Adele (people)
The Adele are an African ethnic group that traditionally inhabited the regions of the Adele Mountains of the same name , through which the current border between Ghana and Togo runs. The main settlement area of the Adele extends roughly in the mountain regions between 8 ° and 8 ° 30 'north latitude and west of the 1 ° meridian east longitude. In the west, the plains to the east of the Oti River limit their traditional area.
Around 12,000 people of this ethnic group live in Ghana and around 18,000 in Togo. The Adele are predominantly one of the traditional religions .
The Adele are the southern and southeastern neighbors of the Atwode , the southeastern neighbors of the Konkomba , the eastern neighbors of the Ntribu and Ntwumuru (Nchumuru), and the western neighbors of the Amyagan (Anjanga). Southwest of Adele is Kratchi - (Krakye) Land.
language
The Adele are counted among the remnant peoples of Togo , who, together with the Guang and large parts of the population of the north, represent an older population class of the former Togo compared to the other peoples in today's Togo and in the east of Ghana.
It is said that a different language is spoken in every district of Adele, but Twi is understood and spoken throughout Adele-Land . This is due to the fact that the Adele Mountains were once conquered and occupied by the Ashanti (probably in the 1730s ) and the Adele Land was a tributary province of the Ashanti Empire until 1874 .
- See also: Adele (language) ( Kwa language of the Niger-Congo languages )
history
In the past, mainly Ashantine traders came to the Adele centers to trade. Until the First World War, the region belonged to the German colony of Togo.
In Adel Eland was in 1888 by the German medical officer Ludwig Wolf , the first lieutenant Erich Kling and the technician Bugslag the station Bismarckburg founded with the aim of thereby leaving a trade center arise, the trade of the British Gold Coast area to distract German territory. Until 1894, Bismarckburg was also the central starting point for the geographic exploration of large parts of the protected area at that time, with station managers Eugen Kling, Oskar Alexander Richard Büttner and Hans-Georg von Döring making significant contributions. However, the station did not achieve its real purpose, the diversion of trade; in 1894 it was relocated to Kete Krachi , the main trading center in the neighboring region on the Voltaufer .
The city of Dadiasi is the capital of the Adele and the seat of their king . (hist. Odadease, Dadiasse ; There are at least 6 places in Ghana this name, is meant Dadiasi at 8 ° 14 ' N , 0 ° 31' O ). Here also had to 1874 of aschantische governor his residence. The king of East Adele was also the supreme priest of the Adele national feast " Fruko ", whose main shrine is located near Dadiasi in the mountains and which in the past was famous far beyond the region. In Asante in particular, fetishes and priests were held in high regard. After "Fruko", the Adele used to be called Frukoboso (literally " Fruko-worshiping mountain people "). King of East Adele and priest of the “Fruko” shrine was Lapoda (or Jaopura) in the 1880s , who at that time was also held in high regard by the Ashanti.
See also
literature
- Karlheinz Graudenz: The German colonies . Weltbild, Augsburg 1994, ISBN 3-89350-701-9 .
- D. Westermann: The present and former population of Togo , Koloniale Rundschau, 9–12 (1932), pp. 489–495.
- JG Christaller: A journey to Salaga and Obooso through the countries in the east of the middle Volta, by the Negro missionary Dav. Asante , Mitteilungen der Geographische Gesellschaft für Thüringen zu Jena, 4 (1886), pp. 15–39.