interested in the books that Pritchard wrote, as they would be useful in research for later videos!
The historical African Martial Arts Association has a TH-cam Facebook and a website. We share info and publish articles quite frequently. It maybe of interest to you and all your followers who are interested in what we do.
William Woodard here are some weapons of the Bantu people of Congo ex Zaire and some images of the ancient warriors of the congo taken at the end of the 19th century by the Europeans.
th-cam.com/video/NcYbQz0-zVY/w-d-xo.html
@@biographyafrican6838 their is no fucking bantu weapon
@Admire Kashiri no forget about your bantu language or Niger bla bla these culture have nothing to do with your language classification done by white curved sword or curved knives or throwing knives are in many country who don't speak the language of your classification but had real cultural link not your white view of Africa these culture start from South Libya to North Congo
The Ethiopian Shotel looks eerily similar to the Egyptian Kopesh
there are only so many ways one can design a sword, haha.
Likely a derivative of it.
wrong.*
Nice African sword worthy of mention (that don't appear in the video)
Ada ogun
Takoba
Ida
Billao
Kaskara
Nimcha
Mandinka saber
And many more...
Plz comment your favourite swords.
@millenniumsoldier99 Nothing you've said is based in any sort of fact...moron.
Young Lion, Some piece in your list is sword of Yoruba people ? I'm trying to see models that continue in use in cerimonies between African religions in Brazil.
I've always found central african throwing blades like the kpinga to be fascinating. They essentially created weapons that act as both sword and death frisbee de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrikanisches_Wurfeisen
please do Castle from arcoss sub-saharan africa like Congo, Mali, Senengal, Ghana, south Africa, Central Africa republic, Malawi, Zambia and Angola.
Thank you for making this video. Any information on Somali,Sudanese & or Chad swords?
Billao is the traditional somali sword
I'm watching a show right now called Forged in Fire, and they had to make a sword called a
*Makraka?* or *Macraka?* or *Makrakah?* ... Sorry for butchering the spelling, but do you know which country/region in Africa it came from? It just looked so interesting. Thanks 🤗
could you do a video on shields, and possibly even one on locally manufactured firearms in sub sharan africa
Firearms are definitely on my planned list! Shields I hadn't considered; but you've put them on the radar for me!
HiddenHistory awesome, looking forward to more of your content, you, from nothing and home team history are doing a quality service to TH-cam
@@hiddenhist Any updates on the firearms?
Another excellent video! About the origin of the Akrafena, they definitely pre-date the Ashanti Empire. A painting by Albert Eckhout from 1641 depicting a Denkyira warrior (previous overlords what is now Ashanti), clearly shows him carrying a well developed Akrafena, about 29 years prior to the establishment of the Ashanti Empire.
as a history student, it is always interesting to hear about less commonly studied parts of history
it is also rather sad to know most sub saharan africans both in Africa as in diaspora to put it in a simple term, have little to no knowledge about the history of their region of origin
I am also bothered by the efforts of certain activists who attempt to revise history in the form of cultural history (movies, shows,...
) to depict medieval or classical Europe as being made up of people from the entire world, whilst in truth many would consider people from three towns over exotic depending on the period.
I can't help but feel that this is not just political but also profit oriented, they do not want to risk a show or movie about something new and risky such as sub saharan africa,
I think my autism also plays a role in being unable to stand politically or romantically revised historical content that laymen are likely to accept as historically accurate, a good example is kingdom of heaven or apocalypse now, which are movies I enjoyed as a kid but can't bring myself to see in the same light anymore
Have you researched Sudanese,Somali,Chadian & or Nubian swords? It would be great to see a video on those
Yeah true , Somali nomand carries a beautiful a dagger I don’t know the name but it looks nice
See this stuff is fascinating! Bear with in this but... They have to stop shoe hornig in people of ethicity into medieval European settings... Whens it's accurate not a problem... But sometimes it's just to appear inclusive... Why not stop looking at medieval or ancient Europe... Ide like to see an English language Hollywood film or Netflix production set in ancient or medieval Africa! So many kingdoms and empires to choose from , that I'm guessing most have never heard of! Perfect opportunity. Having said that if they didn't want to go all out then set it in ancient Greece Ethiopia is mentioned heavily in the Iliad and played a role in the geopolitics of the age. Would be interesting to see all the same.
You'll see that from a European dominant nation.
Point of correction! The "Ashanti' sword is actually an Akan sword and its not called "Akrafena" but Akofena (Akõ-fna) meaning the fighting blade. Oh and the Kings of Akyems and Ashantis have theirs made totally of pure gold of the highest quality and craftsmanship. This is my take.
Is it possible that the sword was used by all akan cultures, bur called the ‘akrafena’ by the asante? Or perhaps its the result of poor transcription by europeans. This is very interesting!
@@hiddenhist I will consult and revert
@@hiddenhist hi guys, so I consulted a 98 year old man in an Akan Palace and he confirmed:
The original name for the sword is Akofena (fighting blade or sword of war) however the sword when fortified acts as a soul (Akra) collector thus the name Akrafena (the sword/blade of souls). It is said that a man wielding the Akrafena can strike and kill his opponent 100 meters away. It is a dangerous weapon!
swords were invented by different ancient cultures independently of each other.
Nice overview video of African swords. I've been making a series of videos on this topic, so its nice to see what someone else has to say on the matter.
You are underrated
You did good with this video, you could have made it longer. Oh in regards to your last comment on the other video I can tell you that 95% of Ethiopians acknowledge the plain Green, Yellow, and Red colors for the flag. The lion is nice but Ethiopians who don't believe in the power of the King/Queen don't like that it is wearing a crown and Ethiopians who aren't christian don't like that the lion is caring a cross (also Emperor Menelik was known for sometimes using St. George as the emblem instead of the Lion Of Judah). The communist party that overthrow the Emperor used the Lion for a few years but took off the crown and replaced the cross with the spear then later opted for typical soviet styled emblem that represents the working class and farmer and later the communist governement would be reformed into a socialist government that would later be overthrown by the authoritative government that we know today. But it has always been accepted that most including myself are in favor of the plain colors of Green, Yellow, and Red in that order, we expect it will change into just that in the near future.
Thanks!
While I don't agree with all of the criticism you directed towards me, it has allowed me to reflect a bit, and, to be completely honest, I wasn't the most proud of the series either. Like you pointed out, I didn't go into as much detail as I would've wanted to, and already was a bit displeased with the single episode allocated to Yohannes. I'll probably give the series a second go when I have more time later.
Great Presentation on some of the swords of Ancient African People’s
The Ngombe is interesting in the fact that warriors carried two of them. A fighter Ngombe( between 12-24inches) and an executioner Ngombe( between 28-42 inches).
Medaase for the information of our ancestors great knowledge and connection to the elements forging such works.
Think my favorite sword of the African continent is the Akrafena, and my second favorite is the Takoba, and if I was holding a Akrafena, I would feel like saying that the blade would get a very similar feeling to a medieval falchion more than a machete.
How do you skip nigerian swords? especially those from the Benin kingdom? So odd
BRUH what happened to your other videos
not happy with production value, should have some new videos up within a bit though!
Tuareg and Somali swords (author of "Timbuktu Chronicles: Aida and the Chosen Soldier").
If you think african swords are hard, try dig up sources on tools outside the hoe, axe and adze - they exist but it can be mindboggeling hard to dig up
Just clicked that subscribe button ☺️
Mandinka sabre tokoba Cameroon guduf or opia
You did your best research I been doing some research on Ethiopian type sword garude and shotel I always wondered if shotel a sickle type sword or it has double edge
The kophesh is not a sword but a battle axe
what is interesting is that large sedentary trade oriented civilisations did develop but always by coastlines
but that trend stil lives on worldwide today
Spears are awesome weapons.
Awesome! I love the sword that you found, but I could have sworn that there was a really insane sword you missed. I saw it on a episode of Samurai Jack and looked it up. Forgot the name of it, just found that its some country south of Egypt.
Anyway its a sword that has a giant ring for a handle. Warriors would spin the sword in a circle to then slam it down on opponents
I think you're thinking of the Benin 'Eben'. I don't know if it was actually wielded like that though :p. I saw that episode though and really liked it.
I wish these weapons were more popular in pop culture. They're beautiful and unique especially the kopesh and the shotel!
They will be when African historical fictions and fantasies are finally adopted. And tbh some of these swords have been used in various video games.
The Igbo people have the heaviest swords anyone could use for warfare. Short swords were used for ceremonies and double-edged swords which the handle is also a flute is carried by titled people.
What are they called?
Did Africans use some type of Great Sword similar in size to the German Kriegsmesser or the Japanese Nodachi?
@Admire Kashiri
stor shortel och liten shortel svärd. ***
2:57
Sub Saharan African king: yeah bruh it’s not on the budget.
Random dude: why not?
Sub Saharan African king: ole nosey aSs * clutches gold sold”
Regarding the Bakatwa swords they were used and also status symbols sometimes covered in thin wires of brass and i believe gold also. The Portugese when they first came into contacr with my ancestors mentioned seeing these swords.
Portuguese traveler who visited South East Africa in the 16th century described meeting the Mwene-Mutapas of Mutapa, the Shona/Karanga empire. He reported that; "They were black men who got naked save that they cover themselves with cotton cloth from the waist down. Some clad in the skins of wild beasts, and some, the most noble, wear capes of these skins with tails... as a token of state and dignity. They leap as they go, and sway their bodies so as to make these tails fly from one side to the other. They carry swords thrust into wooden sheaths bound with much gold and other metals... These are warlike men, and some too are great traders." -(The African and Middle Eastern World, 600-1500)
Check out ethnographic weapons such as the Shona bakatwa, Shona axe and Zulu axe at www.HillsCollectibles.com
Isizenze is our Southern sword like Bush knife but longer approximately about a one and half meter, the double egde Isizenze and one edge Isizenze for women to cut and protect themselvs then ingedla or inhlenhla came and suppased isizenze
That was racist.... i think
Edit:it was mainly from the history not existing in Africa thing
Sick video bro
I own an Ngombe ngulu (which I affectionately describe as my orc sword), and while it's somewhat bigger than some of the other Congolese swords, it's not particularly heavy at all (the blade is quite thin throughout and has a triple fuller on one side of the bottom portion). Probably a bit of a nuisance to carry around, though, but more because of the shape and weight distribution.
Are their any flail type weapons in Africa?
Keep in mind that I'm not a professional historian, but I'd say that they probably wouldn't have used any.
As far as I know, Flails were most useful against heavy (often metal) armor, something that, given africa's various hot climates, would not have been very popular among africans. Hence, such a weapon would not have been developped very often in the continent.
Excellent video, idk why this myth even existed.
Also, loved the Background music :) !
Maybe the idea got started because you can not trow swords at boats rowing away from you. ;)
were is the somali sword billao and beja sword?
The shotel's still my favourite, it seems.
What did you say in the very beginning? 🤔🤨
I would love to learn programing and game design because i want to make something based on the WHOLE story of Mexico and Latin America, and something super important is the african influence we have from africa (sadly from the slave trade and such) so i would love to include a lot fo cultural thing from the parts that share a common history with us (Guinea Ecuatorial for example, they also speak spanish since they where also conquered by spain and many other african regions speak either spanish or portuguese nowadays) its a part of world's history that often gets erased and that was a lot of cultural value for our history.
Thanks a lot for these videos
Egyptians were sub-Saharan Africans and there are still sub-Saharan Africans that stay into Egypt till this day.
Please stop
It’s true
How do I spell the latter Ashanti sword you mentioned? Thanks !
Bosomfena :p
akrafena
They have these an assassins creed origins
the mamluks had a lot of nice sword doble and single edged stabbing and cutting
@millenniumsoldier99 i think that the concept of a sword is something acultural
first of all because it is quite much a long knife
and most cultures developed swords it also is one of the evolutions of onrle of the primordial tools the sharp and pointy rock
Lol Wet Dreamz 😂😂
I need that second song in the outro in my life.
Outro song should be this:
Kendrick Lamar, SZA - All The Stars (Daju x Twuan Remix)
:)
African swords are underappreciated for sure. And not just the sub-Saharan ones. Some more swords from Africa that are worth a shoutout: the Moroccan nimcha, the Algerian flyssa, the Manding saber, the Tuareg tako(u)ba, Telek/Gozma, Sudanese Kaskara, and those of the Tebu (not sure what they name them). There's also tons more swords from various Congolese and neighboring tribes, like those of the Boa, Zande, Ngbandi, Tikar and Yaka, just to name a few. The Congo has some of the most diverse and unusual swords I've seen.
🤠👍🏿
Well thanks raising issue, Sword in africa is plenty Sudan long history of sword, Somali famous sword since Adal to modern day Siyad mohamud abdulle hassan darwish sword.. are we joking? you name it.
But the original Egyptians WERE dark skinned people.
k
Kylie Fire k
@Somali Kid Somalis (Ancient Puntites) traded with Ancient Egyptians and we had a good relationship with them.
Ayyyyyy
kayz sosa Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
lmao
fellow kings whats goin on
BRUH WHAT ABOUT THE KASKARA SWORD!?!?
He only gave a few examples there are hundreds ptjer types ot would take roo long to cover them.
You can talk about the sword called Kabyle Flissa in your next video
Its a great video but I think your short introduction was completely inappropriate as it was one giant strawman. "One of the biggest misconceptions is that only spears were used...and that history (of Africa) was non-existent to begin with." Seriously...what the hell are you talking about. I literally have never heard either of those statements uttered before. I've heard people say African history isn't worthy of study, but not that "it doesn't exist." Also, the common misnomer is that Africans only ever advanced as far as "sticks n stones," not that ONLY spears were used.
Your video and information is interesting enough already, you don't need to build a strawman for your introduction to be easily dismantled, as its disingenuous. Unless of course your primary audience target are pre-teens. If you're going to be a historian, your thesis is the most important aspect of your work as it lays the groundwork for what follows. If I was your professor, I'd drastically mark you down for your introduction.
A more appropriate (and accurate) introduction would be something like, "If you were to ask most people what they knew about African history and more specifically, African warfare history, do you think most people would be knowledgeable beyond Egyptian history or modern South African apartheid history? Would you be surprised to learn each geographic region within the continent had their own style of fighting and use of weapons; including a range of sword types?"
This intro would still need refinement but its objectively more appropriate and professional sounding than yours as it doesn't rely on fallacies straight out of the gate and is tonally neutral.
Again though, enjoyable video and great information. I sincerely hope this criticism doesn't offend you...otherwise you may want to find a new profession haha.
I have though
@@hiddenhist That's not how "common misconceptions" work.
@@testbug2491 I find it to be a common misconception; I've heard the claim many times over phrased as a question on weapons forums, casual platforms, and so on, and often times the answers provided aren't much better than "they didn't need them", which cedes the premise.
@@hiddenhist I'm skeptical of the validity of that but if you claim so, I'll believe you. Regardless, my bigger issue was your claim that others seem to think African history is "non-existent," rather than "unimportant." Even by the most racist standards, they are aware people lived there, they just don't care about said past. Those are pretty strong differences which I personally see as you misrepresenting.
@@testbug2491 if it's something people frequently say or believe, it is common.
Shotel in dutch means dish lol . Well looks a lot like kopesh or the falx . I always thought if sudan and etc had stayed back in time as per religion so what we see is ancient tech.
Hold up wait a minute, Egyptians are Africans, I mean yes the country is in Africa but to me they look like every other Arab
Mr.peußen the egyptians of today may look like arabs but egyptians of the ancient days Were black,brown africans!
Well look at Asia. Chinese and Indians are both Asians.. But look completely different.
@Zi I mean it would make sense if the consider that some of the first humans on earth were African
@@daveok3193 North Africans are historically different than Black Africans. So it doesn't mean they look Arab.
Loud and wrong racist
On the thumbnail the farthest guy on the right looks mayan
bilaawe ha dheer iyo seefta, golhofta gowracay cadowga. what is it?
They have curved swords...curved swords
Westerners need to take a closer look at Ancient Egypt to see that its foundation is black African. It bothers them so much to acknowledge it. They did such a good job at burying it. Thank God for the Internet.
They bury Egypt being black because it is the one piece of African civilization too destroy; Anything else, they make it their life nission to destroy: Ethiopia.
Check out the historical fantasty audiobook, TIMBUKTU CHRONICLES: AIDA AND THE CHOSEN SOLDIER to learn more about West African swordplay, horseplay, etc during the medieval period. The author seemed to have thoroughly researched his topic.
Some of those swords look decidedly Persian in nature, especially in the eastern regions.
Sure they do
You have a new subscriber bro! 🙂
Congo is cool like halo
What is your Twitter
Nice
This video is going to give me Wet Dreamz
Lol was that a for honor joke
good video.
(Good for throwing ;)))))
No mention of the Ethiopian straight sword?
This video... isn't supposed to talk about every sword.
Great vid
0:20
eyyyy
Excellent video. Keep it up.
thanks!
dude trying to separate Egyptian and african history is dumb and racist and you shouldn't even entertain that idea. The very fact that almost all of africa used circular curved blades or leaf blades should show you the consistency.
Jabari told me my ban is temporary
I know, I made the ban lmao
East African is a big shame for western they don't like to touck mach spacialy about Ethiopian becouse they defited the Roman army and other western too the Etiopian victory called ADWA👍☝️
Where is eastern Africa. I think you did do deep research probably just wanting to throw content at the viewers. Africa's most cultural and highly diverse regions are the ones you did not mention. It takes a real 1 or 2 full hours at least to document about traditional African weaponry. Sorry for that but I honestly think you did not do good work .
You came to the wrong channel then. Nothing about this video was meant to be an indepth introduction to eastern african cultures, and i take issue with yo assertion that eastern africa is uniquely diverse in the continent. This was a broad video that aimed to introduce viewers to a few weapons that I personally liked, so that I could dispell myths held about africa. If you don’t like that I didn’t give your region attention, then all I can say is I’m sorry about that, but you did not come to the right video for that. The video is called “swords from across africa” - not “in depth cultural analysis of eastern africa”.
OK then next time do not write "from across Africa " as your tittle. Honestly , you said that some of your research was hard .this is misleading. I clicked on the video hopping to know . Besides you said towards the end of the video that it was from across " mainland Africa " .
Sorry if I hurt you in any way but I am the kind of person who uses TH-cam as a research platform. So I don't find any reason why you cannot add eastern Africa or perhaps say that you did not add it to the video. This is simply click bait
Ow and for your own knowledge. I am from TH-cam
@@dronszell I'm not going to not call it "swords from across africa".
The video looks at swords from multiple parts of africa. East Africa is not the entirety of the continent, and, depending on who you're asking, ethiopia IS part of east africa. That was definitely the regionalization I had in mind when I used the shotel as a sword in the video.
I think Africa swords look ugly
@Admire Kashiri I know that's why I said I think they are ugly not everyone
@Admire Kashiri just like European style looks better
@@jakefitzsimmons1213 I prefer Korean swords but also Moroccan
@@jakefitzsimmons1213 As this video illustrates "African Swords" are a very broad topic with different designs and function even within the same region. Same could be said with European swords, the only similarities such a diverse group of swords would have is that they were made by Europeans. And if that's why you like it... i doubt you would want me to go there...
@@jakefitzsimmons1213 What are you 5 years old?
Can you comment on the swords found in Sub Saharan Africa in relation to Non Africans that visited there for trade ? I am still not entirely convinced that swords were widely used, more likely they were given as gifts to Chiefs and then later attempts were made to copy them, hence their very limited use in battle and more as a status symbol. The pics that we see, show very crude swords as well.
This idea frankly derives from racist thinking.
Simply put, there is no evidence to support that idea on the scale of an entire continent.
Firstly, i have no idea how one can look at the design of an african blade and call it ‘crude’. They were far from that (have you seen images of shotel, akrafenas, or ida blades?), and were often needlessly complex and intricate in designs (see central african swords). In other words, unlike your comment which mirrors and likely derives from ideas of ‘negros only being capable of crudely recreating other cultures’, we see very intricate designs - not ‘crude attempts at recreation of foreign concepts’.
Secondly, what foreign swords would a blade like an Ngombe sword, for example, be trying to recreate? That idea simply makes no sense, and it makes far more sense that the locals, known to be more than proficient in metallurgy, would’ve developed their own unique blades than it does for the foreigners who made ‘first contact’ to have somehow continuously given different native societies completely different designs from one another (wouldn’t a foreign power give the same sword design or set of sword designs as customary gifts regardless of who was a recipient?). Going a bit farther, 'first contact' travelers often remarked that locals already had swords.
Oz Khan
The next issue is one of generalization. You have generalized the entire continent of africa and every culture on it. It is simply incorrect to say that swords were *not* widely used in combat in sub saharan africa, though it is fair to say they were not used *in some cultures* , and that, as with most regions on earth including Eurasia, the spear and other long-stick weapons were generally favored in Africa for simple reasons of superiority in combat.
But if you were to, say, waltz onto an Ethiopian battlefield, you would be more likely to find Shotel wielding troops.
As for why blades often took on roles of power? Atleast in central africa, certain blade designs were so complex that to use them in battle would be a waste, or impractical. Many such cultures had variations of their complex blades, or different blades altogether meant for combat.
This use of blades as a status symbol is nothing at all unique to africa, and we see it is european traditions aswell.
Oz Khan
In a short conclusion: dont assume that everything in sub saharan africa has to be derived from somewhere else. It’s hyper-diffusionist thinking that frankly derives from racist ideas about the region and her inhabitants. The amount of logical leaps needed to hold up such thinking is ridiculous.
Oz Khan racist much?
You forgot to mention Nigerian swords for Nigeria
I forgot nothing. The point of the video isn't to discuss every sword. Then it would be over an hour long.
HiddenHistory Do you think maybe next time you can if you haven’t done already talk about the other stores including the one from Nigeria which is also featured in the samurai Jack cartoon one samurai Jack was a boy in Africa helping And free and his friends
yes i would like to talk about it at some point
Curved sword is north Congo region, central African Republic, Sudan, Chad. same with throwing knives Congo mostly north, Sudan, Chad, some part of Cameroun, and north Nigeria, and curved knife are also found in Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Chad, Congo north part, nigeria north east and the the throwing knives came from a mix between a boomerang and axe in métal and swords in Central Africa is the same as the curved stick you often see in Sudan but in Congo region the wood become metal the swords in Congo are like a long boomerang and in the south region it was more throwing stick and axe