The Agricultural System of the Manya-Krobo of the Gold Coast

Africa ◽  
1943 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 54-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Field
Keyword(s):  
Gold Coast ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
The Town

Opening ParagraphThe Manya-Krobo are one of the eight groups comprising the Adangme-speaking peoples who inhabit the Shai Plain between the River Volta and the Accra Plain. Until about 1890 the Krobo head-quarters were on the Krobo Hill, a rocky fastness which rises abruptly like a craggy island out of the perfectly flat plain. They have now abandoned this hill and made their head-quarters in the town of Odumase near the foot.

One hundred and fifty years of Christianity in a Ghanaian town

Africa ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 2-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Middleton
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Gold Coast ◽  
Local Congregation ◽  
Presbyterian Church ◽  
The People ◽  
National Capital ◽  
Large Town ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
Basel Mission ◽  
The Town

Opening ParagraphThis paper deals with certain aspects of a Christian congregation in a kingdom of southern Ghana, in particular its growth over the past 150 years and the part it plays in the lives of the people of the capital town of the state. Most studies of the development of Christianity in Africa deal with questions of religious ideology (especially that of the conflict between different systems of belief), of conversion, and of the growth of syncretist and separatist movements. Here I am concerned with the development of a Christian congregation that is neither syncretist nor separatist and with its place as one element of a total local religious system which includes other faiths. It is the local congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana in the town of Akuropon, the capital of the eastern Akan kingdom of Akuapem, in the Akuapem Hills that lie some twenty-five miles north of Accra, the national capital. The state has a resident population of about 70,000 and the town one of some 6000. However, the number of people who, wherever they live, regard themselves as Akuroponfo, ‘people of Akuropon’, probably amounts to some 20,000. Those who live elsewhere return to the town when they can at weekends, Christmas, Easter, and the great annual purificatory festival of Odwira, held in September or October; and most hope finally to return to their ‘home-town’ (as it is known in Ghana) to be buried. Although not a large town, it is known widely as the seat of the main educational facilities of the Presbyterian Church since the arrival of the Basel Mission in the then Gold Coast in 1828. Due largely to this fact it has provided more than its share of political, educational and other leaders of Gold Coast and Ghanian society.

The Social Structure of Modern Bamako

Africa ◽  
1965 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claude Meillassoux
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
The North ◽  
The Social ◽  
North Bank ◽  
Niger River ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
The Town

Opening ParagraphAccording to a partial census taken in 1960, Bamako city has about 130,000 inhabitants. Small by Western standards, it is still by far the largest city in Mali. At the time of the French conquest Bamako had only between 800 and 1,000 inhabitants; it was the capital of a Bambara chiefdom, grouping about thirty villages on the north bank of the Niger river, with a total of about 5,000 people. The ruling dynasty was that of the Niaré, who, according to their traditions, came from the Kingi eleven generations ago (between 1640 and 1700). For defence against the neighbours and armed slave-raiders fortifications were built around the town and a permanent army of so-fa (horsemen) was raised. Soon after its foundation Bamako attracted Moslem Moors from Twat who settled as marabouts and merchants under the protection of the Niaré's warriors. Among them, the Twati (later to be called Touré) and the Dravé became, alongside and sometimes in competition with the Niaré, the leading families.

Meeting Africa’s Challenge: The Story of the American Committee on Africa

1976 ◽  
Vol 6 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 16-26
Author(s):  
George M. Houser
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Gold Coast ◽  
Reference Book ◽  
Reading Public ◽  
Secretary Of State ◽  
American Interest ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Town ◽  
Relevant Material

In the early 1950s when the American Committee on Africa was formed, American interest in and knowledge about Africa was something of a joke. There was a Tarzan mentality in the US about the continent. Few books about Africa were known even by the reading public. Gunther’s Inside Africa, when it came out in 1956, served as a reference book for years for those Americans who wanted to get a perspective on the continent. I remember listening to Chester Bowles, who served as under secretary of state briefly in the Kennedy administration, speak about his own attempt to find relevant material about Africa in a Connecticut town. He told about his visit to the town public library, where he culled through the card catalogue. To find books on the Congo he said he had to search under “B” for “Belgium.” In searching for material on Ghana (then the Gold Coast) or Nigeria, he had to look under “Great Britain.” He found books about Liberia and Ethiopia under “Miscellaneous.” Knowledge of Africa was minimal, and the continent was on the whole looked upon as an extension of Europe.

scholarly journals A biosystematic crisis and a global response to resolve it

1994 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
pp. 443-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tecwyn Jones OBE
Keyword(s):  
Gold Coast ◽  
False Information ◽  
Global Response ◽  
Saturday Night ◽  
The Town ◽  
Do So

Very late on a dark Saturday night in 1953, in the town of Kumasi in what was then the Gold Coast (Ghana), a semi-literate Tribal Policeman accosted a totally illiterate and inebriated employee of mine called Awuni Farafara, with the words ‘Who be You’. Awuni's reply of ‘I be Me’, caused the policeman to retort ‘You Lie!’ and the luckless Awuni was incarcerated for ‘failing to identify himself and thereby hindering the police in the performance of their duty’.My plea, on his behalf, that Awuni's reply to the policeman was perfectly correct was rejected on the grounds that, ‘Me was not his given name; Me was not the name by which he was known; and Me was not the name by which the police could check their records to see what was known about him’. It further transpired that even if Awuni had given his correct name he would still have been arrested, ‘because it could have been a false name leading the police to false information in their records’. Awuni it seemed was destined to remain in jail until ‘he had been properly identified by someone with the authority to do so’. I had such authority; I did properly identify him; and he was released.

The Politics of Land and Urban Space in Colonial Accra

2012 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 293-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naaborko Sackeyfio
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Gold Coast ◽  
Central Feature ◽  
Land Claims ◽  
Variety Of Groups ◽  
Land Disputes ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
The Town

Abstract:This article connects the colonial land ordinances and laws of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century with the changing meanings of property, to show both their impact, and how these developments resonated for the Ga-inhabitants of Accra and the Gold Coast Colony. The laws and African responses to them illustrate the ways in which property took on new meaning for a variety of groups. It also presents the framework for understanding why litigation, and the production of land claims became a central feature of land affairs in Accra with the continued development of the town. This analysis contributes to the existing literature on property rights in colonial Gold Coast by carefully considering the intricacies and nuances of land disputes in the colonial capital, and their intersection with larger transformations in land affairs.

scholarly journals Witchcraft and Anti-Witchcraft in Nupe Society

Africa ◽  
1935 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 423-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. F. Nadel
Keyword(s):  
Political Issues ◽  
Adverse Conditions ◽  
Death Sentences ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
The Town

Opening ParagraphMy investigations into witchcraft among the Nupe were carried out under extremely adverse conditions. In February 1932 Bida, the capital of Nupe Emirate, had seen an outbreak of witchcraft which threw the whole country into a state of gravest unrest. Three women, an alleged witch with her daughter and granddaughter, were stoned to death by the enraged people of Bida when they tried to obtain justice against their accusers. The house of one of the town notables who was involved in the case was set fire to. The town was in turmoil, and the ensuing trial before the European authorities, complicated as it was by political issues and violent party feuds, was carried out under great difficulties. It lasted three months, and ended with two death sentences and two sentences of long-term imprisonment. When I arrived in Nupe country in January 1934, these happenings were still alive in every one's memory.

Some Observations on Religious Cults in Ashanti

Africa ◽  
1956 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara E. Ward
Keyword(s):  
Preliminary Report ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Gold Coast ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Demand For Education ◽  
Opening Paragraph

Opening ParagraphRecent happenings in the Gold Coast, and particularly in Ashanti, have tended to focus interest upon the structure of the constitution and the struggle for political power. Ten years ago two other movements were attracting at least as much attention. In a preliminary report on the work of the Ashanti Social Survey, published in 1948, Fortes described these as first, an apparently insatiable demand for schools, and, second, an almost equally if not more powerful development of what he called ‘new witch-finding cults’. That the demand for education of all kinds continues and is gradually being met is well known; it would be interesting, and perhaps, in the light of occurrences in other parts of Africa, significant to learn what has happened to the new cults.

The Sefwi Wiawso Riot of 1935: the deposition of an Omanhene in the Gold Coast

Africa ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. A. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Gold Coast ◽  
State Council ◽  
Western Province ◽  
Gun Shot ◽  
Cash Economy ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
Shot Wounds

Opening ParagraphOn 15 November 193 5 a riot took place in Wiawso, the capital town of Sefwi Wiawso district in the then Western Province of the Gold Coast. It followed weeks of struggle to bring destoolment charges against the omanhene, Nana Kwame Tano II. Four people died of gun-shot wounds, forty were injured and the omanhene was assaulted. On 2 December the State Council completed its hearing of fifteen charges against the omanhene and brought in a majority verdict in favour of destoolment, which in due course was confirmed by the Governor.Studies of the deposition of chiefs in the Gold Coast have tended to focus on the changing reasons for and, particularly, the increased frequency of destoolment (Busia 1968: passim; Owusu 1970: 63ff.). Arhin especially has looked at the effect of the cash economy upon the relationships between chiefs and their subjects (Arhin 1976). Others have described the increasing complexity of the politico-jural structures surrounding the office and functions of chieftaincy as revealed in destoolment cases (Dunn and Robertson, 1973; Robertson 1976).

scholarly journals The domestic mosquitos of Accra

1916 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. W. Scott Macfie ◽  
A. Ingram
Keyword(s):  
Relative Humidity ◽  
Residential Area ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Gold Coast ◽  
Careful Examination ◽  
Mosquito Larvae ◽  
The West ◽  
Average Rainfall ◽  
Physical Features ◽  
The Town

Samples of water containing mosquito larvae are collected at Accra by the Sanitary Inspectors, and are sent regularly to the Laboratory for identification. The number of samples submitted in this way is never very large, and varies considerably from time to time; but, recently, a careful examination has been made of all the specimens received during a complete year, and it is proposed to analyse in this paper the materials thus collected. In 1910–1911 Graham made a similar study of the larvae found in native water-receptacles at Lagos, and it will therefore be interesting to compare our results with those obtained by him.Accra, the capital of the Gold Coast Colony, is situated on the coast a few miles west of the meridian of Greenwich and about 330 miles north of the Equator. The town itself is divided into three portions, Accra proper to the west, Christiansborg where the Governor resides to the east, and the official residential area Victoriaborg between these two. The surrounding country is level for some miles, but the actual site of the town slopes slightly upwards as it recedes from the sea. Accra is a very dry and dusty town, almost completely denuded of vegetation. The rainfall is low ; during the twelve months under consideration, December 1914 to November 1915, 21·75 inches of rain fell. During the same period the maximum shade temperature averaged 85·39°, the minimum 73·83°, and the relative humidity 72·46°. The physical features and climatic conditions of Accra differ therefore greatly from those of Lagos, a low-lying town surrounded by swamps with an average rainfall of about 70 inches.

The Financing of the Ashanti Expansion (1700–1820)

Africa ◽  
1967 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 283-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kwame Arhin
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
Coastal Areas ◽  
Gold Coast ◽  
Opening Paragraph

Opening ParagraphThe arrival of Europeans, and the introduction of guns, first in the coastal areas JL and then into the interior of West Africa, altered the nature of warfare. Already in the seventeenth century, the Akan-Fanti, Akim, Akwamu, and other peoples on the Gold Coast no longer relied entirely on bows and arrows, spears, and javelins which were the traditional weapons but used guns and even a few cannon. Besides the change in weapons, wars were undertaken on a larger scale than ever before—a situation which was aggravated by participation in the slave trade. Among the peoples of the Gold Coast, now Ghana, none excelled the Ashanti in either the scale or intensity of their fighting. From the turn of the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries, they fought major wars of conquest and minor ones of consolidation throughout the area of present-day Ghana, and after 1820 they were involved in four major clashes with the British until the latter dissolved their kingdom in 1900.

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