kaskara
The kaskara is a type of traditional sword, which is characteristic of Sudan, Chad, and Eritrea. The blade of the kaskara was usually about a yard long, double edged and with a spatulate tip. While most surviving examples are from the 19th century, the type is believed to have originated around the early 14th century, and may represent a localized survival of the straight, double-edged medieval Arab sword.
kaskara
Collectie Wereldmuseum (v/h Tropenmuseum), part of the National Museum of World Cultures · Collectie Stichting Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Field
- sword
- Region
- Sudan
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for kaskara. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q972434 · wikipedia · Kaskara
In this article
Overview
Overview
The kaskara was worn horizontally across the back or between the upper arm and thorax. According to British Museum curator Christopher Spring, "in the central and eastern Sudan, from Chad through Darfur and across to the Red Sea province, the straight, double-edged swords known as kaskara were an essential possession of most men." • Illustration — A Sudanese Kaskara Sword with scabbard • Illustration — Kaskara sword and wooden handle, Tropenmuseum, Netherlands.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Sudan
Country
kaskara is associated with Sudan.
Country
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Kaskara”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q972434: kaskara
General reference · Wikidata
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Kaskara, revision 1260313210 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Spring: African arms and armor. 1993, S. 41.
- 2.Hunley: The Social Economics of Small Craft Production. 1984, S. 40.
- 3.Spring: African arms and armor. 1993, S. 41–42.
- 4.Hunley: The Social Economics of Small Craft Production. 1984, S. 12.
- 5.Hunley: The Social Economics of Small Craft Production. 1984, S. 32.
- 6.Hunley: The Social Economics of Small Craft Production. 1984, S. 40–41.
- 7.Spring: African Art in Detail. 2009, S. 106.
- 8.Hunley: The Social Economics of Small Craft Production. 1984, S. 39–41.
- 9.North: Swords of Islam. 1989, S. 142.
- 10.Moore-Morris: Sudanese Weapons of the late 19th Century. 1995.
- 11.Hunley: The Social Economics of Small Craft Production. 1984, S. 39.
- 12.Spring: African arms and armor. 1993, S. 41, 104.
- 13.Spring: African arms and armor. 1993, S. 42.
- 14.Hunley: The Social Economics of Small Craft Production. 1984, S. 36.
- 15.Hunley: The Social Economics of Small Craft Production. 1984, S. 34.
- 16.Hunley: The Social Economics of Small Craft Production. 1984, S. 38.
- 17.Baker: The Nile tributaries of Abyssinia. 1867, S. 169.
- 18.North: Swords of Islam. 1989, S. 139.
- 19.Spring: African arms and armor. 1993, S. 40–42.
- 20.Searcy: The Formation of the Sudanese Mahdist State. 2010, S. 57–58.
- 21.Hunley: The Social Economics of Small Craft Production. 1984, S. 24.
- 22.Hunley: The Social Economics of Small Craft Production. 1984, S. 37.
- 23.Hunley: The Social Economics of Small Craft Production. 1984, S. 7.
- 24.Osman: The sword in East Sudan – Changing from Historic Weapon to Man’s Finery. 2013.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Militaria
6,095 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- KariofiliTerminology
- Karl-GerätTerminology
- kartouweTerminology
- Kashtan CIWSTerminology
- kastaneTerminology
- katanaTerminology
- katarTerminology
- KatyushaTerminology
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own an object connected with kaskara?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.