Zumbooruck

A zumbooruck (also spelled zumbooruk, zomboruk, zamboorak, zamburak, or zamburek) was a specialized form of camel cavalry and mobile artillery from the early modern era. The operator of a zumbooruck is known as a zumboorukchee or zamburakchi.

Use

Probably developed by Egyptian warriors, the zumbooruck was rapidly adopted by Arab, Afghan, Indian and especially Persian Safavid armies. Zumboorucks were one of the royal guard units in the 19th-century Persian army. A Persian zumbooruck regiment would be accompanied by musicians with huge camel-mounted drums, in order to create even more noise and impress the enemy. Zumboorucks were used against the invading British in the Anglo-Afghan Wars and in the Anglo-Sikh Wars.

A zumbooruck consisted of a soldier on a camel with a mounted swivel gun (a small falconet), which was hinged on a metal fork-rest protruding from the saddle of the animal. In order to fire the cannon, the camel would be put on its knees. The name may be derived from Arabic "zambūr", hornet (possibly in reference to the sound earlier camel-mounted crossbows made). The mobility of the camel combined with the flexibility and heavy firepower of the swivel gun to make an intimidating military unit, although the accuracy and range of the cannon was rather low. The light cannon was also not particularly useful against heavy fortifications.

A later development (after 1850) would see Gatling guns mounted on camels as well.

References in popular culture

The "zamburak" is an Indian unique unit in the RTS game Age of Empires 3: The Asian Dynasties expansion. It serves as a light ranged cavalry unit, good against other cavalry units.

Sources

* [http://www.bibliomania.com/2/3/260/1293/20296/1/frameset.html www.bibliomania.com/2/3/260/1293/20296/1/frameset.html]
* [http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.2:1:460.hobson dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.2:1:460.hobson]
* [http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/sheil/persia/185.jpeg digital.library.upenn.edu/women/sheil/persia/185.jpeg] an image
* [http://www.ageofempires3.com/asiandynasties/india.html www.ageofempires3.com/asiandynasties/india.html]
* [http://www.answers.com/topic/zumbooruk Answers.com entry (citing 1913 Webster's Dictionary)]
* [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/zumbooruk Thefreedictionary.com entry]