Ngulu (weapon)

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Simple ngulu decorated with elongated grooves on the blade and nail heads on the handle
Popular scene in the European press in the late 19th century. Here from Henry Morton Stanley's book The Congo and the founding of its free state (1885).

The Ngulu is a traditional knife of various ethnic groups from the northwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo , but which is mainly attributed to the Ngombe people . It is counted among the Central African sickle weapons . The forged iron blade has the characteristic shape of a sickle with an external cutting edge, which is worked out in many different versions in single or double versions. The Ngulu could be used as a cutting weapon , but was often used as a status symbol for dignitaries and chiefs. It was best known as an execution knife for human victims .

Designations

A variety of local names exist e.g. B. ngolo , ngwolo , m'boko , gulu or bango . Most of the ngulus are attributed to the ngombe, which is why their name ngulu is also commonly used in the Bantu language they speak . They are known among collectors as sickle , execution or execution knives.

description

The ngulus come in two main forms. The simple ngulu is in the shape of a sickle. The double ngulu ends in two opposite sickles. The cutting edge is always on the outside of the sickle; the point of the outer curve furthest from the central axis developed the greatest splitting cutting effect as the focal point. The total length is about 50 to 70 cm. The blades are made of iron and have various shapes. They can be decorated with different engravings. The typical Ngulu of the Ngombe has two lens-shaped thickenings at the end of the handle, but otherwise there is also a great variety of handles. Usually the handle is wrapped in leather , fiber or copper wire.

Simply ngulu
Double ngulu

Traditionally made ngulus are made of forged iron from local minerals. After the arrival of the Europeans, imported iron was used in bars, later also iron plates, which were cut to the correct shape.

Many of the simple ngulus have indentations or prongs on the non-cutting side, the purpose of which is not clear. They can be purely aesthetic or they can fulfill a function. The first point is sometimes used as a break point for the handle wrap so that it doesn't slip off easily. This type of winding can be recognized from some old ngulus. The second indentation could provide a better hold on the shoulder of the wearer. With some throwing irons z. B. the Mafa , a laying on the shoulder is also reported as a way of carrying.

There are many interpretations for the shape of the double sickle knife, but these should be viewed with reservations. These range from people with arms raised above their heads, scorpions or even the female gender . In fact, there are anthropomorphically designed double ngulus, but these are relatively young and therefore probably commissioned works for the Europeans.

Origin and relationship

Throwing iron from the Lake Chad region is considered a possible relative

For Ngulu, which occurs mainly in the north-western Congo, there are several speculations about the origin or development and relationships to weapons from other areas.

Weapons with simple sickle shapes are known from ancient Palestine and Egypt as Chepesh . There are great similarities to the African throwing irons from the Lake Chad region . Christopher Spring sees more in common with the Mugusu , a hip of the Lega and various other peoples from Uganda . Such tools could have migrated up the Lualaba , headwaters of the Congo River, via the trade routes and thus reached the Congo and thus the Ngombe.

There is no historical equivalent for the double form. Christian Gosseau sees two theories. It is possible that the double sickle shape developed from the single sickle shape. It is more obvious, however, that the forerunner of the double form was a broad, paddle-shaped blade, the side tips of which were lengthened over time in a crescent shape.

function

weapon

Drawing by the eyewitness Edward James Glave , which served as a template for various illustrations
The European illustrations weren't exactly realistic. Here the artist puts together different weapons: double ngulu from the northwest, swords from the south and spears from the northeast of the Congo.

The single ngulus were also used as a combat weapon until the 19th century. The double form, on the other hand, seems to be less functional and is probably intended more for parade purposes than for combat.

The ngulus are by far best known for their function as weapons of execution. In the middle of the 19th century, the Europeans conquered the inaccessible Congo territory and created the Congo Free State in 1886 . This is how Central African weapons came to European museums. The contemporary reception saw primitive barbarians in the inhabitants of the Congo area. The press was full of stories of her supposed ferocity. Corresponding illustrations, which showed beheadings with Ngulus, but were not necessarily the truth, were circulated.

Some of the few eyewitnesses who recorded their observations are Camille-Aimé Coquilhat , Alphonso van Gèle, and Edward James Glave . These Europeans ran stations on behalf of the Congo Free State. Coquilhat described an execution in Mbandaka in 1883, Glave one in Lukolela in 1885. Glave made a drawing of it on site; this reached Europe and became the template for various illustrations in books and newspapers. In his book from 1892 he does not describe the weapon in detail. Interestingly, the execution weapon looks different in the book's illustration than in its earlier drawing.

Among the ethnic groups subsumed as Bangala between the Congo and Ubangi rivers , ritual human sacrifices were quite common. When a chief died, some of his slaves were chosen as human sacrifices to follow their master into the afterlife .

Edward James Glave described the execution as an eyewitness: the victim was placed on a block of wood, legs stretched forward. Various wooden pegs were carved into the ground around the victim so that the torso , arms, knees and ankles could be tied to them with ropes. A flexible tree branch was bent over the victim like a fishing rod . Several ropes with a bamboo ring were attached to the top. The bamboo ring was fastened around the victim's neck, the tensioned tree branch now constantly pulled on the victim's head. The executioner severed the head from the torso with one blow from the Ngulu. The head was thrown into the air by the strained branch; the bystanders tried to snatch it as a trophy . In a shorter but similar description of the execution, Christian Gosseau quotes the Belgian Léon Hanolet , who was also head of a station on behalf of the Congo Free State, and confirms this type of beheading.

After the prohibition of human sacrifice, the slave of the Ngombe was replaced by a goat, and the use of weapons in war is still simulated in ritual dances.

Other functions

While the ngulus were used as a weapon, that was probably not their main purpose. Christopher Spring believes there was no clear "expediency" for the Ngulus; H. neither as a weapon nor as a tool. Marc Leopold Felix sees marks of authority as the most important purpose. Rather, they were objects of prestige for dignitaries and chiefs.

When Belgium, the colonial power in the Congo , banned wars and human sacrifice, this diminished the importance of the ngulus as a weapon. While in the nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries the ngulus were mainly worn by warriors, they are later also found in the hands of women during dances and rituals. The Mongo are known to be used by healers. In addition, z. B. known to the Ngabaka their importance in initiation rites .

Because of their high value, the ngulus were valuable goods as objects of exchange or primitive money or as dowries . Even for Europeans, they were coveted collectibles from an early age. It is likely that some of the ngulus produced after the turn of the century, especially by the Kundu, were created under the influence of the colonial rulers.

to form

Spread of sickle weapons, Ngulu: Group 3, after Jan Elsen

Christian Gosseau divides the Ngulus into different groups. However, he points out that these are not exactly delimited and that there are ngulus in transitional forms:

Group I.
Made by the Ngombe and Dokoa who took care of their neighbors. Characteristic are pronounced indentations, single and double ngulus are decorated with engravings of deep grooves. The purpose as a weapon of war or execution gradually shifted to parade and dance weapons.
Group II
Also made by the Ngombe and Doko. Rounded knobs on the non-cutting side of the single ngulus are characteristic. In general, they are not sharpened and are more clearly classified as parade and dance paraphernalia.
Group III
Made by the Lobala , Mbaka and Bondjo . Characteristic are less pronounced indentations in the single Ngulus and no deep grooves in both Ngulu types.
Group IV
Manufactured by the Lia . It is characterized by a small sickle and a curved overall shape. Only single ngulus are known.
Group v
Made by the Ntomba , Mpama and Sengele on Lake Mai Ndombe and Batéké further south. Small sickles are characteristic of the double ngulus. Only double ngulus are known.
Group VI
Made by the Nkundu and Konda north of Mai Ndombe Lake. The very artistic double ngulus are characteristic.
Group VII
In this group, Gosseau combines objects that are either atypical and do not fit into the previous groups or come from distant areas. These are, for example, rare ngulus of the ngombe, which lack the typical curved shape, or related objects that are ascribed to the azande or bassonge , for example.

literature

  • Christian Gosseau: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.2 - Execution Knives and Allied Shapes. Tribal Arms, Brussels 1997, ISBN 2-930169-01-X .
  • Christian Gosseau: Ngulu, le couteau d'exécution. In: Jan Elsen (Ed.): Beauté fatale. Armes d'Afrique centrale. Crédit Communal, Brussels 1992, pp. 122-133 (exhibition catalog).
  • Christopher Spring : African arms and armor. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC 1993, ISBN 1-56098-317-5 ( ISBN 0-7141-2508-3 , British Museum Press).
  • Edward James Glave : In savage africa. RH Russell & Son, New York 1892, pp. 122-125 ( online ).
  • Henry Morton Stanley : The Congo and the founding of its free state. Volume 2, Harper & Brothers, New York 1885, pp. 180-182 ( online ).
  • Camille-Aimé Coquilhat : Sur le Haut-Congo. J. Lebegue et Cie, Paris 1888, pp. 168-174 ( online ).

Web links

Commons : Ngulu (weapon)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gosseau: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.2. 1997, pp. 5, 11, 47.
  2. ↑ a b Gosseau: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.2. 1997, p. 11.
  3. ↑ a b c Gosseau: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.2. 1997, p. 23.
  4. ↑ a b c Gosseau: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.2. 1997, p. 21.
  5. ↑ Gosseau: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.2. 1997, p. 25.
  6. ↑ Gosseau: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.2. 1997, pp. 11, 41.
  7. ↑ a b c d Gosseau: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.2. 1997, p. 13.
  8. ↑ Christopher Spring: Swords and hilt weapons. 1989, ISBN 1566192498 , p. 216.
  9. ↑ Gosseau: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.2. 1997, pp. 15-16.
  10. ↑ a b Spring: African arms and armor. 1993, p. 85.
  11. ↑ a b Gosseau: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.2. 1997, p. 27.
  12. ↑ Gosseau: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.2. 1997, p. 5.
  13. ↑ Spring: African arms and armor. 1993, pp. 84-85.
  14. ^ Coquilhat: Sur le Haut-Congo. 1888, pp. 168-174.
  15. ↑ a b c Glave: In savage africa. 1892, pp. 122-125.
  16. ↑ About the drawing by Edward James Glave. Royal Museum for Central Africa . Retrieved November 8, 2014.
  17. ↑ a b Gosseau: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.2. 1997, p. 29.
  18. ↑ a b Gosseau: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.2. 1997, p. 39.
  19. ↑ Marc Leopold Felix : Kipinga. Throwing Blades of Central Africa. Galerie Fred Jahn, Munich 1991, pp. 200–201.
  20. ↑ Gosseau: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.2. 1997, pp. 21, 45.
  21. ↑ Gosseau: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.2. 1997, p. 41.
  22. ↑ a b c Gosseau: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.2. 1997, p. 45.
  23. ↑ Gosseau: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.2. 1997, pp. 21, 27.
  24. ↑ Gosseau: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.2. 1997, pp. 11, 13.
  25. ↑ Gosseau: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.2. 1997, p. 15.
  26. ↑ Gosseau: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.2. 1997, pp. 21, 25, 27.
  27. ↑ Gosseau: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.2. 1997, p. 53.
  28. ↑ Gosseau: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.2. 1997, p. 59.
  29. ↑ Gosseau: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.2. 1997, pp. 15, 63-69.
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on December 17, 2014 .