Moroccan koumiya
length: 14 1/2"
Come here and I'll tell you of koumiya - this is the Moroccan version of the
traditional Arabic jambiya. Once the French and British empires expanded into northern
Africa in the early 1800's and the homelands of the Arabs were overrun with white-suited
expatriates fancying themselves as desert-wallahs, it became quite popular
to send local weaponry back home to amaze and astound the yokels who were
not so well travelled and worldweary. Morocco having gone down quite early
to the rampages of European colonialism, industries sprang up overnight to
supply the Extravagantly Rich White Devils with the native weapons that
helped them feel superior to the poor Wogs without the benefit of Sheffield
Steel. The tradition continues to this day, and at any time you can still find
eBay loaded with dozens of koumiya-shaped letter openers.
blade: 9"
blade width: 1" base
grip: 5"
This koumiya dagger dates from the mid or late 1800's, and is a nice but not overly
fancy example of the type produced at the time. Steel blade, wooden handle
bound in brass, brass over wood scabbard. What's interesting is the
blade edges - it's sharpened for the full length of what westerners would
consider the back edge, and only half of the front edge. We're so used to
seeing any curved knife held with the curve upwards that we never consider
that they were actually held the other way 'round when in actual use. The
switchblade fight in West Side Story did more to set back the knowledge of
historical knife-fighting than any other film had a right to do ...
10/11/01