29 - African Ritual Violence: Close Combat in Western Africa and the Diaspora

Summary

Ritual violence in the form of regulated types of close combat had been widespread in western Africa, even on the battlefield. The arrival of Europeans along the coast and an invading Moroccan army equipped with firearms in the sixteenth century challenged more ritualised approaches to combat in many areas of western Africa. In the savannah regions however, ritualised close combat in the form of martial contests remained important as military training that continued to be effective on the battlefield. In western Sudan, competitions of wrestling, equestrian acrobatics and fencing prepared elite males for battlefield combat, which was dominated by cavalry heroics. In the savannah regions of Angola, fighters performed danced combats to pay tribute to rulers, to develop combat skills crucial for the battlefield and to exercise their king’s leopard-like power over life and death on the battlefield. Elements of these ritual violence traditions were carried to the Americas where enslaved Africans and their descendants armed themselves with these practices even under slavery.