Blacksmithing

According to recent archaeological findings, the people of Tropical Africa learned to smelt iron not later than the Hittites in the Near East – in the 15th – 14th centuries BC, and by the 6th century BC this technology was already widely spread. The land itself favored this: the red laterite soil would sometimes contain so much iron that it could be extracted by simply lighting a huge fire and forging the agglomerated mass. Metallurgy developed with such impetus that in some regions of East Africa all of the forests were cut down for firewood and were replaced by savannas. Having mastered the secret of extraction and processing of iron, the Bantu farmers swiftly populated almost all of East and South Africa pushing off the Khoi-Khoi cattlemen, the Bushmen and the Pygmy hunters.

The blacksmith is something special. With some ethnic groups, his position in society is high, he leads the initiation – the ritual of the adulthood, and the blacksmiths are considered founders of kings’ dynasties. With other ethnic groups the blacksmiths are looked down upon as a lower caste, and a nobleman can’t even share food with them. With the Fulbe people, anyone can make whatever kind of fun of the blacksmiths, but God forbid from harming them! A Fulbe man cannot marry a blacksmith’s daughter, either: his relatives would turn away from him, and children born of such marriage would never be happy. It has been like this for a long time.

Everywhere, they are afraid of the blacksmith, for he dominates fire and metal, and if he can command these forces, he is sure to be aided by powerful spirits.

Blacksmith. Mali. The Bamana. E. den Otter. 2004		Blacksmith. Mali. The Bamana. E. den Otter. 2004		Blacksmith Weleka. The Falasha Gervers M., 2004