NigeriaTakouba from Nigeria, Africa. Collector not known. Purchased by the Museum from Stevens Auction Rooms in 1936.

This straight, cross-hilted sword was used with a lance on horseback. This example has been recorded as coming from the Hausa people of northern Nigeria but they acquired the form from the journeying Tuareg people of the Sahara during the last 500 years.

In pre-colonial times, weapons denoted particular classes of the Tuareg social hierarchy. Only the Ihaggaren, the aristocratic class, were permitted to wear shields and swords like the takouba.

The different features of the takouba are named after parts of the human body. The conical brass button on the pommel is known as the 'bare head'; the narrow grip of the hilt is the 'spine'; the small guard, the 'shoulders' and the flat of the blade, the 'back'. The double cutting edge is known as 'that which devours' (i.e. the mouth), and the tip is refereed to as the 'tongue'.