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When the Japanese were first introduced to the European matchlock in the 16th century, they quickly adopted it as their own and even improved upon it, quickly utilizing it to attack their rivals:
Within a year after the first trade in guns, Japanese swordsmiths and ironsmiths managed to reproduce the matchlock mechanism and mass-produce the Portuguese guns. Barely fifty years later, "by the end of the 16th century, guns were almost certainly more common in Japan than in any other country in the world", its armies equipped with a number of guns dwarfing any contemporary army in Europe (Perrin).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanban_trade
Was there ever a place similar in Sub-Saharan Africa? Many Kingdoms/Empires such as Dahomey, Oyo, Benin, and Ashanti had firearms. Dahomey and Ashanti were the only ones (that I know of) that used them as the primary weapon of their infantry. Anyway I often hear that they exchanged slaves to receive more guns and used those guns to capture more slaves in a vicious cycle. Surely they had the technology and the resources to manufacture their own guns. It just makes me wonder why no one ever did (that I know of). This is the most information I could find in regards to indigenous gun manufacture in Sub-Saharan Africa:
"Until the introduction of guns in the 15th century, traditional weapons like the spear, short sword, and bow held sway. Efforts were made to reorganize a local guild of blacksmiths in the 18th century to manufacture light firearms, but dependence on imports was still heavy. Before the coming of the gun, guilds of blacksmiths were charged with war production—–particularly swords and iron spearheads"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benin_Empire
Within a year after the first trade in guns, Japanese swordsmiths and ironsmiths managed to reproduce the matchlock mechanism and mass-produce the Portuguese guns. Barely fifty years later, "by the end of the 16th century, guns were almost certainly more common in Japan than in any other country in the world", its armies equipped with a number of guns dwarfing any contemporary army in Europe (Perrin).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanban_trade
Was there ever a place similar in Sub-Saharan Africa? Many Kingdoms/Empires such as Dahomey, Oyo, Benin, and Ashanti had firearms. Dahomey and Ashanti were the only ones (that I know of) that used them as the primary weapon of their infantry. Anyway I often hear that they exchanged slaves to receive more guns and used those guns to capture more slaves in a vicious cycle. Surely they had the technology and the resources to manufacture their own guns. It just makes me wonder why no one ever did (that I know of). This is the most information I could find in regards to indigenous gun manufacture in Sub-Saharan Africa:
"Until the introduction of guns in the 15th century, traditional weapons like the spear, short sword, and bow held sway. Efforts were made to reorganize a local guild of blacksmiths in the 18th century to manufacture light firearms, but dependence on imports was still heavy. Before the coming of the gun, guilds of blacksmiths were charged with war production—–particularly swords and iron spearheads"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benin_Empire
