Assegai

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Assegai

An assegai or assagai (originally Berber

Berber languages

The Berber languages are a group of closely related languages spoken in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, as well as by Berber people communities in parts of Niger and Mali....
zagaya "spear", from Old French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
azagaie Old Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
azagaya < Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages languages such as Hebrew language and Aramaic language....
az-zagayah) is a pole weapon

Pole weapon

A pole weapon or polearm is a close combat weapon in which the main fighting part of the weapon is placed on the end of a long shaft, typically of wood, thereby extending the user's effective range....
used for throwing or hurling, usually a light spear

Spear

A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a sharpened head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be of another material fastened to the shaft, such as obsidian, iron or bronze....
or javelin

Javelin

A Javelin is a throw weapon, used more commonly in the modern athletics discipline: Javelin throw.Javelin may also refer to:* Javelin , a DC Comics supervillain...
made of wood

Wood

Wood is an organic material; in the strict sense wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs, etc....
and pointed with iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a Group 8 element and period 4 element. Iron is lustrous and silvery in color....
.

assegai was probably exported to the Iberian peninsula

Iberian Peninsula

The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes modern-day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar and a very small area of France....
from Berber Africa although it resembled the ancient Iberians

Iberians

The Iberians were a set of peoples that Ancient Greece and ancient Rome sources identified with that name in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula at least from the 6th century BC....
' falarica

Falarica

Falarica, also Phalarica was an ancient Iberians ranged weapon pole weapon which were sometime used as an incendiary weapon....
.

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Encyclopedia

An assegai or assagai (originally Berber

Berber languages

French language

Spanish language

Arabic language

Arabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages languages such as Hebrew language and Aramaic language....
az-zagayah) is a pole weapon

Pole weapon

Spear

Javelin

A Javelin is a throw weapon, used more commonly in the modern athletics discipline: Javelin throw.Javelin may also refer to:* Javelin , a DC Comics supervillain...
made of wood

Wood

Wood is an organic material; in the strict sense wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs, etc....
and pointed with iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a Group 8 element and period 4 element. Iron is lustrous and silvery in color....
.

Europe

The assegai was probably exported to the Iberian peninsula

Iberian Peninsula

Iberians

Falarica

Falarica, also Phalarica was an ancient Iberians ranged weapon pole weapon which were sometime used as an incendiary weapon....
. The assegai became popular among the Christian warriors of the Reconquista

Reconquista

The Reconquista was a period of 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula succeeded in retaking the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims....
and was used extensively throughout the High Middle Ages

High Middle Ages

The High Middle Ages was the periodization of history of Europe in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries . The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which by convention end around 1500....
. The 14th century Catalan

Catalan people

The Catalans are the people from Catalonia, an Autonomous Community of Spain, including people originating in that region but living elsewhere. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France ? known in Catalonia proper as Catalunya Nord , and in France as the Pays Catalan ? are often included in this definition....
Christian foot mercenaries called the Almogàvers

Almogavars

File:Almogavers-catalans.jpgThe Almogavars were a class of soldiers from the Crown of Aragon, well-known during the Christian reconquista of the Iberian peninsula....
wielded this weapon to great effect throughout southern Europe

Southern Europe

The term Southern Europe, at its most general definition, is used to mean 'all countries in the south of Europe'. However, the concept, at different times, has had different meanings, providing additional Policy, Linguistics and Culture context to the definition in addition to the typical Geography, Phytogeography or Clime approach....
and the Levant.

Africa

The use of various types of the assegai was spread all over Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
and it was the most common weapon there. The Zulu

Zulu

The Zulu are the largest South African ethnic group of an estimated 10-11 million people who live mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa....
and other Nguni

Nguni

Nguni languages are mostly spoken by Nguni people, which are group of clans and nations living in south-east Africa.The languages are a group of Bantu languages spoken in southern Africa including Zulu language, Xhosa language, Swati language, amaHlubi,Phuthi language and Ndebele language ....
tribes of South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
were renowned for their use of the assegai. Shaka

Shaka

Shaka was the most influential leader of the Zulu Empire.He is widely credited with uniting many of the Northern Nguni people, specifically the Mthethwa Paramountcy and the Ndwandwe into the Zulu kingdom, the beginnings of a nation that held sway over the large portion of southern Africa between the Phongolo River and Mzimkhulu River river...
of the Zulu invented a shorter-style assegai which had a larger, broader blade. This weapon was known as the iklwa
Iklwa

The "iKlwa" is a short Zulu thrusting weapon, so called because of the sucking sound it made as it was withdrawn from the body.Shaka of the Zulu invented a shorter-style assegai which had a larger, broader blade....
or ixwa – for the sound that was heard as it was withdrawn from the victim's wound – and was used as a stabbing weapon during mêlée attacks

Mêlée

Melee generally refers to disorganized close combat involving a group of fighters. A melee ensues when groups become locked together in combat with no regard to group tactics or fighting as an organized unit; each participant fights as an individual....
. The traditional assegai was not discarded but was used for a softening range attack

Ranged weapon

A ranged weapon or missile weapon is any weapon that launches a projectile or that is a projectile itself. In contrast, a weapon intended to be used in man-to-man combat is called a melee weapon....
on enemy formations before closing in for close quarters battle

Close quarters battle

Close Quarters Battallion or close quarters combat is a type of fighting in which small units engage the enemy with personal weapons at very short range, potentially to the point of hand-to-hand combat....
with the iklwa. This tactical combination originated during Shaka's military reforms

Shaka

Pilum

The pilum was a heavy javelin commonly used by the Military history of ancient Rome#Roman army in ancient times. It was generally about two meters long overall, consisting of an iron shank about 7 mm in diameter and 60 cm long with pyramidal head....
and gladius

Gladius

Gladius is a Latin word for sword. Early Ancient Rome swords were similar to those used by the Greeks. From the 3rd century BC, the Romans adopted swords similar to those used by the Celtiberians and others during the early part of the conquest of Hispania....
.

Botany

It is also the name of a southern African tree (Curtisia dentata

Curtisia

Curtisia dentata, commonly known as Cape Lancewood or Assegai , is a flowering plant from southern Africa. It is the sole species in genus Curtisia, which was originally included among the Cornaceae, but is now placed in its own family Curtisiaceae....
) whose wood was suitable for making spears or lances, most notably by the Bantu peoples of southern Africa.

Assegai

Europe

Africa

Botany

See also