Throwing knife, gbo or ndundo
Ngbandi / Mbanja, D.R. Congo / Central African Republic
Iron, vegetable fiber
Late 19th / early 20th century

This knife type represents the only throwing knife collected from the Ngbandi, who called it gbo or bo. It was also widely collected among the Mbanja, who called it ndundu, dondo, or ondo. This type was also collected among the Ngbaka, Ngombe, and Banda, though in much smaller numbers. As this type seems to be a protoform of other Mbanja types, it seems reasonable to agree with Westerdijk's conclusion that this type originated from the Ngbandi and came to be adopted by the Mbanja.

Throwing knives were carried by the Ngbandi as long ago as 1700, at the time of their second and final migration out of their former homeland in what is now the Central African Republic, into their present habitat around the Abumombazi District in northern D.R. Congo. However this type had already lost its purpose/function as a weapon well before the beginning of the colonial era, when they were primarily used as emblems of wealth and authority. Indeed, the composition of the handle demonstrates that this knife was never meant to be seriously used, and especially not thrown (Westerdijk, The African Throwing Knife, 1988).

18.25 in :: 46.5 cm

InventoryID #13-1569

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