Tomahawk (axe)

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Tomahawk (axe)

A tomahawk is a type of axe

Axe

The axe, or ax, is an implement that has been used for Millennium to shape, split and cut wood, harvest Lumber, as a weapon and a ceremony or Heraldry symbol....
native to North America, traditionally resembling a hatchet

Hatchet

Hatchet from the French hachette a diminutive form of the word hache, French for axe.The hatchet is a single-handed striking tool with a sharp blade used to cut and split wood....
with a straight shaft. The name came into the English language in the 17th century as a transliteration of the Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia is an United States U.S. state on the East Coast of the United States of the Southern United States. The state is known as the "Old Dominion" and sometimes as "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of Lists of United States Presidents by place of birth#By state....
n Algonquian

Eastern Algonquian languages

The Eastern Algonquian languages constitute a subgroup of the larger Algonquian languages, itself a member of the Algic languages. Prior to European contact, Eastern Algonquian consisted of some seventeen or more languages occupying contiguous territory on the Atlantic coast of North America and adjacent inland areas, from the Canadian Mariti...
word. Tomahawks were general purpose tools used by Native Americans

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples....
and European Colonials alike, and often employed as a hand-to-hand or a thrown weapon, much like the nzappa zap

Nzappa zap

The Nzappa zap is a traditional African weapon similar to an axe or hatchet. It has an ornate wrought-iron blade connected to a club-like wooden handle, often clad in copper, bronze or brass....
. It originally featured a stone head, but later iron or brass heads were used.

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Encyclopedia

A tomahawk is a type of axe

Axe

Hatchet

Virginia

Eastern Algonquian languages

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

Nzappa zap

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British Armed Forces . From the mid-18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early 1940s....
ballistic and used as a trade-item with Native Americans for food and other provisions.

Composition

The tomahawk shaft is usually less than 2 ft (0.6 m) in length, traditionally made of hickory, ash, or maple. The heads are anywhere from 9–20 oz (255–567 g) in weight, with a cutting edge usually not much longer than four inches from toe to heel. The poll can feature a small hammer, spike or simply be rounded off, and they usually do not have lugs. Stone tomahawk heads were typically made of polished soapstone

Soapstone

Soapstone is a metamorphic rock, a talc-schist. It is largely composed of the mineral talc and is rich in magnesium. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occurs at the areas where tectonic plates are subduction, changing rocks by heat and pressure, with influx of fluids, but without melting....
, and ornately carved examples were used in some Native American rituals. These usually had a pipe-bowl carved into the poll, and a hole drilled down the center of the shaft for smoking tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the fresh leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as an organic pesticide, and in the form of nicotine tartrate it is used in some medicines....
through the tomahawk. There are also metal-headed versions of this unusual pipe. Pipe tomahawks are artifacts unique to North America: created by Europeans as trade objects but often exchanged as diplomatic gifts. They are powerful symbols of the choice Europeans and Indians faced whenever they met: one end was the pipe of peace, the other an axe of war.

In Colonial French territory, a very different tomahawk design, closer to the ancient Francisca

Francisca

The francisca is a throwing axe used as a weapon during the Early Middle Ages by the Franks, among whom it was a characteristic national weapon at the time of the Merovingians from about 500 to 750 AD and is known to have been used during the reign of Charlemagne ....
, was in use by French settlers and Indigenous Peoples. In the late 18th Century, the British army issued tomahawks to their Colonial Regulars during the American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , also known as the American War of Independence, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and Thirteen Colonies on the North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers....
as a weapon and tool.

Modern use

Tomahawk throwing

Throwing axe

A throwing axe is an axe that is used primarily as a missile weapon. Usually, they are thrown in an overhand motion in a manner that causes the axe to rotate as it travels through the air....
is a popular sport among American historical re-enactment groups, and new martial arts such as Okichitaw

Okichitaw

Okichitaw is a martial art based on the fighting techniques of the Assiniboine and Plains Cree Indians, intermingled with techniques derived from Judo, Taekwondo, Hapkido, and Taekeukdo....
have begun to revive tomahawk fighting techniques used during the Colonial era. Tomahawks are also a category within competitive knife throwing

Knife throwing

Knife throwing is an art, sport, or variously an entertainment technique, involving an artist skilled in the art of throwing knife, the weapons thrown, and a target....
. Today's hand-forged tomahawks are being made by master craftsmen throughout the United States.