Makera Assada

Makera Assada since its establishment as one of the commercial centers of Sokoto town, was known for its blacksmithing (Kira).

It is sometime hard to imagine today, an age where people use their surrounding environment as the only source for survival. At the very rise of African civilization the essential tools to survival were found through the use of wood and stone tools. These tools proved to work well enough for hunting and farming, but as time changed and mankind evolved, it became necessary to find more efficient means of survival.

The first known iron working exists in Turkey and the age of metals such as gold, copper, silver, lead and iron were not made workable until approximately 400 BC. This development slowed until around 1500 BC, with the development of furnaces capable of forging iron tools. The era of Iron had begun and the art of blacksmith soon spread throughout western Africa.

Blacksmithing began with the Iron Age, when primitive man first began making tools from iron. The Iron Age began when some primitive person noticed that a certain type of rock yielded iron, when heated by the coals of a very hot campfire. In short, we can say that blacksmithing the art of crafting that crude metal into a usable implement, has been around for a long time.

In Nigeria, the NOK people, shows the art of blacksmiths, which dates back to the sixth century BC. These Nigerian metal workers developed a technology that gave them the upper hand in life, and would prove to be a technology to revolutionise the world. Clapperton writing in 1824, spoke about iron working in Sokoto and even claimed that all the city blacksmiths were Nupes. At any rate, Nupes preponderance in the Iron working industry is probably exaggerated by Clapperton. No doubt, many skilled iron workers came to Sokoto because they were attracted by its development in terms of settlement. Other skilled iron workers no doubt came into the city as refugees (Al-kalawa), as slaves sent in from the emirates or by the demand of skilled hands in Sokoto itself. In the previous chapters we saw the coming of Muhammad Andi and his men from Zamfara marked the beginning of blacksmithing industry in Makera. Zamfara for long is noted for its blacksmithing.

Before the coming of Europeans, Makera Assada was one of the developed areas in Sokoto town. It has been observed that most of the development that occurred to her was a result of the heavy involvement in blacksmithing and this help the town of Sokoto in general.

Smithing was the major factor that united the people of Magajin Gari ward. This was so because the manufactured goods by the blacksmith was needed within and around the area as most of them engaged in farming. The neighbouring Mafara people were mostly farmers and cattle rearers. This people of Mafara used to purchase the manufactured products of the blacksmith, like the farming tool, house utensils, keys and padlocks, earring, etc. This is to say that while the people of Makera were busy producing needed materials for people their neighbours, Mafara people are helping them exporting their products to various places. The people of Mafara are grand children of Muhammad Sambo, one of the closest friends of Shehu, all so a jihadist and a scholar. There is a kind of intermarriage between the people of Makera and Mafara strengthen their relationship.

The development of in the trade, was as a result of the subsistence economy practiced in the early period of time. As Makera Assada specialized in producing iron products there was also people within and around Sokoto that engage in farming, dying capentary, hunting, etc., as such iron was needed in variety of forms. Spears, arrows, sword, knives. The farmers needed hoes, matches and ploughshares. According to Ibrahim Gandi, one of my informants, contended that hunters and farmers from distance places comes to purchase various implements from the people of Makera.

Pre-colonial blacksmithing Makera society was very efficient, Sarkin Makera Buhari, stated that “Shehu Usmanu Danfodiyo, ordered his son Muhammad Bello to expand Sokoto town”. The area of Assada continues to receive more and more immigrants. The blacksmith of the area is one of the factors of their arrival. Muhammad Bello therefore ordered for the clearance of bush nearby the area up to Kofar-Kware.

Most blacksmiths starts to work when they were young boys, may be age 6 or 7. They would apprentice to a blacksmith, for a decade or more, and then they will set out to start their own shop. If a boy did apprentice to a master, he might spend most of his life in shop before he ever got the opportunity to be a journey man. The people of Assada try to imbibe the knowledge of blacksmithing into every son born in the area. later when western education started taking shape in the area at first the blacksmith did not show interest. It was only those who refuse to trade in smithing, that were sent to school. These categories of boys were sent away so as not to be seen nearby as their sight would be irritating to their parents. But the blacksmiths realized the importance of western education and they put their wards, even the lazy ones. Many people enjoyed the fruits of western education in the area, as some of them became very closer to the government. The government need advice of this kind of people like famous Yahaya Danboko one of the earliest scholars of Sokoto state.

However, the practice of blacksmithing in Makera Assada makes the area to be recognized as the home of blacksmithing. The area was known for its smithing since the establishment of Sokoto town. That is why during the time of Caliph Muhammad Bello, he appointed the Sarkin Makera from the blacksmiths of the area.

By the arrival of the Europeans to Sokoto, whenever they need the service of the blacksmiths they use to contact the sultan. The sultan will however call the Sarkin Makera and Mazugi. The blacksmiths of Assada produces the wrought iron gates for Sokoto prison and the residence of Europeans and other places.

Another important role played by the blacksmiths of Makera Assada was during the jihad of Shehu Danfodiyo. The blacksmith apart from participating in the jihad, they also produce weapons for the jihadists. It is believed that, if the government had taken these kind of local smithing serious, it would not had been spending money and importing farm implement and other iron products from abroad. Iron working made farming, hunting and war more efficient. Iron allowed for greater growth in societies with the ability to support large kingdoms, which spread across western Africa.

Blacksmith is a person who creates objects from iron or steel by “forging” the metal, by using tools to hammer, bend, cut and otherwise shape it in its non liquid form. Usually the metal is heated until it glows red or orange as part of the forging process. Blacksmiths produces things like wrought iron gates, grills, railings, light fixtures, furniture, sculpture, tools agricultural implements, decorative and religious items, cooking utensils and weapons. Blacksmiths work with their old clothes this is because of the nature of the work. They use to work both in their shop (Bukkar Makera), and even at entrance of their houses (Zaure) as the case of Makera Assdada. Except during this time that most of the work use to take place in the market.

Blacksmiths work with black metals, typically iron. The term smith originates from the word ‘smite’ which means to heat. Thus a blacksmith is a person who works or smite black metal. Over the centuries blacksmith had taken little pride in the fact that, theirs is one of the few crafts that allows them to make tools that are used for their craft. Time and tradition had provided some fairly standard basic tools which vary only in detail around the world.

All a smith needs is something to heat the metal, something to hold the hot metal with, something to hit the metal on, and something to hit the metal with.

The tools which blacksmiths need to include. The forge or Tukunya which is place under the ground, forge is a fireplace of the blacksmith's shop. It provides the means to keep and controlled with the help of Mazuzzugi.

Tongs (Awartaki) are used to hold the hot metal. They came in a range of shapes and sizes. Intriguingly, while tongs are needed for a great deal of blacksmithing, much work can be done by mere holding the cold end with one's bare hand. Steel is a fairly poor conductor of heat, and orange hot steel at one end would be cold to the touch a foot or so.

The Anvil (makera) at its simplest is a large block of iron or steel. Over time this has been refined to provide a rounded horn to facilitate drawing and bending, a face for drawing and upsetting and bending and on one or more holes to hold special tools (swages or hardies) and facilitate punching. Often the Flat surface of an anvil will be hardened steel, and the body made from tougher iron.

Blacksmiths hammer (amaleshi) tend to have one face and a peen. The peen is typically either a ball or a blunt wedge (cross or straight peen depending on the orientation of the wedge to the handle) and it is used when drawing. Swage (magagari) this is shaping tool, swages are either stand alone tools or fit the ‘hardie hole’ on the face of anvil. The Blacksmiths work by heating pieces of wrought iron or steel until the metal become soft enough to be shape with hand tools, such as hammer and chisel. To fuel the smelter or the forge, wood is converted to charcoal is use.

The techniques of Blacksmithing may be roughly divided into forging (sometimes called “sculpting”), welding, heat treating and finishing.

Forging is also referred to as sculpting because it is the process of shaping metal. Some of the operations or techniques applied in forging to include drawing, shrinking, bending, upsetting and punching. Drawing can be accomplished with a variety of tools and methods. Two typical methods using only hammer and anvil would be hammering on the anvil horn, and hammering on the anvil face using the cross peen of a hammer. Another method for drawing is to use a tool called a fuller (tsinke), or the peen of the hammer to hasten the drawing out of a thick piece of metal. The technique is called fullering from the tool. Fullering consist of hammering a series of indentations (with corresponding ridge) perpendicular to the long section of the piece being drawn. The resulting effect will be to look somewhat like waves along the top of the piece.

Bending through heating steel to an orange heat allows bending as if the hot steel were clay or sarafy taffy; it takes significant but not Herculean effort. Bending can be done with the hammer over the horn or age of the anvil, or by inserting the work into one of the holes in the top of the anvil and swinging the free end to one side. Bends can be dress and tightened or widened by hammering them over the appropriately shaped part of the anvil.

Upsetting is the process of making metal thicker in one dimension through shortening in the other. One form is by heating the end of a rod and them hammering on its as one would drive a nail, the rods get shorter, and the hot part widens. An alternative to hammering on the hot end, would be to place the hot end on the hot end of the anvil and hammer on the cold end, or to drop the rod, hot end down, onto a piece of settle at floor level.

Punching may be done to create a decorative pattern, or to make a hole, for example, in preparation for making a hammer head, a smith would punch a hole in a heavy bar or rod for the hammer handle. Punching is not limited to depressions and holes. It also includes cutting, slitting and drifting; these are done with a chisel.

The combining process; the five basic forging process are often combined to produce and refine the shapes necessary for finished products. For example, to fashion a cross peen hammer head, a smith would start with a bar roughly the diameter of the hammer face, the handle hole would be punched and drifted (widened by inserting or passing a larger tool through it), the head would be cut (punched, but with a wedge), the peen would be drawn to a wedge and the face would be dressed by upsetting.

Welding is the joining of metal of the same or similar kind such that there is no joint or seam; the pieces to be welded become a single piece. Now the smith moves with rapid purpose. The metal is taken from the fire and quickly brought together, the hammer lightly applying a few taps to bring the mating faces into complete contact and squeeze out the flux and finally return to fire again. The weld was begun with the taps, but often the joint is weak and incomplete, so the smith will again hit the joint to welding temperature and work the weld with light blows to ‘set’ the weld and finally to dress it to shape.

Heat treatment

Other than to increase its malleability, another reason for heating the metal is for heat treatment purposes. The metal can be hardened, tempered, normalized, annealed, case hardened and subject to other process that changes the crystalline structure of the steel to give it specific characteristics required for different uses.

Finishing; Depending on the intended use of the piece a blacksmith, may finish it in a number of Ways. A simple jig that the smith might only use a few times in the shop it may get the minimum of finishing a rap on the anvil to break off scale and a brushing with a wire brush. Files can be employed to bring a piece to final shape, remove burrs and sharp edges, and smooth the surface. Grinding stones abrasive paper and emery wheels can further shape, smooth and polish the surface. Finishes include but are not limited to paint, varnish, bluing, borrowing, oil and wax.

However, blacksmith's striker (mazugi) is an assistant to the blacksmith. His job is to swing a large hammer in heavy forging operations. The Sarkin Makera quoted, “when ever there is any work or if the sultan needs the service of the blacksmiths, he will invite the Sarkin Makera and the Mazugi will be the person to follow him with his tools.

Making an axe or a knife or a fireplace crane, set of door hinges or a handful of nails was what the village smithy did. His shop was the local hardware store. He could also repair a long chain or put rims on the wagon wheels or fix the axe that got chipped when it hit the rock. Whether the village needed swords or plough shares, the blacksmith made them. For without the blacksmith, the village could not survive

As this whole iron industry evolved over time, blacksmithing became an umbrella for several specialisties. The blacksmith who made knives and swords was a bladesmith. The blacksmith who made locks was a locksmith. The blacksmith who maids suits of armour was an armorer. The blacksmith who made gun barrels and triggers was a gunsmith. The blacksmith who shod horses, was a farrier. The blacksmith, who made earrings, necklaces and other decorations for women, was a whitesmith. The blacksmith who specialized in moulding gold was a goldsmith. Thus the blacksmiths possess all these skills.

Gandi describes the profession of blacksmithing as the main way of life to people of Assada saying that is belief that anybody who hails from the region must be a blacksmith hence it is a taboo for a person to abandon the occupation of his father and grandfathers. In every family of the Makera Assada, there must be an evidence of blacksmithing. This points to the importance of the craft and its antiquity, among the Assada people. The smiths of Makera Assada are always at their smithing shops and work places. Most of the blacksmiths are not farmers, so they do not go to farm but they have good relationship with the farmers who need their services.

Smithing was particularly a different profession requiring artistic ingenuity and physical strength. Today's blacksmith is more of an interpreter of the past and artist if you will rather than real item. As such it is hedged about with many taboos and requires long period of apprenticeship. The smiths are known for their use of iron and fire, to the extent that iron weapon or fire cannot harm them.

The blacksmiths offered relief to farming and also supplied technological base. The blacksmiths provides items made necessary by social and day-to-day activities. Since the emergence of blacksmith into western Africa around 1500 BC, they are feared in some western African societies for their powerful skills in metal working, as we mentioned earlier most of the famous blacksmiths, iron weapon and fire cannot harm them, although some consider that as form of magic, but universally revered by West African for their technological pioneering. While common people fear the power of the blacksmith, they are highly admired and hold high social status. Because the trade is so specialized and dangerous, blacksmiths are often requisitioned by towns and villages where there are none.

As such making an axe or a knife or a fireplace crane, bowls (baho) or a set of door hinges are his work. He could also repair door locks or fix the axe that get chipped when it hit a rock. What affected the Makera smiths was the importation of foreign iron wares, large quantities of cheap hardware are now on sale in the local markets. Knives, house utensils like bucket, bowls, necklaces, etc. Door bolts and hinges and other useful materials can be purchased at will anywhere. Formally the people depended for local smith, for the production of these goods. These foreign goods are cheaper and more convenient for its purpose.

Although, the blacksmiths of Makera Assada specialized in all kind of iron work, they did not however, give priority to the production of locally made guns although hunters need them for hunting animals. This is so because of security risk as the government prohibited such production. In other words, local weapons like sword, spears etc. are produced there.

Apart from moulding the iron to produce things, some individuals engage in traveling smith. They travels to many places as far as Kano, Zaria, Funtua and even beyond the borders of northern Nigeria, to buy irons that can be put to use, like damage vehicles and planes, pieces of iron rods, oil tanker's containers and many more. At this metals are brought to Makera Assada until when they are needed any company or individual who want this kind of business or irons will be directed to Makera Assada area.

The occupation diversification among the Makera particularly in their smithing crafts shows their technological prowess and advancement. This was witness during the jihad. In 1839, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his famous poem, "The Village Blacksmith" praises the blacksmith, “His brow is wet with honest sweat. He earn whatever he can, and looks the whole world in the face, for he owes not any man.