2020/09/17 by Edward A. Alpers · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #African history and culture studies #Ancient history #Art #Cannibalism #Colonialism, slavery, and trade #Ecology #Ethnology #Geography #Global Maritime and Colonial Histories #History #Perspective (graphical) #Political science #Portuguese
paper · doi:10.1163/24680966-bja10001
published in Journal of African Military History 5(1), 1-30 (Brill)
openalex publication_date 2020/09/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Abstract Studies of precolonial African warfare are still relatively scarce and northern Mozambique is no exception. This paper examines more than three centuries of African warfare among the Makua of Macuana. It emphasizes continuities in strategy and tactics, while at the same time paying attention to innovations in weaponry, above all the adoption and effective utilization of firearms. Based on a critical assessment of both primary and secondary sources, it analyzes Portuguese claims of cannibalism among the Makua in the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, and the development of a “gun culture” from the late eighteenth century. It also seeks to locate Makua warfare in a broadly comparative African perspective.