Carracks Black Sword on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
The Carracks black sword, sometimes called a crab sword, is a type of sword invented in
The Carracks black sword, sometimes called a crab sword, is a type of sword invented in Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
, during the 15th century, designed to be used by soldiers and sailors in ships and caravel
The caravel (Portuguese: , ) is a small maneuverable sailing ship used in the 15th century by the Portuguese to explore along the West African coast and into the Atlantic Ocean. The lateen sails gave it speed and the capacity for sailing win ...
s in the Age of Discovery
The Age of Discovery (or the Age of Exploration), also known as the early modern period, was a period largely overlapping with the Age of Sail, approximately from the 15th century to the 17th century in European history, during which seafarin ...
.
It is characterized by having a guard with two protective rings, with the guard terminals in the form of two flat drops pointing toward the tip of the blade, and forming large round plates sharpened sufficiently to be used as extra blades convenient in close combat.
The protective rings, in addition to their function to guard the fingers, can also serve to trap an opponent's blade.
These swords were painted black to prevent reflected light from betraying their presence on ships, as well as to mitigate corrosion caused by salt water.
This type of sword would have appeared between 1460 and 1480 and saw much of its use in Portuguese trading cities in Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
, coming to be used as a symbol of honor by the local chiefs.
See also
*Portuguese discoveries
Portuguese maritime exploration resulted in the numerous territories and maritime routes recorded by the Portuguese as a result of their intensive maritime journeys during the 15th and 16th centuries. Portuguese sailors were at the vanguard of Eu ...
* Golden Age of Portugal
*Feitoria
Factory was the common name during the medieval and early modern eras for an entrepôt – which was essentially an early form of free-trade zone or transshipment point. At a factory, local inhabitants could interact with foreign merchants, o ...
Notes
European swords European weapons Iberian weapons Maritime history of Portugal Portuguese inventions Renaissance-era swords Weapons of Portugal {{Portugal-hist-stub