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 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
 WorldCat |
| Title: | Yoruba Armament |
| Author: | Smith, Robert S. |
| Year: | 1967 |
| Periodical: | The Journal of African History |
| Volume: | 8 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Pages: | 87-106 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Nigeria |
| Subjects: | traditional weapons Yoruba Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) History and Exploration |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/180053 |
| Abstract: | This study of Yoruba weapons is relevant to different aspects of Yoruba history, mainly military and political but also economic and even cultural. The article concerns those weapons which were in use before, as well as after, the general introduction of firearms into Yorubaland (which took place only between about 1820 and 1850). Oral and written tradition provides the background for the surviving weapons. Many of these weapons, or their ceremonial or symbolic counterparts, are preserved for ritual reasons by chiefs and societies. The evolution of the several weapons of the Yoruba was affected by the strategy and tactcs of their warfare, the nature of the countryside (savanna and forest), the materials available and imported prototypes. Most military equipment was of local manufacture, though European North African and northern Nigerian influence can be detected. Notes; figures. |
