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A concept drawing of the South Eastern African (Bantu/Swahili or Banto-Persian) Woman Warrior as part of the Historically Wrong Sketch Series: Medieval Revisited which aims to portray Women Warriors in a fictitious historical settings based on AD 800s - AD 1400s era of warfare. She represents the medieval equivalent of the trading power along the Swahili Coast during its height, like that of the Kilwa Sultanate, Mombasa, and Zanzibar City States.
Inspired by the Song: Baba Yetu - Lord's Prayer sung in Swahili
Every medieval historian, or those that are aware of medieval history, when introduced with the term "Trading City-States", the first association that comes in mind would undoubtedly be the Italian City States, like Venice, Pisa, Genoa, almafi and other Italian Merchant Republics. This much I can say is true, but if we go beyond the border of Europe, and into the continent which we so often overlooked, Africa, lies competing urban-metropolises and trading city states/sultanates along the South Eastern Coast of the continent which we refer today as Swahili Coast. It was a vibrant trading region, whose wealth and riches came from trading exotic goods to Arabia, Persia and India along with several centers of cultural melting pot. To many of us, this is something which we rarely hear, but to the Arabs, Persian, Indian and even the Portuguese who made contact with the powers of Swahili coast, it was a place of awe and astonishment.
When it comes to portraying the warriors or even female warriors of the Swahili Coast, I find it rather easy for my imagination to run wild. First of all, I chose the Kilwa sultanate as the basis for the portrayal, mainly because it was a cultural melting pot for the Bantu People, as well as migrants from Persia and Arabia. You would probably notice with the armament and her attires, and given her status as depicted here, I find it more justice to present her image like this, as compared to the traditional tribal Bantu amazons which we often associated with in popular media.
As you can see, Queen Bikumbwa is drawn in a mixed or stylistic armors and armaments. Her head-dress, which covers her ornate but simple metal helmet/cap, is of indigenous construction but with added oriental decoration. She wears a quilted armor on top of her chainmail, both of which covers her richly decorated dress. While chainmail could be made locally in this region, most of them would have been expensive imports; on the other hand, her Quilted armor, which is similar to the European gambeson, was much more commonly worn in both Sahara and Sub-Saharan armies, being easier to construct and obtained. What signifies her status, apart from the expensive attires, are her weapons which includes richly decorated dagger and straight sword based on that which were used by the Kilwa's and Zanzibar's sultans. As for her decorated metal shield, it's an expensive import, most likely from Persia, again, proudly displaying her wealth.
Given her background, she isn't exactly Bantu, rather, a mix of Bantu, Arab and Persian Heritage, because it was rather tricky to draw an African female face. Besides, I wanted to portray her image as a ruler of a powerful and rich kingdom, not as one who wages near-ending war, but someone who excels in administration and leadership. Not sure the drawing turned out the way i wanted to be
While this portrayal seems to display her and her retinues/guards in the background, fully armed and armored, in reality the actual armies would actually be very small in comparison to Europe and the Orient. The smaller size is attributed to the fact that, it was not wealth that made mustering large army near to impossible, but rather, the logistical aspect. Limited food and water resources, hostile environments and equally hostile terrain, plus the ever present danger of diseases, drastically limits the numbers of troops on the field, as well as the length of military campaign.
Credit to Wolfberry-J
whose bold and captivating artworks have inspired me in making this drawing 
Inspired by the Song: Baba Yetu - Lord's Prayer sung in Swahili
INTRODUCTION
Every medieval historian, or those that are aware of medieval history, when introduced with the term "Trading City-States", the first association that comes in mind would undoubtedly be the Italian City States, like Venice, Pisa, Genoa, almafi and other Italian Merchant Republics. This much I can say is true, but if we go beyond the border of Europe, and into the continent which we so often overlooked, Africa, lies competing urban-metropolises and trading city states/sultanates along the South Eastern Coast of the continent which we refer today as Swahili Coast. It was a vibrant trading region, whose wealth and riches came from trading exotic goods to Arabia, Persia and India along with several centers of cultural melting pot. To many of us, this is something which we rarely hear, but to the Arabs, Persian, Indian and even the Portuguese who made contact with the powers of Swahili coast, it was a place of awe and astonishment.
DRAWING COMMENTARIES
When it comes to portraying the warriors or even female warriors of the Swahili Coast, I find it rather easy for my imagination to run wild. First of all, I chose the Kilwa sultanate as the basis for the portrayal, mainly because it was a cultural melting pot for the Bantu People, as well as migrants from Persia and Arabia. You would probably notice with the armament and her attires, and given her status as depicted here, I find it more justice to present her image like this, as compared to the traditional tribal Bantu amazons which we often associated with in popular media.
As you can see, Queen Bikumbwa is drawn in a mixed or stylistic armors and armaments. Her head-dress, which covers her ornate but simple metal helmet/cap, is of indigenous construction but with added oriental decoration. She wears a quilted armor on top of her chainmail, both of which covers her richly decorated dress. While chainmail could be made locally in this region, most of them would have been expensive imports; on the other hand, her Quilted armor, which is similar to the European gambeson, was much more commonly worn in both Sahara and Sub-Saharan armies, being easier to construct and obtained. What signifies her status, apart from the expensive attires, are her weapons which includes richly decorated dagger and straight sword based on that which were used by the Kilwa's and Zanzibar's sultans. As for her decorated metal shield, it's an expensive import, most likely from Persia, again, proudly displaying her wealth.
Given her background, she isn't exactly Bantu, rather, a mix of Bantu, Arab and Persian Heritage, because it was rather tricky to draw an African female face. Besides, I wanted to portray her image as a ruler of a powerful and rich kingdom, not as one who wages near-ending war, but someone who excels in administration and leadership. Not sure the drawing turned out the way i wanted to be
While this portrayal seems to display her and her retinues/guards in the background, fully armed and armored, in reality the actual armies would actually be very small in comparison to Europe and the Orient. The smaller size is attributed to the fact that, it was not wealth that made mustering large army near to impossible, but rather, the logistical aspect. Limited food and water resources, hostile environments and equally hostile terrain, plus the ever present danger of diseases, drastically limits the numbers of troops on the field, as well as the length of military campaign.
Credit to Wolfberry-J
whose bold and captivating artworks have inspired me in making this drawing REFERENCES AND OTHER RELATED MEDIA
Maybe related to the following Women Warriors:
The Zimbabwean
, The Arabs 
, The Indians 
, The Persians 
, and the Somalians 
A Part of the Historically Wrong Sketch Series: Medieval Revisited - You can find more on the various faction on the map here:
HISTORICAL COMMENTARIES
The region which is referred to as the Swahili coast, had been home to some of the most vibrant history of Africa. Today, it is home to one of Africa's economic powerhouse, Kenya, but also some of the poorest like Tanzania and Uganda and Mozambique. Disregarding the economic prosperity, the region is rich with natural resources and mineral deposits that are vital to the demands of modern day industries. Historically speaking, in the past, the Swahili coast was home to some of Africa's dynamic ruling power and cultural development.
The term Swahili Coast is coined from the numerous number of Swahili Speaking people that inhabited the coastal region of Southeast Africa. Swahili itself was originally part of the Bantu language family, but centuries of Arabic Influence and various inter-cultural mixing resulted in a distinct, unique language and culture called the Swahili, derived from the Arabic word Sawahil which means "Coast".
Historically speaking, mainstream paleanthropology pointed out that this region is one of the most possible place of the origin for the earliest Modern Human Migration, a theory commonly known as the OOA "Out of Africa" or academically RSOH "Recent Single-Origin Hypothesis". Moving forward into 2000 BCE, a migration period called the "Bantu Expansion" saw the mass movement of proto-bantu (A branch of Niger-Congo Language) and then, bantu speaking people into the region. The process was gradual and lasted for millennias, depending on which study to take into account, it ended somewhere in the 11th century AD. By then, several Bantu speaking tribes and societies had settled in the region and called it their home.
When it comes to the Historical documentation, the region is mention in the Roman Documentary called the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, which outlines the trade journey and interests from the Roman Egyptian port, along the red sea and into the Indian Ocean. The name Rhapta is mentioned as one of the marketplace along the coast of Azania, to which, based on recent archeological findings of Ancient Roman trade items, is situated in the Mafia islands. Other findings gave a closer location to the mainland and further inland, which strengthen the evidence of trade activities in the region since classical antiquity. Not only that, both the Indian and the Chinese documented contacts with the Bantu people from trading settlements along the Zanzibar island, Kenya and as far as south of Tanzania.
During the middle ages, especially after the Great Islamic Expanison in the 8th Century, numerous Arab and Persian merchants, traders and later on, refugees, made contact with the Bantu speaking people of the region and settled alongside them. This resulted in a rich and vibrant mix of Bantu, Arabic and Persian culture, which developed into several Swahili City States, similar to that of Italian City States. It is from here that several powerful sultanates began to grow and established their trading power, rivaling the Somalians to the north.
For example, the Sultanate of Kilwa or the Kilwa Sultanate, ruled the Swahili coast from 10th century till the beginning of 16th century. The origin of the ruling class could be traced back to the Ali ibn al-Hassan Shirazi, a Persian Prince from Shiraz born of Persian father and Abyssinian Mother. Story has it that he migrated to Mogadishu after being excluded from inheritance, taking dome of his loyal followers with him. After failing to get on the good side of the ruling somalian elite, he sailed further south and bought the island of Kilwa from the local Bantu. Due to the strategic position of Kilwa, it made it a more lucrative destinations for merchants, and with the new richest that comes with it, the Kilwa Sultanate was born. The successive rulers tried to compete and wrestle trade power over the region, and in late 12th century, successfully took control of Sofala, a main trade port for Gold and Ivory coming from Great Zimbabwe and Mutapa Interior. This allowed the Kilwa to expand their influence and expeditions, and finally, in the late 15th century, they claimed overlordship over the mainland cities of Malindi, Inhambane and Sofala and the island-states of Mombassa, Pemba, Zanzibar, Mafia, Comoro and Mozambique (plus numerous smaller places), which essentially the region that became the Swahili Coast.
When the portugese came into the region in the 1498, they came with a mission to control and dominate the trade, as well as bringing in christian missionaries in an attempt to Christianize the Swahili Coast. Unlike the other Tribal region and Kongo whom the Portuguese, encountered, the Swahili put up strong resistance against the colonization effort by the portugese. Though the Portuguese managed to dominate the Kilwa and reduced it to several small city states, they failed to achieve total control over the swahili coast, and were driven out in the 17h century. The remaining surviving small cities became protectorates of Sultanate of Oman, while those that came under the control of Portugues Colony, would later become part of Mozambique.
The Zimbabwean
, The Arabs , The Indians , The Persians , and the Somalians A Part of the Historically Wrong Sketch Series: Medieval Revisited - You can find more on the various faction on the map here:
HISTORICAL COMMENTARIES
The region which is referred to as the Swahili coast, had been home to some of the most vibrant history of Africa. Today, it is home to one of Africa's economic powerhouse, Kenya, but also some of the poorest like Tanzania and Uganda and Mozambique. Disregarding the economic prosperity, the region is rich with natural resources and mineral deposits that are vital to the demands of modern day industries. Historically speaking, in the past, the Swahili coast was home to some of Africa's dynamic ruling power and cultural development.
The term Swahili Coast is coined from the numerous number of Swahili Speaking people that inhabited the coastal region of Southeast Africa. Swahili itself was originally part of the Bantu language family, but centuries of Arabic Influence and various inter-cultural mixing resulted in a distinct, unique language and culture called the Swahili, derived from the Arabic word Sawahil which means "Coast".
Historically speaking, mainstream paleanthropology pointed out that this region is one of the most possible place of the origin for the earliest Modern Human Migration, a theory commonly known as the OOA "Out of Africa" or academically RSOH "Recent Single-Origin Hypothesis". Moving forward into 2000 BCE, a migration period called the "Bantu Expansion" saw the mass movement of proto-bantu (A branch of Niger-Congo Language) and then, bantu speaking people into the region. The process was gradual and lasted for millennias, depending on which study to take into account, it ended somewhere in the 11th century AD. By then, several Bantu speaking tribes and societies had settled in the region and called it their home.
When it comes to the Historical documentation, the region is mention in the Roman Documentary called the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, which outlines the trade journey and interests from the Roman Egyptian port, along the red sea and into the Indian Ocean. The name Rhapta is mentioned as one of the marketplace along the coast of Azania, to which, based on recent archeological findings of Ancient Roman trade items, is situated in the Mafia islands. Other findings gave a closer location to the mainland and further inland, which strengthen the evidence of trade activities in the region since classical antiquity. Not only that, both the Indian and the Chinese documented contacts with the Bantu people from trading settlements along the Zanzibar island, Kenya and as far as south of Tanzania.
During the middle ages, especially after the Great Islamic Expanison in the 8th Century, numerous Arab and Persian merchants, traders and later on, refugees, made contact with the Bantu speaking people of the region and settled alongside them. This resulted in a rich and vibrant mix of Bantu, Arabic and Persian culture, which developed into several Swahili City States, similar to that of Italian City States. It is from here that several powerful sultanates began to grow and established their trading power, rivaling the Somalians to the north.
For example, the Sultanate of Kilwa or the Kilwa Sultanate, ruled the Swahili coast from 10th century till the beginning of 16th century. The origin of the ruling class could be traced back to the Ali ibn al-Hassan Shirazi, a Persian Prince from Shiraz born of Persian father and Abyssinian Mother. Story has it that he migrated to Mogadishu after being excluded from inheritance, taking dome of his loyal followers with him. After failing to get on the good side of the ruling somalian elite, he sailed further south and bought the island of Kilwa from the local Bantu. Due to the strategic position of Kilwa, it made it a more lucrative destinations for merchants, and with the new richest that comes with it, the Kilwa Sultanate was born. The successive rulers tried to compete and wrestle trade power over the region, and in late 12th century, successfully took control of Sofala, a main trade port for Gold and Ivory coming from Great Zimbabwe and Mutapa Interior. This allowed the Kilwa to expand their influence and expeditions, and finally, in the late 15th century, they claimed overlordship over the mainland cities of Malindi, Inhambane and Sofala and the island-states of Mombassa, Pemba, Zanzibar, Mafia, Comoro and Mozambique (plus numerous smaller places), which essentially the region that became the Swahili Coast.
When the portugese came into the region in the 1498, they came with a mission to control and dominate the trade, as well as bringing in christian missionaries in an attempt to Christianize the Swahili Coast. Unlike the other Tribal region and Kongo whom the Portuguese, encountered, the Swahili put up strong resistance against the colonization effort by the portugese. Though the Portuguese managed to dominate the Kilwa and reduced it to several small city states, they failed to achieve total control over the swahili coast, and were driven out in the 17h century. The remaining surviving small cities became protectorates of Sultanate of Oman, while those that came under the control of Portugues Colony, would later become part of Mozambique.
Image size
1425x2382px 736.03 KB
Shutter Speed
1/20 second
Aperture
F/2.2
Focal Length
5 mm
Comments27
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Malkia is a beautiful but cool looking warrior queen. Besides, I always did like African cultures since my ancestors came from Africa during the slave trade.