Sudanese Mahdist weapons

LJ · 28th January 2019, 09:22 PM

The drum is in now the British Museum. It always reminds me of Azande slit gongs rather than anything typical of northern Sudan, but was it made in Omdurman by an Azande carver or carried north from Azandeland ?

Don't know about the elephant tusk though. Are you supposed to hit people with it ??

drac2k · 28th January 2019, 09:41 PM

The grouping seems somewhat strange to me; the shield looks Ethiopian and the armor on the top right (I'm 99.5% sure), is Japanese.

roanoa · 29th January 2019, 02:33 AM

The shield is 100% Abyssinian, which is not surprising. Here is an almost identical one kept in an English museum (forgot which one). If it were not for some minor differences, one could think that it is the same one....

Jim McDougall · 29th January 2019, 02:48 AM

After Omdurman, as seen in this article, the contents of the Caliph's armoury there were pretty astounding. I don't have the references at hand, but there were as noted, 'collected' items which were from various sources, more like curiosities. These were not intended for use by the forces of the Caliph necessarily, though obviously they are comingled with stores that were.

There were indeed artisans from various other tribal people in these areas in and around Omdurman, and numbers of weapons were crafted in the styles of their indiginous regions. It seems like it was quite a 'melting pot' of these groups. A considerable amount of supply from Khartoum included tons of scrap metal, machinery and it is unclear how many European and other workers remained after Khartoum was sacked, a good number of Greeks had been there.

The elephant tusk was simply a trophy probably, armouries like this were basically the 'collections' of powerful figures such as in this case, the Caliph.
These events and times were pretty fascinating, and I guess my obsession goes back to watching the Charleton Heston movie "Khartoum" MANY MANY yares ago!

drac2k · 29th January 2019, 05:09 AM

And what is the connection in regards to the Japanese armor?

Iain · 29th January 2019, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drac2k

The grouping seems somewhat strange to me; the shield looks Ethiopian and the armor on the top right (I'm 99.5% sure), is Japanese.

Agreed, the armour does not appear to be the iron cuirass type known from Bornu.

29th January 2019, 02:33 AM	#3
roanoa Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 230	The shield is 100% Abyssinian, which is not surprising. Here is an almost identical one kept in an English museum (forgot which one). If it were not for some minor differences, one could think that it is the same one.... Attached Images

28th January 2019, 09:22 PM	#1
LJ Member Join Date: Mar 2014 Posts: 93	The drum is in now the British Museum. It always reminds me of Azande slit gongs rather than anything typical of northern Sudan, but was it made in Omdurman by an Azande carver or carried north from Azandeland ? Don't know about the elephant tusk though. Are you supposed to hit people with it ??

28th January 2019, 09:41 PM	#2
drac2k Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 1,187	The grouping seems somewhat strange to me; the shield looks Ethiopian and the armor on the top right (I'm 99.5% sure), is Japanese.

29th January 2019, 02:48 AM	#4
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 9,785	After Omdurman, as seen in this article, the contents of the Caliph's armoury there were pretty astounding. I don't have the references at hand, but there were as noted, 'collected' items which were from various sources, more like curiosities. These were not intended for use by the forces of the Caliph necessarily, though obviously they are comingled with stores that were. There were indeed artisans from various other tribal people in these areas in and around Omdurman, and numbers of weapons were crafted in the styles of their indiginous regions. It seems like it was quite a 'melting pot' of these groups. A considerable amount of supply from Khartoum included tons of scrap metal, machinery and it is unclear how many European and other workers remained after Khartoum was sacked, a good number of Greeks had been there. The elephant tusk was simply a trophy probably, armouries like this were basically the 'collections' of powerful figures such as in this case, the Caliph. These events and times were pretty fascinating, and I guess my obsession goes back to watching the Charleton Heston movie "Khartoum" MANY MANY yares ago!

29th January 2019, 05:09 AM	#5
drac2k Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 1,187	And what is the connection in regards to the Japanese armor?