Item:
ON9896

Original North African Taureg Takoba Broadsword with Leather Scabbard circa 1880

Item Description

Original Item: One Only. This dates from 1850-1880 and is a North African Broadsword from the Tuareg people of the BERBER CLANS. A people who go back to just after the time of Christ, they are/were a nomadic a nomadic people, and generally avoid outside contact. Their great Queen ruled a vast North African Empire around 500 A.D.

The first encounters with Europeans were in the Crusader's time around 1100-1300 AD, and the early European Knightly Swords became the "model" for the Tuareg's own Broad Sword known as a TAKOBA. The French Colonized much of the North African Sahara in the 19th Century but the Tuareg people were not easily subugated and rebelled in 1881 destroying an entire French Expeditionary Force. The war continued up until 1905 when peace was finally established.

This Broad Sword from the 1880 period has a Tuareg made broad straight blade with straight cross guard covered in brass sheeting. The grip and pommel are similarly covered in the same brass and bears some engraved decoration.

The Leather Scabbard retains two leather strap sword hangers and there is a brass "shoe" mount to the bottom through which the scabbard's wood lining is now visible.

An interesting French Colonial Broadsword from the TUAREG Arabs of North Africa, fully cleaned and ready to display.

More about the Takoba Broadsword

Takoba (also takuba or takouba) is the sword that is used across the western Sahel and among ethnic groups such as the Tuareg, the Hausa, and the Fulani. It usually measures about one meter in length. Takoba blades are straight and double edged with a pronounced tapering towards the tip; they can exhibit several notable features, including three or more hand-ground fuller grooves and a rounded point.

Since the Tuareg have an aversion to touching iron, the takoba's hilt, like many iron implements, is fully covered. Typically the simple but deep crossguard is of iron sheet, or iron-framed wood, covered in tooled leather, and occasionally sheathed in brass or silver; the grip is also often leather-covered but the pommel is always of metal, often brass or copper, sometimes iron or silver. Alternatively the whole hilt can be covered in brass or silver sheathing. The scabbard is made of elaborately tooled leather. Geographical variations in the form of the hilt have been noted, but no rigorous typology has been established. Variations in the quality of blade and fittings on takobas probably mostly reflect the wealth of their owners.

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