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Machete

January 18, 2023

For other uses, see Machete (disambiguation).

A machete (/məˈʃɛti/; Spanish pronunciation: [maˈtʃete]) is a broad blade used either as an agricultural implement similar to an axe, or in combat like a long-bladed knife. The blade is typically 30 to 45 centimetres (12 to 18 in) long and usually under 3 millimetres (1⁄8 in) thick. In the Spanish language, the word is possibly a diminutive form of the word macho, which was used to refer to sledgehammers.[1] Alternatively, its origin may be machaera, the name given by the Romans to the falcata.[2][3] It is the origin of the English language equivalent term matchet,[4] though it is less commonly used. In much of the English-speaking Caribbean, such as Jamaica,[5] Barbados, Guyana, Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago, the term cutlass is used for these agricultural tools.[6]

Older machete from Latin America
Gerber machete/saw combo
Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas, Oaxaca uses a machete to carve wood.
Mexican machete, from Acapulco, 1970. Horn handle, hand forged blade (hammer marks visible).

Uses

Agriculture

In various tropical and subtropical countries, the machete is frequently used to cut through rainforest undergrowth and for agricultural purposes (e.g. cutting sugar cane).[7] Besides this, in Latin America a common use is for such household tasks as cutting large foodstuffs into pieces—much as a cleaver is used—or to perform crude cutting tasks, such as making simple wooden handles for other tools.[7] It is common to see people using machetes for other jobs, such as splitting open coconuts, yard work, removing small branches and plants, chopping animals' food, and clearing bushes.[7]

Machetes are often considered tools and used by adults. However, many hunter–gatherer societies and cultures surviving through subsistence agriculture begin teaching babies to use sharp tools, including machetes, before their first birthdays.[8]

Warfare

People in uprisings sometimes use these weapons. For example, the Boricua Popular Army are unofficially called macheteros because of the machete-wielding laborers of sugar cane fields of past Puerto Rico.[9]

Many of the killings in the 1994 Rwandan genocide were performed with machetes,[10] and they were the primary weapon used by the Interahamwe militias there.[11] Machetes were also a distinctive tool and weapon of the Haitian Tonton Macoute.[12]

In 1762, the British captured Havana in a lengthy siege during the Seven Years' War. Volunteer militiamen led by Pepe Antonio, a Guanabacoa councilman, were issued with machetes during the unsuccessful defense of the city.[13] The machete was also the most iconic weapon during the independence wars in Cuba, although it saw limited battlefield use.[14] Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, owner of the sugar refinery La Demajagua near Manzanillo, freed his slaves on 10 October 1868. He proceeded to lead them, armed with machetes, in revolt against the Spanish government.[15] The first cavalry charge using machetes as the primary weapon was carried out on 4 November 1868 by Máximo Gómez, a sergeant born in the Dominican Republic, who later became the general in chief of the Cuban Army.[16]

The machete is a common side arm and tool for many ethnic groups in West Africa. Machetes in this role are referenced in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart.[17]

Some countries have a name for the blow of a machete; the Spanish machetazo is sometimes used in English.[18] In the British Virgin Islands, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Barbados, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago, the word planass means to hit someone with the flat of the blade of a machete or cutlass.[19] To strike with the sharpened edge is to "chop". Throughout the Caribbean, the term 'cutlass' refers to a laborers' cutting tool.[19]

The Brazilian Army's Instruction Center on Jungle Warfare developed a machete-style knife with a blade 25 cm (10 in) in length and a very pronounced clip point. This machete is issued with a 13 cm (5 in) Bowie knife and a sharpening stone in the scabbard; collectively called a "jungle kit" (Conjunto de Selva in Portuguese); it is manufactured by Indústria de Material Bélico do Brasil (IMBEL).[20]

The machete was used as a weapon during the Mau Mau rebellion, in the Rwandan Genocide, and in South Africa, particularly in the 1980s and early 1990s when the former province of Natal was wracked by conflict between the African National Congress and the Zulu-nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party.[21]

Manufacture

Good machetes rely on the materials used and the shape. In the past, the most famous manufacturer of machetes in Latin America and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean was Collins Company of Collinsville, Connecticut.[22] The company was founded as Collins & Company in 1826 by Samuel W. Collins to make axes.[23] Its first machetes were sold in 1845[24] and became so famous that all good machetes were called "un Collins".[25] In the English-speaking Caribbean, Robert Mole & Sons of Birmingham, England, was long considered the manufacturer of agricultural cutlasses of the best quality. Some Robert Mole blades survive as souvenirs of travelers to Trinidad,[26] Jamaica, and, less commonly, St. Lucia.[citation needed]

Colombia is the largest exporter of machetes worldwide.[27]

Cultural influence

The flag of Angola features a machete, along with a cog-wheel.

The southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul has a dance called the dança dos facões (machetes' dance) in which the dancers, who are usually men, bang their machetes against various surfaces while dancing, simulating a battle. Maculelê, an Afro-Brazilian dance and martial art, can also be performed with facões. This practice began in the city of Santo Amaro, Bahia, in the northeastern part of the country.[28]

In the Philippines, the bolo is used in training in eskrima, the indigenous martial art of the Philippines.[29]

Similar tools

The panga or tapanga is a variant used in East and Southern Africa. This name may be of Swahili etymology; not to be confused with the Panga fish. The panga blade broadens on the backside and has a length of 41 to 46 cm (16 to 18 in). The upper inclined portion of the blade may be sharpened.[30]

Other similar tools include the parang[31] and the golok[32] (from Malaysia and Indonesia); however, these tend to have shorter, thicker blades with a primary grind, and are more effective on woody vegetation.

The tsakat is a similar tool used in Armenia for clearing land of vegetation.

Other similar tools include:

Popular culture

References

  1. ^ "Online Etymology Dictionary". etymonline.com. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  2. ^ "La falcata ¿mito romántico o realidad? - Archivos de la Historia". 8 April 2020.
  3. ^ Es, Armas. "El Machete: Abriéndose paso en jungla y combate - Mundo Armas".
  4. ^ "matchet". Dictionary/thesaurus. The Free Dictionary. Retrieved 7 February 2009.
  5. ^ Blair, Teresa P. A-Z of Jamaican Patois (Patwah), Page 49, Google Books Result
  6. ^ Klein, John (21 October 2013). "What Is a Machete, Anyway?". The Atlantic. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  7. ^ a b c Franz, Carl; Rogers, Carl Franz, Lorena Havens, Steve; Havens, Lorena (11 December 2012). The People's Guide to Mexico. Avalon Travel Publishing. pp. 277–278. ISBN 978-1-61238-049-0.
  8. ^ Day, Nicholas (9 April 2013). "Give Your Baby a Machete". Slate. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  9. ^ Martin, Gus (15 June 2011). The SAGE Encyclopedia of Terrorism, Second Edition. SAGE Publications. p. 490. ISBN 978-1-4129-8016-6.
  10. ^ Verwimp, P. (2006). "Machetes and Firearms: the Organization of Massacres in Rwanda". Journal of Peace Research. 43 (1): 5–22. doi:10.1177/0022343306059576.
  11. ^ Braid, Mary (3 March 1999). . The Independent. Archived from the original on 12 January 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
  12. ^ "Tonton Macoute". Haiti History. Haitian Media. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
  13. ^ Ponce, Mildrey (2007). . Cuba Now. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
  14. ^ Tone, John Lawrence (2006). "Chapter 10: Mal Tiempo and the Romance of the Machete". War and Genocide in Cuba, 1895–1898. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 126–127. ISBN 978-0-8078-3006-2.
  15. ^ Gravette, A G (28 September 2007). "Chapter 7: The Southern Peninsula". Cuba (5 ed.). New Holland Publishers. p. 106. ISBN 978-1-84537-860-8.
  16. ^ . Revolutionary Armed Forces. Gobierno de la Republica de Cuba. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
  17. ^ "Plot Overview". Things Fall Apart. SparkNotes. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
  18. ^ Sturges, James Walter (August 2010). Machetes in the Trunk: Three Weeks in Panama. James Sturges. p. 31. ISBN 978-1-4404-8664-7.
  19. ^ a b Allsopp, Richard (2003). Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage. University of the West Indies Press. pp. 184, 442–443. ISBN 978-976-640-145-0.
  20. ^ . Produtos. Indústria de Material Bélico do Brasil. Archived from the original on 29 April 2021. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
  21. ^ Cavaleri, David P. (2005). The Law of War: Can 20th Century Standards Apply to the Global War on Terrorism?. DIANE Publishing. p. 66. ISBN 978-1-4379-2301-8.
  22. ^ Jones, Chester Lloyd (1906). The Consular Service of the United States: Its History and Activities. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 72.
  23. ^ Kauffman, Henry J. (1994). "III: The Nineteenth Century". American Axes: A Survey of Their Development and Their Makers. Masthof Press. p. 30. ISBN 978-1-883294-12-0.
  24. ^ Henry, Daniel Edward (1995). Collins' Machetes and Bowies, 1845-1965. Krause Publications. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-87341-403-6.
  25. ^ La Farge, Oliver (1956). A Pictorial History of the American Indian. Crown Publishers. p. 219.
  26. ^ "1566: Vintage Trinidad Machete in Leather Sheath : Lot 1566". liveauctioneers.com. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  27. ^ . laprensa.com.ni. 12 April 2014. Archived from the original on 14 April 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  28. ^ Lewis, John Lowell (1992). "3: Capoeira in Salvador". Ring of Liberation: Deceptive Discourse in Brazilian Capoeira. University of Chicago Press. pp. 54–55. ISBN 978-0-226-47683-4.
  29. ^ Wilson, Frederick T. (1 January 2004). A Sailor's Log: Water-tender Frederick T. Wilson, USN, on Asiatic Station, 1899–1901. Washington: Kent State University Press. p. 130. ISBN 978-0-87338-782-8.
  30. ^ Mothander, Björn; Finn Kjærby; Kjell J. Havnevik (1989). Farm Implements for Small-scale Farmers in Tanzania. Nordic Africa Institute. pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-91-7106-290-1.
  31. ^ Stone, George Cameron; Donald J. LaRocca (1999). A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration, and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times: In All Countries and in All Times. Courier Dover Publications. pp. 481–482. ISBN 978-0-486-40726-5.
  32. ^ Stone, George Cameron; Donald J. LaRocca (1999). A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration, and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times: In All Countries and in All Times. Courier Dover Publications. p. 249. ISBN 978-0-486-40726-5.

External links

  •   Media related to Machetes at Wikimedia Commons

January 18, 2023
machete, other, uses, disambiguation, this, article, lend, undue, weight, certain, ideas, incidents, controversies, please, help, improve, rewriting, balanced, fashion, that, contextualizes, different, points, view, october, 2021, learn, when, remove, this, te. For other uses see Machete disambiguation This article may lend undue weight to certain ideas incidents or controversies Please help improve it by rewriting it in a balanced fashion that contextualizes different points of view October 2021 Learn how and when to remove this template message A machete m e ˈ ʃ ɛ t i Spanish pronunciation maˈtʃete is a broad blade used either as an agricultural implement similar to an axe or in combat like a long bladed knife The blade is typically 30 to 45 centimetres 12 to 18 in long and usually under 3 millimetres 1 8 in thick In the Spanish language the word is possibly a diminutive form of the word macho which was used to refer to sledgehammers 1 Alternatively its origin may be machaera the name given by the Romans to the falcata 2 3 It is the origin of the English language equivalent term matchet 4 though it is less commonly used In much of the English speaking Caribbean such as Jamaica 5 Barbados Guyana Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago the term cutlass is used for these agricultural tools 6 Older machete from Latin America Gerber machete saw combo Agustin Cruz Tinoco of San Agustin de las Juntas Oaxaca uses a machete to carve wood Mexican machete from Acapulco 1970 Horn handle hand forged blade hammer marks visible Contents 1 Uses 1 1 Agriculture 1 2 Warfare 2 Manufacture 3 Cultural influence 4 Similar tools 5 Popular culture 6 References 7 External linksUses EditAgriculture Edit In various tropical and subtropical countries the machete is frequently used to cut through rainforest undergrowth and for agricultural purposes e g cutting sugar cane 7 Besides this in Latin America a common use is for such household tasks as cutting large foodstuffs into pieces much as a cleaver is used or to perform crude cutting tasks such as making simple wooden handles for other tools 7 It is common to see people using machetes for other jobs such as splitting open coconuts yard work removing small branches and plants chopping animals food and clearing bushes 7 Machetes are often considered tools and used by adults However many hunter gatherer societies and cultures surviving through subsistence agriculture begin teaching babies to use sharp tools including machetes before their first birthdays 8 Warfare Edit People in uprisings sometimes use these weapons For example the Boricua Popular Army are unofficially called macheteros because of the machete wielding laborers of sugar cane fields of past Puerto Rico 9 Many of the killings in the 1994 Rwandan genocide were performed with machetes 10 and they were the primary weapon used by the Interahamwe militias there 11 Machetes were also a distinctive tool and weapon of the Haitian Tonton Macoute 12 In 1762 the British captured Havana in a lengthy siege during the Seven Years War Volunteer militiamen led by Pepe Antonio a Guanabacoa councilman were issued with machetes during the unsuccessful defense of the city 13 The machete was also the most iconic weapon during the independence wars in Cuba although it saw limited battlefield use 14 Carlos Manuel de Cespedes owner of the sugar refinery La Demajagua near Manzanillo freed his slaves on 10 October 1868 He proceeded to lead them armed with machetes in revolt against the Spanish government 15 The first cavalry charge using machetes as the primary weapon was carried out on 4 November 1868 by Maximo Gomez a sergeant born in the Dominican Republic who later became the general in chief of the Cuban Army 16 The machete is a common side arm and tool for many ethnic groups in West Africa Machetes in this role are referenced in Chinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart 17 Some countries have a name for the blow of a machete the Spanish machetazo is sometimes used in English 18 In the British Virgin Islands Grenada Jamaica Saint Kitts and Nevis Barbados Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago the word planass means to hit someone with the flat of the blade of a machete or cutlass 19 To strike with the sharpened edge is to chop Throughout the Caribbean the term cutlass refers to a laborers cutting tool 19 The Brazilian Army s Instruction Center on Jungle Warfare developed a machete style knife with a blade 25 cm 10 in in length and a very pronounced clip point This machete is issued with a 13 cm 5 in Bowie knife and a sharpening stone in the scabbard collectively called a jungle kit Conjunto de Selva in Portuguese it is manufactured by Industria de Material Belico do Brasil IMBEL 20 The machete was used as a weapon during the Mau Mau rebellion in the Rwandan Genocide and in South Africa particularly in the 1980s and early 1990s when the former province of Natal was wracked by conflict between the African National Congress and the Zulu nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party 21 Manufacture EditGood machetes rely on the materials used and the shape In the past the most famous manufacturer of machetes in Latin America and the Spanish speaking Caribbean was Collins Company of Collinsville Connecticut 22 The company was founded as Collins amp Company in 1826 by Samuel W Collins to make axes 23 Its first machetes were sold in 1845 24 and became so famous that all good machetes were called un Collins 25 In the English speaking Caribbean Robert Mole amp Sons of Birmingham England was long considered the manufacturer of agricultural cutlasses of the best quality Some Robert Mole blades survive as souvenirs of travelers to Trinidad 26 Jamaica and less commonly St Lucia citation needed Colombia is the largest exporter of machetes worldwide 27 Cultural influence Edit The Flag of Angola The flag of Angola features a machete along with a cog wheel The southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul has a dance called the danca dos facoes machetes dance in which the dancers who are usually men bang their machetes against various surfaces while dancing simulating a battle Maculele an Afro Brazilian dance and martial art can also be performed with facoes This practice began in the city of Santo Amaro Bahia in the northeastern part of the country 28 In the Philippines the bolo is used in training in eskrima the indigenous martial art of the Philippines 29 Similar tools EditThe panga or tapanga is a variant used in East and Southern Africa This name may be of Swahili etymology not to be confused with the Panga fish The panga blade broadens on the backside and has a length of 41 to 46 cm 16 to 18 in The upper inclined portion of the blade may be sharpened 30 Other similar tools include the parang 31 and the golok 32 from Malaysia and Indonesia however these tend to have shorter thicker blades with a primary grind and are more effective on woody vegetation The tsakat is a similar tool used in Armenia for clearing land of vegetation Other similar tools include Dusack Golok Kopis Kukri Macuahuitl Seax Sorocaban KnifePopular culture EditMarvel Comics features machetes used by Kraven the Hunter and also Harley Clinvendon his counterpart in the 1967 version of Spider Man In the Friday the 13th franchise a machete is Jason Voorhees signature weapon In the 1999 version of Tarzan a machete was used by Clayton a poacher Sokka one of the main characters in Avatar The Last Airbender uses a machete Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles features a machete used by Rocksteady a mutant rhinoceros thug Machetes were among many weapons used by Sideshow Bob in The Simpsons Machetes were the primary weapons for Isador Machete Cortez in the Spy Kids films the Grindhouse fake trailer Machete and Machete Kills The Last Circus features the Funny Clown father of the protagonist Javier who wields a machete The machete is the short range weapon of the Medellin Cartel when fighting Somali pirates in Deadliest Warrior The Hunger Games Catching Fire features a machete becoming the primary weapon for Peeta Mellark James Bond film series features machetes in Live and Let Die Licence to Kill and the 2006 version of Casino Royale Mother Russia wields a machete with the words God give God take inscribed on the blade in Russian on Kick Ass 2 Assassin s Creed Freedom Cry features machetes used by Adewale Call of Duty Black Ops II features a machete as an optional melee weapon in some missions Dylan Morton from Dino Crisis 2 had a machete as a side weapon at the start of the game and enabled him to hack away at doors that were covered in heavy vegetation Chris Redfield from Resident Evil 5 uses a machete as his default melee weapon References Edit Online Etymology Dictionary etymonline com Retrieved 10 December 2016 La falcata mito romantico o realidad Archivos de la Historia 8 April 2020 Es Armas El Machete Abriendose paso en jungla y combate Mundo Armas matchet Dictionary thesaurus The Free Dictionary Retrieved 7 February 2009 Blair Teresa P A Z of Jamaican Patois Patwah Page 49 Google Books Result Klein John 21 October 2013 What Is a Machete Anyway The Atlantic Retrieved 15 January 2015 a b c Franz Carl Rogers Carl Franz Lorena Havens Steve Havens Lorena 11 December 2012 The People s Guide to Mexico Avalon Travel Publishing pp 277 278 ISBN 978 1 61238 049 0 Day Nicholas 9 April 2013 Give Your Baby a Machete Slate Retrieved 19 April 2013 Martin Gus 15 June 2011 The SAGE Encyclopedia of Terrorism Second Edition SAGE Publications p 490 ISBN 978 1 4129 8016 6 Verwimp P 2006 Machetes and Firearms the Organization of Massacres in Rwanda Journal of Peace Research 43 1 5 22 doi 10 1177 0022343306059576 Braid Mary 3 March 1999 The Jungle Massacre African rebels who revel in their machete genocide The Independent Archived from the original on 12 January 2018 Retrieved 6 February 2009 Tonton Macoute Haiti History Haitian Media Archived from the original on 3 January 2013 Retrieved 6 February 2009 Ponce Mildrey 2007 Why Did The English Take Over Havana Cuba Now Archived from the original on 14 July 2014 Retrieved 6 February 2009 Tone John Lawrence 2006 Chapter 10 Mal Tiempo and the Romance of the Machete War and Genocide in Cuba 1895 1898 University of North Carolina Press pp 126 127 ISBN 978 0 8078 3006 2 Gravette A G 28 September 2007 Chapter 7 The Southern Peninsula Cuba 5 ed New Holland Publishers p 106 ISBN 978 1 84537 860 8 Major General Maximo Gomez Baez Revolutionary Armed Forces Gobierno de la Republica de Cuba Archived from the original on 4 March 2016 Retrieved 6 February 2009 Plot Overview Things Fall Apart SparkNotes Retrieved 6 February 2009 Sturges James Walter August 2010 Machetes in the Trunk Three Weeks in Panama James Sturges p 31 ISBN 978 1 4404 8664 7 a b Allsopp Richard 2003 Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage University of the West Indies Press pp 184 442 443 ISBN 978 976 640 145 0 Conjunto de Selva Produtos Industria de Material Belico do Brasil Archived from the original on 29 April 2021 Retrieved 20 February 2012 Cavaleri David P 2005 The Law of War Can 20th Century Standards Apply to the Global War on Terrorism DIANE Publishing p 66 ISBN 978 1 4379 2301 8 Jones Chester Lloyd 1906 The Consular Service of the United States Its History and Activities Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press p 72 Kauffman Henry J 1994 III The Nineteenth Century American Axes A Survey of Their Development and Their Makers Masthof Press p 30 ISBN 978 1 883294 12 0 Henry Daniel Edward 1995 Collins Machetes and Bowies 1845 1965 Krause Publications p 15 ISBN 978 0 87341 403 6 La Farge Oliver 1956 A Pictorial History of the American Indian Crown Publishers p 219 1566 Vintage Trinidad Machete in Leather Sheath Lot 1566 liveauctioneers com Retrieved 10 December 2016 Colombia lider La Prensa laprensa com ni 12 April 2014 Archived from the original on 14 April 2014 Retrieved 1 May 2018 Lewis John Lowell 1992 3 Capoeira in Salvador Ring of Liberation Deceptive Discourse in Brazilian Capoeira University of Chicago Press pp 54 55 ISBN 978 0 226 47683 4 Wilson Frederick T 1 January 2004 A Sailor s Log Water tender Frederick T Wilson USN on Asiatic Station 1899 1901 Washington Kent State University Press p 130 ISBN 978 0 87338 782 8 Mothander Bjorn Finn Kjaerby Kjell J Havnevik 1989 Farm Implements for Small scale Farmers in Tanzania Nordic Africa Institute pp 36 37 ISBN 978 91 7106 290 1 Stone George Cameron Donald J LaRocca 1999 A Glossary of the Construction Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times In All Countries and in All Times Courier Dover Publications pp 481 482 ISBN 978 0 486 40726 5 Stone George Cameron Donald J LaRocca 1999 A Glossary of the Construction Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times In All Countries and in All Times Courier Dover Publications p 249 ISBN 978 0 486 40726 5 External links Edit Media related to Machetes at Wikimedia Commons Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Machete amp oldid 1131513505, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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