History Native cultures are metal

ShieldWife

Marchioness
Some of the most badass metal weapons ever were ironically not metal at all: Polynesian war clubs!

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Lord Sovereign

Well-known member
Some of the most badass metal weapons ever were ironically not metal at all: Polynesian war clubs!

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Polynesians are hardcore. It takes steel to tame the pacific in sodding canoes, be the people of Maui, and bash megafauna (and the occasional British redcoat) to death with War Oars. They are Warm Water Norsemen essentially.

I once heard it said that a specific type of fruit, native to Polynesia, was growing in South America by the time the Conquistadors showed up. I would not be shocked if the Polynesians had trade links to the New World.
 

Zyobot

Just a time-traveling robot stranded on Earth.
Polynesians are hardcore. It takes steel to tame the pacific in sodding canoes, be the people of Maui, and bash megafauna (and the occasional British redcoat) to death with War Oars. They are Warm Water Norsemen essentially.

I once heard it said that a specific type of fruit, native to Polynesia, was growing in South America by the time the Conquistadors showed up. I would not be shocked if the Polynesians had trade links to the New World.

Don’t suppose you recall the name of the fruit in question? Because now you’ve just made me curious, too. :unsure:
 

Lord Sovereign

Well-known member
Don’t suppose you recall the name of the fruit in question? Because now you’ve just made me curious, too. :unsure:

On further investigation I apologise for getting it the wrong way round, but it seems that the Sweet Potato, native to South America, was exported via trade to the Polynesian islands for cultivation long before Europeans showed up. Now there are some studies that suggest it ended up there naturally, but it is still a theory with some weight as there is evidence of genetic mingling between the Polynesians and the Native Americans: they did make contact with each other at some point.
 

ATP

Well-known member
My mother tells me that Natives actually learned how to take scalps as a way of keeping score from white folks. Specifically during the French and Indian War because they were paid bounties on how many they killed, and it was a way of having physical proof of killing someone. I have no idea if this is true or just part of some revisionist history, but it does kind of make sense.
As far as i knew,few tribes use it,and other start using when french/english start paing for scalps of their enemies.

Well during WW1 My tribe and others had open season on Germans in the fields of France. It was not good to be a German when my Uncles and cousins came upon them.

Interesting - i remember some movie in which american indians did it during WW1,but always thought,that it was fake.
P.S forget which movie,as usual.

Funny meme, but I really cannot understate just how badly the 7th Cavalry got their cheeks clapped at Little Big Horn. The Indians totally surprised, overwhelmed, and scattered their enemy that day.

And the ones who managed to flee were the lucky ones…

In the British context, we essentially suffered that on steroids at Isandlwana. Except the envelopment was complete, and there was no escape for the 24th Foot...

According to what i read,british had reserve ammo for their rifles - but packed in boxes ,so before they opened them,Zulu was arleady there with their assagais.
If it is true,then somebody responsible for packing ammo killed those soldiers,not Zulu.
I hope,that he get hanged.
 

bintananth

behind a desk
Interesting - i remember some movie in which american indians did it during WW1,but always thought,that it was fake.
P.S forget which movie,as usual.
Legends of the Fall depicted that. Brad Pitt's character wasn't an American Indian. He played a white guy from Montana serving Canada who did go scapling Germans after his brother was killed.

IIRC his character married the daughter of an American Indian who worked on his father's ranch.
 
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ATP

Well-known member
Legends of the Fall depicted that. Brad Pitt's character wasn't an American Indian. He played a white guy from Montana serving Canada who did go scapling Germans after his brother was killed.

IIRC his character married the daughter of an American Indian who worked on his father's ranch.
Could be that - i only remember,that some american soldier was killing germans in their trenches and scalping them.
 

bintananth

behind a desk
Could be that - i only remember,that some american soldier was killing germans in their trenches and scalping them.
When a movie includes scalping it's typically a horror flick meant to shock the audience or set before 1900 in North America ... with the latter ones holding back on the gory details.

Legends of the Fall and Inglorious Basterds are the only ones I can think of set after 1900 which include Europe and aren't horror.
 

ATP

Well-known member
When a movie includes scalping it's typically a horror flick meant to shock the audience or set before 1900 in North America ... with the latter ones holding back on the gory details.

Legends of the Fall and Inglorious Basterds are the only ones I can think of set after 1900 which include Europe and aren't horror.

I forget to add,that he did it during night attacking sentries,and leave their bodies looking as if they were still alive.
 

Lord Sovereign

Well-known member
So, just to breathe some more life into this thread, let’s have a chat about how metal the Zulu people were.

This was a tribal society with perhaps the largest army of any native African tribe, every man expected to be a warrior and formed into full blown regiments. This was accompanied by a logistics system of sorts that allowed the army to move fast and light.

There’s an old meme of the Zulu warrior being able to run fifty miles a day and fight a battle at the end. Whether or not that’s true, I don’t know, but British soldiers were told to treat them as cavalry given how fast they could move.

Is it any wonder they would be able to surprise, encircle and utterly destroy an entire British column? Not only that, they all but defeated and repulsed the initial invasion of the Zulu Kingdom, with Britain having to send a far larger force to eventually overwhelm them..
 

bintananth

behind a desk
There’s an old meme of the Zulu warrior being able to run fifty miles a day and fight a battle at the end. Whether or not that’s true, I don’t know, but British soldiers were told to treat them as cavalry given how fast they could move.
Fifty miles in a day when you're only carrying a spear and light shield is doable. 24 miles is about 8 hours of walking and no problem for someone in good health. Fifty miles is 10 hours of jogging.
 

Morphic Tide

Well-known member
Fifty miles in a day when you're only carrying a spear and light shield is doable. 24 miles is about 8 hours of walking and no problem for someone in good health. Fifty miles is 10 hours of jogging.
Yeah, but with food and often water supplies, plus spear and shield fixing materials, plus bedding, the bare essentials still add up.
 

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