|
Ghana Major Ethnic Groups
![[JPEG]](http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/jpeg.gif)
Fishermen offer their daily catch for sale on a beach
near Accra
Courtesy James Sanders
On the basis of language and culture, historical geographers
and cultural anthropologists classify the indigenous people of
Ghana into five major groups. These are the Akan, the Ewe, MoleDagbane , the Guan, and the Ga-Adangbe.
The Akan Group
The Akan people occupy practically the whole of Ghana south and
west of the Black Volta. Historical accounts suggest that Akan
groups migrated from the north to occupy the forest and coastal
areas of the south as early as the thirteenth century. Some of the
Akan ended up in the eastern section of Côte d'Ivoire, where they
created the Baule community.
When Europeans arrived at the coast in the fifteenth century,
the Akan were established there. The typical political unit was the
small state under the headship of an elder from one of the seven or
eight
clans (see Glossary) that composed Akan society. From these
units emerged several powerful states, of which the oldest is
thought to be Bono (also called Brong). As a result of military
conquests and partial assimilation of weaker groups, well-known
political entities, such as Akwamu, Asante (also seen as
Ashanti-- see Glossary), Akyem, Denkyira, and Fante emerged
before the close
of the seventeenth century. Asante, for example, continued to
expand throughout the eighteenth century and survived as an
imperial power until the end of the nineteenth century, when it
succumbed to British rule
(see The Precolonial Period
, ch. 1).
The coastal Akan (Fante) were the first to have relations with
Europeans. As a result of long association, these groups absorbed
aspects of British culture and language. For example, it became
customary among these people to accept British names as family
names.
The primary form of Akan social organization is the family or
the abusu--the basic unit in a society based
on
matriclans (see Glossary). Through the exogamous matriclan system, local
identity and individual status, inheritance, succession to wealth
and to political offices, and even basic relations within the
village community are determined. Every
lineage (see Glossary) is
a corporate group with its own identity, group solidarity,
exclusive property, and symbols. The ownership of a symbolic carved
chair or stool, usually named after the female founder of the
matriclan, became the means through which individuals traced their
ancestry. These lineages have segmented into branches, each led by
an elder, headman, or chief, but a branch, although it possesses a
stool, is not an autonomous political or social unit. Possession of
the ritually important stool is seen as vital, not only to the
existence of the abusu but to the group as a whole.
Despite the matrilineal focus of Akan societies, most
traditional leadership positions are held by men. Male succession
to inherited positions is, however, determined by relationship to
mothers and sisters. Consequently, a man's valuable property is
passed on not to his children, but to his brother or sister's son.
A man may also be expected to support the children of a maternal
relative, whether deceased or alive, an expectation that may
conflict with the interests of his own children. Matrilineal
(see Glossary under
"matrilineage") succession to property has
been the cause of much litigation. There have been instances of wives and
children turning to the courts for redress. In 1986 the government
passed a number of laws that sought to bring the traditions of
inheritance in line with changes that had occurred in the country.
These laws, which included the Intestate Succession Law, the
Customary Marriage and Divorce (Registration) Law, the
Administration of Estate (Amendment) Law, and the Head of Family
(Accountability) Law, recognized the nuclear family as the prime
economic unit. Provision was made, however, for the identification
of collective properties that belonged to the extended family.
Notwithstanding the 1986 legislation, the matriclan system of
the Akan continued to be economically and politically important.
Each lineage controlled the land farmed by its members, functioned
as a religious unit in the veneration of its ancestors, supervised
marriages, and settled internal disputes among its members
(see Traditional Religion
, this ch.). It was from the lineages and the
associations they cultivated that the village, town, and even the
state emerged. The Akan state, therefore, comprehended several kinbased units, one of which, usually the most prominent lineage,
provided the paramount chief, who exercised at least some authority
over incorporated groups. Every one of the incorporated groups,
lineages, or territorial units had some autonomy under its own
headman, chief, or elders. In any case, all chiefs were subject to
removal from office if they acted in any manner that alienated a
substantial number of people, especially influential ones.
The relative homogeneity of Akan cultures, languages, and
authority structures has not led to political unity; the most
important conflicts of the Akan in precolonial and colonial times,
for example, were with other Akan groups. This is understandable if
the state is seen as the arena of political life and as a set of
institutions concerned with power, especially for internal
regulation, and for the defense of its component members. The
development of the Asante Empire, for example, was largely at the
expense of the independence of the surrounding Akan, who were quick
to reassert their autonomy, especially after 1896, when Asante was
defeated and its king, the asantehen (king of Asante), was
exiled to the Seychelles by the British. In the struggle for
independence and in the period since then, political alignments
have followed local interests rather than any conception of Akan
ethnic unity.
Data as of November 1994
|
![[JPEG]](http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/ghana/gh02_03b.jpg)
