Assegai

An assegai is a light throwing spear with a wooden shaft and iron head, its name derived from the Berber word zagaya for spear, that was used across much of Africa before the spread of firearms. It became particularly associated with the Zulu, Xhosa and other Nguni peoples of southern Africa, whose warriors typically hurled several assegais at an approaching enemy before closing to fight hand to hand. In the early nineteenth century the Zulu leader Shaka popularized a shorter stabbing version, the iklwa, with a roughly 610mm shaft and 300mm blade, used together with a cowhide shield in a paired throwing-and-stabbing fighting system.