ABSTRACT
The diffusion of the new techniques of cavalry warfare is probably reflected in evidence of the growing military importance of horses in various areas of West Africa during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The new techniques of cavalry warfare were not adopted throughout the whole of West Africa. Modern tradition confirms that the spear and sword constituted the normal armament of cavalry forces in such states as Yauri, Nupe, Mamprusi, and Dagomba. Cavalry armour in the eastern area of West Africa was normally either of quilted cloth, stuffed with kapok, called lebde in Kanuri and lifidi in Hausa, or of chain mail. Service as cavalry was necessarily the preserve of a small group of specialists, since it required training in horsemanship. Recruitment of foreign slaves for use as cavalry troops was perhaps less common, but it appears that the cavalry of Oyo included many slaves of northern origin, from Nupe, Hausaland, and at least occasionally from Borno.
