African knights - African armour collection thread

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

This is an astonishing picture displaying the Woven Armour of African cavalry Please see http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bullet-Proof.../dp/B004LS2ZGE where the actual newspaper report can be magnified on Ancient quilted armour...

[nKante]

If you google Benin warrior you will get hundreds of medieval bronzes depicting warriors in all sorts of body armor.

[nKante]

these are some of the re-creations I did.

[LinusLinothorax]

Originally Posted by Ibrahiim al Balooshi

This is an astonishing picture displaying the Woven Armour of African cavalry Please see http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bullet-Proof.../dp/B004LS2ZGE where the actual newspaper report can be magnified on Ancient quilted armour...

Wow, great picture! Didnt knew that even the Beja people (Which are assumed to be the sucessors of the Blemmyes by the way) wore quilted armour for men and horse. Thanks for that rare photo. Personaly, i would be interested to know if quilted horsearmour was already in use in Christian Sudanese times, or maybe even in ancient times. Concerning that i can offer some grafittos, but the dating is not entirely certain (The author says "Medieval era", but he dont explains why he assumes that. Armoured horses are not known in Christian Nuiban iconographies).

Originally Posted by CharlesS

These mounted warriors from Kanem Bornu have always fascinated me. The Kingdom of Kanem Bornu is one of the few times in history two separate kingdoms (Kanem and Bornu) put aside their differences to unite for a cause, in this case desert raiders harassing both kingdoms. These mounted warriors essentially saved the two kingdoms from extinction.

If i remember right the two kingdoms dont melted voluntary, but Bornu was conquered by Kanem in the early medieval ages, while later the political center shifted from Kanem to Bornu.

Originally Posted by CharlesS

These are some photos and drawings of such mounted warriors. The color photo shows how they are celebrated today.

Keep in mind though that your second picture shows a knight of the kingdom of Baguirmi, not Kanem-Bornu. Baguirmi was a smaller kingdom south of Kanem-Bornu, which often was subdued to either Kanem-Bornu or Wadai, the other central Sudanese kingdom of major importance. See my other two paintings of Baguirmi knights.

Your second picture also dont shows Kanuri/Kanembu warriors, but rather Hausa ones, depicted in ceremonial armour on one of the traditional Hausa fastivals (You can scan Google for "Durbar/Hausa-festival" for many great photos).