Bono state
Bono State Bonoman | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11th century | |||||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Bono Manso | ||||||||||||||||||
| Common languages | Bono Twi | ||||||||||||||||||
| Religion | Bono Ancestral worship and spirituality | ||||||||||||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||||
• Established | 11th century | ||||||||||||||||||
• Incorporated to form British Ashanti Crown Colony | 1935 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1957 | |||||||||||||||||||
• Renamed Brong-Ahafo | 1959 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Currency | Gold dust, cowries and (Salt, copper) | ||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| Today part of | Ghana
Ivory Coast | ||||||||||||||||||
Bono State (or Bonoman) was a trading state created by the Bono people, located in what is now southern Ghana. Bonoman was a medieval Akan state that stretched across the modern Ghanaian regions of Bono, Bono East and Ahafo (respectively named after the Bono and Ahafo peoples) and the Eastern Ivory Coast.[1] It is generally accepted as the origin of the subgroups of the Akan people who migrated out of the state at various times to create new Akan states in search of gold. The gold trade, which started to boom in Bonoman as early as the 14th century, led to the Akan War, as well as increased power and wealth in the region, beginning in the Middle Ages.[2]
History
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Origin
[edit]Many theorists have linked the origin of the Akan people of Bonoman to a southward migration from the Ghana Empire or broader Sahel region, citing linguistic, cultural, and trade connections.[3] However, research and oral traditions suggest that the Akan—particularly the Bono people—developed indigenously in the forest-savanna transition zone of present-day Brong Ahafo Region, Ghana.[4]
Archaeological evidence confirms that the region was inhabited long before Bonoman emerged as a state. Excavations at Begho (also known as Bɛw or Nsoko), a key site later central to Bono civilization, have revealed material culture dating back to the 8th century BCE. Early remains include red-slipped and burnished pottery, grinding stones, swish-walled dwellings constructed using wattle-and-daub techniques, and iron-smelting furnaces with slag. These findings reflect a proto-urban society engaged in farming, craft production, metallurgy, and regional exchange. The earliest settlements were typically arranged in dispersed clusters and located near sacred groves, caves, or inselbergs—echoing oral traditions that speak of ancestors emerging from “holes in the earth.” This early phase provided the technological and cultural foundation for the rise of Bonoman.[5].
By the first millennium CE, Bonoman had emerged as one of the earliest recognized Akan states. Settlements such as Bono Manso, Techiman, and Begho exhibited organized town planning, sacred architecture, and advanced iron-working industries. Archaeological research dates these towns to at least 400 CE, with evidence of iron smelting appearing as early as 100 CE in parts of Begho and 300 CE in Abam. The Amowi rock shelter, another sacred Bono site, was inhabited before 400 CE, further affirming the region’s long-standing habitation and spiritual significance.[6]
Apogee
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Fall of the Bonoman
[edit]The decline of Bonoman coincided with the rise of other Akan polities and the migration of various subgroups of Akans from the region. This movement contributed to the spread of Akan dialects, including those found across present-day Ivory Coast and Ghana.
Several factors contributed to this fragmentation, including leadership disputes, tensions over taxation, and the lack of direct access to coastal trade along the Gold Coast, where emerging southern states gained growing influence through commerce.[2][7]
Despite its enduring political and cultural strength, Bonoman eventually faced increasing external pressures. The Asante Empire, under the leadership of Opoku Ware, launched a series of military campaigns that culminated in the conquest of Bono Manso around 1722–1723, marking a decisive end to its independence.[8]
Trading centers used by state
[edit]| Akan people |
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Bono Manso
[edit]Bono Manso (literally "on the state of Bono") sometimes known as Bono Manso or Mansu was a trading area in the medieval state of Bonoman, and a major trading centre in what is now predominantly Bono East region. Located just south of the Black Volta river at the transitional zone between savanna and forest, the town was frequented by caravans from Djenné and Timbuktu as part of the Trans-Saharan trade. Goods traded included kola nuts, salt, leather, and gold; gold was the most important trading good of the area, starting in the mid-14th century.[2][7][9][10]
Begho
[edit]Begho (also Bighu or Bitu; called Bew and Nsokɔ by the Akan)[11] was a medieval trading town located just south of the Black Volta at the transitional zone between the forest and savanna north-western Brong-Ahafo. The town, like Bono-Manso, was of considerable importance as an entrepot frequented by northern caravans from Mali Empire from around 1100 AD. Goods traded included ivory, salt, leather, gold, kola nuts, cloth, and copper alloys.[9][12]
Excavations have laid bare walled structures dated between 1350 and 1750 AD, as well as pottery of all kinds, smoking pipes, and evidence of iron smelting. With a probable population of over 10 000, Begho was one of the largest towns in the southern part of West Africa at the time of the arrival of the Portuguese in 1471.[12]
The Malian king occupied Bighu in the mid-sixteenth century as a "perceived failure of the Bighu Juula to maintain supplies of gold," according to Bakewell. "As a result of the occupation of Bighu it seems clear that the Malian king gained access for a time to that part of the Akan gold trade which the Wangara were able to control." Bakewell also notes, "the site of the abandoned town of Bighu, or Bitu, in the present-day Ghana...lies near the present village of Hani."[13]18,30–31
Bonduku
[edit]Bonduku was another trading center within the empire of Bonoman. It gave birth to the state of Gyaman also spelled Jamang Kingdom which was particularly famous in the production of cotton. The state existed from 1450 to 1895 and was located in what is now Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire.[7]
Structure of towns of Bonoman
[edit]Based on excavations, carbon datings and local oral traditions, Effah-Gyamfi (1985) postulated three distinct urban phases. According to him, in the early phase (thirteenth to the fifteenth century) the urban center was relatively small, and the towns were populated by thousands of people, not all living in the urban center. Buildings were made of daubed wattle. Painted pottery of this period was found distributed within a radius of 3.3 km.
In the second phase, the 16th to the 17th century, the urban centers were larger, consisting mainly of evenly distributed houses and a nuclear market center. Many indications of participation in long-distance trade, such as imported glass beads and mica coated pottery, stem from this period.[10][2]
Influence on Akan Culture
[edit]Various aspects of Akan culture stem from the Bono state, including the umbrella used for the kings, the swords of the nation, the stools, goldsmithing, blacksmithing, Kente Cloth weaving, the famous adinkra symbols and goldweighing.[7]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Anquandah, James (2002). "Ghana: early towns & the development of urban culture: an archaeological view". In Adande, Alexis B. A.; Arinze, Emmanuel (eds.). Museums & urban culture in West Africa. Oxford: James Currey. pp. 9–16. ISBN 0-85255-276-9.
- ^ a b c d Effah-Gyamfi, Kwaku (1987). "Archaeology and the study of early African towns: the West African case, especially Ghana", West African Journal of Archaeology.
- ^ "Atlas of the Human Journey". The Genographic Project. Retrieved 2009-01-10.
{{cite web}}: Check|archive-url=value (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Anquandah, James (2013). "The People of Ghana: Their Origins and Cultures". Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana (15): 1–25. ISSN 0855-3246.
- ^ Konadu, Kwasi (2016). The Ghana Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Duke University Press. pp. 32–34. ISBN 9780822359845.; Posnansky, Merrick (1979). "Archaeology and Early Settlement" in Arhin, Kwame (ed.) A Profile of Brong Kyempim. Afram Publications (Ghana) Ltd., pp. 23–30
- ^ Konadu, Kwasi (2016). The Ghana Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Duke University Press. pp. 32–34. ISBN 9780822359845.
- ^ a b c d Crossland, L. B. (1989). “Pottery from the Begho-B2 site, Ghana”. African occasional papers 4. Calgary: University of Calgary Press. ISBN 0-919813-84-4. Effah-Gyamfi, Kwaku (1985), Bono Manso: an archaeological investigation into early Akan urbanism (African occasional papers, no. 2) Calgary: Dept. of Archaeology, University of Calgary Press. ISBN 0-919813-27-5
- ^ Arhin, Kwame (1979). A Profile of Brong Kyempim: Essays on the Archaeology, History, Language and Politics of the Brong Peoples of Ghana. Afram Publications (Ghana) Ltd., pp. 11–12.
- ^ a b Crossland, L. B. (1989). Pottery from the Begho-B2 site, Ghana. African occasional papers. 4. Calgary: University of Calgary Press. ISBN 0-919813-84-4.
- ^ a b Meyerowitz, Eva L.R. (1949), "Bono-Mansu, the earliest centre of civilisation in the Gold Coast", Proceedings of the III International West African Conference, 118–120.
- ^ Kwasi Konadu, The Akan Diaspora in the Americas (Oxford University Press, 2010; ISBN 0199889279), p. 51.
- ^ a b Goody, Jack (1964). "The Mande and the Akan Hinterland". In Vansina, J.; Mauny, R.; Thomas, L. V. (eds.). The Historian in Tropical Africa. London: Oxford University. pp. 192–218.
- ^ Effah-Gyamfi, Kwaku (1979), Traditional history of the Bono State Legon: Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana.
Further reading
[edit]- Anquandah, James (2002). "Ghana: early towns & the development of urban culture: an archaeological view". In Adande, Alexis B. A.; Arinze, Emmanuel (eds.). Museums & urban culture in West Africa. Oxford: James Currey. pp. 9–16. ISBN 0-85255-276-9.
- Crossland, L. B. (1989). Pottery from the Begho-B2 site, Ghana. African occasional papers. Vol. 4. Calgary: University of Calgary Press. ISBN 0-919813-84-4.
- Effah-Gyamfi, Kwaku (1987). "Archaeology and the study of early African towns: the West African case, especially Ghana". West African Journal of Archaeology. 17: 229–241.
- Goody, Jack (1964). "The Mande and the Akan Hinterland". In Vansina, J.; Mauny, R.; Thomas, L. V. (eds.). The Historian in Tropical Africa. London: Oxford University. pp. 192–218.
- Insoll, Timothy (2003). The Archaeology of Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-65702-4.
- Effah-Gyamfi, Kwaku (1979), Traditional history of the Bono State Legon: Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana.
- Meyerowitz, Eva L.R. (1949), "Bono-Mansu, the earliest centre of civilisation in the Gold Coast", Proceedings of the III International West African Conference, 118–120.
