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Bono people
The Bono, also known as the Brong or Abron, are an Akan people of central Ghana and northeastern Ivory Coast. They speak the Bono Twi and form one of the largest matrilineal Akan groups. According to Takyiman traditions, the Bono were the first Akan to develop a state, and other Akan states are believed to have emerged later. Oral traditions and archaeological evidence highlight Bono Manso and Begho as major centers of early Akan settlement.” Past historians described Bono as the cradle of the Akan people, with all Akan groups tracing their origins to Bono.Archaeological evidence and modern historians emphasize that Bono-Manso and Begho were among several of the earliest centers of development for the Akan people, serving as major sites of cultural and political formation closely tied to both oral traditions and material evidence.
The Bono became prosperous at Bono state through gold discovery, trade and commerce from neighbouring partners and across Africa. As part of commercial transactions, gold dust were used as currency and gold weights as a measure of value. In 1471 when the first European-Portuguese visited Gold Coast (now Ghana), Bono Manso and Begho were an urban cities in West Africa. Begho at its peak had an estimated population of 15000. Bono Manso on the other hand played a significant role in the Atlantic slave trade and as a result, Africans in Diaspora visit to learn more about their history. The Bono people are mostly located in central part of Ghana and northeastern Ivory Coast.
The name Bono is derived from the phrase Abono woo, meaning “pioneer or firstborn of the land.” Nana Kwakye Ameyaw elaborated:
Bono as has been explained by my forefathers means a pioneer — something that comes first.
— Nana Kwakye Ameyaw, in The Profile of Bono kyempem
According to Techiman-Bono oral tradition, the earliest ancestors of the Bono emerged from a sacred cave known as Amowi, and, believing they were the first to inhabit the region, referred to themselves as Abono woo—which eventually shortened to Bono. These oral traditions of emergence from caves and sacred holes emphasize a spiritual connection to the land and ancestry, with sites such as Amowi and others in the Bono region regarded as points of origin.
By the 19th century, the name Bono (or Brong) had come to signify a wider geographic and political area. As historian explain it, “the whole area between Asante-Mampong and the Volta was known both to the peoples in that area and to outsiders as ‘Brong’, signifying an area that but for the Asante conquest, would be the domain, ‘Bonoman’, of the king of Bono-Manso”. In some cases, neighboring groups such as the Asante and Gonja applied the name “Brong” to peoples in proximity to Bono Manso, even if they were not originally part of the Bono polity.
Earlier theories about the origins and cosmology of the Bono people, especially those advanced by colonial-era scholars such as Eva Meyerowitz, have been strongly challenged by Bono oral historians and contemporary researchers. Meyerowitz proposed that the Bono originated from the Sahara via a place called Diala, and that their cosmology was derived from Middle Eastern sources—claiming that Nyame and Nyankopon represented opposing lunar and solar deities. These ideas formed part of a broader theory that linked the origins of Akan-speaking peoples to the ancient Ghana Empire, Libya, Ancient Egypt, and wider trans-Saharan migration routes.
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Bono people
The Bono, also known as the Brong or Abron, are an Akan people of central Ghana and northeastern Ivory Coast. They speak the Bono Twi and form one of the largest matrilineal Akan groups. According to Takyiman traditions, the Bono were the first Akan to develop a state, and other Akan states are believed to have emerged later. Oral traditions and archaeological evidence highlight Bono Manso and Begho as major centers of early Akan settlement.” Past historians described Bono as the cradle of the Akan people, with all Akan groups tracing their origins to Bono.Archaeological evidence and modern historians emphasize that Bono-Manso and Begho were among several of the earliest centers of development for the Akan people, serving as major sites of cultural and political formation closely tied to both oral traditions and material evidence.
The Bono became prosperous at Bono state through gold discovery, trade and commerce from neighbouring partners and across Africa. As part of commercial transactions, gold dust were used as currency and gold weights as a measure of value. In 1471 when the first European-Portuguese visited Gold Coast (now Ghana), Bono Manso and Begho were an urban cities in West Africa. Begho at its peak had an estimated population of 15000. Bono Manso on the other hand played a significant role in the Atlantic slave trade and as a result, Africans in Diaspora visit to learn more about their history. The Bono people are mostly located in central part of Ghana and northeastern Ivory Coast.
The name Bono is derived from the phrase Abono woo, meaning “pioneer or firstborn of the land.” Nana Kwakye Ameyaw elaborated:
Bono as has been explained by my forefathers means a pioneer — something that comes first.
— Nana Kwakye Ameyaw, in The Profile of Bono kyempem
According to Techiman-Bono oral tradition, the earliest ancestors of the Bono emerged from a sacred cave known as Amowi, and, believing they were the first to inhabit the region, referred to themselves as Abono woo—which eventually shortened to Bono. These oral traditions of emergence from caves and sacred holes emphasize a spiritual connection to the land and ancestry, with sites such as Amowi and others in the Bono region regarded as points of origin.
By the 19th century, the name Bono (or Brong) had come to signify a wider geographic and political area. As historian explain it, “the whole area between Asante-Mampong and the Volta was known both to the peoples in that area and to outsiders as ‘Brong’, signifying an area that but for the Asante conquest, would be the domain, ‘Bonoman’, of the king of Bono-Manso”. In some cases, neighboring groups such as the Asante and Gonja applied the name “Brong” to peoples in proximity to Bono Manso, even if they were not originally part of the Bono polity.
Earlier theories about the origins and cosmology of the Bono people, especially those advanced by colonial-era scholars such as Eva Meyerowitz, have been strongly challenged by Bono oral historians and contemporary researchers. Meyerowitz proposed that the Bono originated from the Sahara via a place called Diala, and that their cosmology was derived from Middle Eastern sources—claiming that Nyame and Nyankopon represented opposing lunar and solar deities. These ideas formed part of a broader theory that linked the origins of Akan-speaking peoples to the ancient Ghana Empire, Libya, Ancient Egypt, and wider trans-Saharan migration routes.