BENIN CITY

Firearm made of Brass and Iron and another firearm made of Iron and Wood, ca. 18th century, Benin City, Nigeria, National Museum, Benin.

The complete manufacture of firearms was accomplished in some societies during the 19th century such as the empire of Samori Ture, the Merina kingdom of Madagascar and the Ethiopian Empire under Tewodros. In the 1880s Samori concentrated 300-400 ironworkers in the village of Tete where they succeeded in manufacturing flintlocks at a cost lower than the price paid for those bought from Freetown.

Tete was evacuated in 1892 and its armament workers were reassembled at Dabakol under the direction of an artificer who had spent several months in a French arsenal. They succeeded in making effective copies of Kropatschek repeating rifles at a rate of two of these guns per day.

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