Indigenous metallurgy

Trans-Saharan Technology Transfer: The Impact of Turkish Instructors on Indigenous Gun Smelting in the Borno Empire

The Borno Empire, one of the oldest and most influential states in the Lake Chad Basin played a critical role in the diffusion of military technology across West and Central Africa. By the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Borno had established diplomatic and military relationships with the Ottoman Empire, resulting in the arrival of Turkish instructors…