This Montagnard crossbow antique is from the Vietnamese HIll Tribes, and it has been restored into a non-functional item for collectors. Montagnard is an umbrella term for the various indigenous peoples of the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The French term Montagnard (listen)) signifies a mountain dweller, and is a carryover from the French colonial period in Vietnam. In Vietnamese, they are known by the term Thượng (lit. 'highlanders'), although this term can also be applied to other minority ethnic groups in Vietnam. In modern Vietnam, both terms are archaic, and indigenous ethnic groups are referred to as Đồng bào (lit. 'compatriot') or Người dân tộc thiểu số (lit. 'minority people'). Earlier they were referred to pejoratively as the mọi.
The bow, stock and trigger is all broken and glued back, but the glue is not strong enough for functional shooting. it has been re-sanded and stained to give its original look from the 1970s.
The stock is over 500mm and designed for two hand use. they had one handed crossbows as well but those were more pistol gripped or shot without aiming at very close distances.
The Montagnards are most covered in English-language scholarship for their participation in the Vietnam War, where they were heavily recruited by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and its American and Australian allies. The Montagnards tended to be Christian at a higher proportion than that of the Viet people, and the North Vietnamese were seen by some Montagnards as propounding a heavily centralized state that would not value Montagnard local priorities or religious practices.
"Throughout the southeastern Asia the crossbow is still used by primitive and tribal peoples both for hunting and war, from the Assamese mountains through Burma, Siam and to the confines of Indo-China. The peoples of the northeastern Asia possess it also, both as weapon and toy, but use it mainly in the form of unattended traps; this is true of the Yakut, Tungus, and Chukchi, even of the Ainu in the east. There seems to be no way of answering the question whether it first arose among the barbaric forefathers of these Asian peoples before the rise of the Chinese culture in their midst, and then underwent its technical development only therein, or whether it spread outwards from China to all the environing peoples. The former seems the more probable hypothesis, given the further linguistic evidence in its support"
Needham, Joseph (1994), Science and Civilization in China Volume 5 Part 6, Cambridge University Press
Around the third century BC, King An Dương of Âu Lạc (modern-day northern Vietnam) and (modern-day southern China) commissioned a man named Cao Lỗ (or Cao Thông) to construct a crossbow and christened it "Saintly Crossbow of the Supernaturally Luminous Golden Claw" (nỏ thần), which one shot could killed 300 men. According to historian Keith Taylor, the crossbow, along with the word for it, seems to have been introduced into China from Austroasiatic peoples in the south around the fourth century BC. However, this is contradicted by crossbow locks found in ancient "Chinese" Zhou Dynasty tombs dating to the 600s BC.
In 315 AD, Nu Wen taught the Chams how to build fortifications and use crossbows. The Chams would later give the Chinese crossbows as presents on at least one occasion. Siege crossbows were transmitted to the Chams by Zhi Yangjun, who was shipwrecked on their coast in 1172. He remained there and taught them mounted archery and how to use siege crossbows. In 1177 crossbows were used by the Champa in their invasion and sacking of Angkor, the Khmer Empire's capital. The Khmer also had double bow crossbows mounted on elephants, which Michel JacqHergoualc’h suggest were elements of Cham mercenaries in Jayavarman VII's army.
0:00 intro
4:53 Vietnam war era
7:56 Prior to the Modern Era
9:23 Poison
10:17 features of this crossbow
13:09 Trigger design
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