was of greater significance as magical
than as practical protection. In fact,
magical powers were attributed to most
West African weapons and defenses.
Even without metallurgy, other groups
produced lethal clubs, staves, and spears
with stone points. African societies,
some of them small states with standing
armies, were militarily formidable even
without the trappings of their European
and Middle Eastern contemporaries.
Among the armed combat systems
that developed were the ones that were
used by the Zulu peoples of South
Africa. The Zulu were proficient in
combat with club, spear, and shield. Be-
cause they lacked body armor, the shield
became the protective device used by the
Zulu warriors. They initiated combat by
either throwing a spear at the opponent
or using it for a charge. When spear
combat became impractical because of
the range, the club was used for close-
quarters combat. The club-and-shield combination could be used in ways
similar to the sword-and-shield combination of warriors in Europe.
This type of fighting gave the Zulu an advantage in combat, as they
had all of their ranges covered. The spear could either be used as a pole-arm
weapon that allowed the warrior to fight from a distance or as a short-
range stabbing weapon. In fact, Shaka Zulu revolutionized indigenous war-
fare by the use of massed formations and of the assagai(a stabbing spear
with a shortened shaft) in conjunction with a redesigned shield. Modern use
of the spear in traditional Zulu ceremonies has demonstrated that they con-
tinue to be able to use the spear in conjunction with the shield effectively. If
the spear was lost, then clubs were used for effective close-range combat.
Perhaps no weapon signifies African martial arts more than the
throwing iron. These instruments had many names from the different peo-
ples that used them. They have been known as mongwangaand hunga-
munga.Many cultures have developed throwing weapons, from sticks to
the famous shurikenof the Japanese Ninja. Similarly, many African soci-
eties placed a premium on these types of weapons. The throwing irons were
multibladed instruments that, when thrown, would land with one of the
blade points impaling its target. These weapons were reported effective at2 Africa and African America
A picture of a Zulu
warrior holding a
large shield and a
short spear (assagai)
characteristic of their
armed combat
system. This
illustration appeared
in a British publica-
tion during the war
between British
settlers and the native
population in Africa,
- (Corbis)