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SONGYE SLAVER’S AXE - The History Gift Store
SONGYE SLAVER’S AXE - The History Gift Store
SONGYE SLAVER’S AXE - The History Gift Store
SONGYE SLAVER’S AXE - The History Gift Store
SONGYE SLAVER’S AXE - The History Gift Store
SONGYE SLAVER’S AXE - The History Gift Store
SONGYE SLAVER’S AXE - The History Gift Store
SONGYE SLAVER’S AXE - The History Gift Store

SONGYE SLAVER’S AXE

$365.00
Second half of the 19th century. 15 3/4" length. Dark wood haft with flared butt (old chips) and expanded socket with four incised circles each side.  5 1/4" iron blade with crescent form bit and hammer raised edges. Decorated with chisel raised crescents. The Songye were slavers and raiders who brought ivory, rubber and slaves to market. As well, they were cannibals who, like Fijians, preferred human flesh to animal. Their elite Zappo Zap were mercenaries in the employ of the Congo Free State and various others. They were cannibals who “hunted humans for food even when other game was available”, tattooed their faces and filed their teeth to points. In 1899, they were commissioned to collect taxes (booty) from villagers, many of whom were massacred and eaten. Slavery for the Arab market continued well into the 20th century and the Songye were primary suppliers.
Item ID: B4621
Left Ethnographic

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SONGYE SLAVER’S AXE

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