West African pre-colonial equestrianism

 Salvete Omnes,

a short summer entry - as Niger is in the news and Sahel could be engulfed in a new war, apart from the Tuareg and Arab Islamic groups and bands already in vicious battles with their Hausa, Fulani etc neighbors and tribal groups of Sahel black Africa. 

I finally got a copy of a book by Robin Law - The Horse in West African History. I have started reading it slowly, every page containing some interesting material and quoted primary sources. So this will be a journey into the African equestrian & pre-colonial history. 

Meantime a little entry on the Dongola Horse - or the horse of ancient Nubia and Sudan.

enjoy 

Valete

Kingdom of Benin horse and warrior

Salvete Omnes,

I do not know much about the ancient and pre-colonial sub-Saharan African cultures, especially when comes to horse and horse warriors. 

From the Wiki Commons repository of various museums collections I selected various photos of the so called Benin bronzes, collection of artworks created in the pre-colonial Kingdom of Benin, abolished by old good British guns and bayonets at the end of the XIX century.

Hence the Benin bronzes warriors represent in  the martial art of the Edo people of present day southern Nigeria, from the XV century though XVII century etc :

I wonder what horses they used - some sort of mixes of horses from the North Africa, Sahel, like Dongola and Barb, and the more central African breeds like  Poney Mousseye and Old Nigerian Pony? 

Nota bene immortal Angus McBride painted Benin people and their Oba (kings) in his illustrations.  

Valete