Battle Axe
Tlokoa, Botswana/Lesotho/South Africa
Forged iron, wood, leather
19th century

The Tlokoa, also known as the Manatee, we constituted of the numerous 'hordes' of displaced peoples that resulted from the Nguni invasions of the 1820s. Describing a battle in 1823 between the Tlokoa (armed with battle axes) and a Western missionary group (armed with firearms), the missionary Robert Moffat wrote, "their weapons were spears or assegais, battle axes and clubs; and many of them had a weapon of a very peculiar construction, being an iron blade of circular shape, with a cutting sabre edge, fastened on a stick" (Spring, African Arms and Armor, 1993).

Published: 100 African Blades, no. 60 (Rider, 2021). 

24.5 in :: 62 cm

InventoryID #13-960

SOLD