Ntcham (ethnic group)

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The Ntcham or Bassari or Tobota are an ethnic group in the north of Togo and Ghana, which have their settlement focus in the area around the city of Bassar . The orthography of the common name varies, however, and Basari , Ncham , Tyam , Tobote or the like can also be found frequently . In this context, the term Ntcham is to be understood as the “speaker of the Ntcham language”. The alternative name Bassari, which is mainly used for the people, but sometimes also for the language, identifies the inhabitants of the historical state of Bassari with the capital of the same name, Bassari. The Bassari call themselves Be-Tyambe (Sing .: Utyamdja ) or Be Djelib . The word Be-Tyambe , which actually means “Tyam-speaking people”, is said to have originally referred to blacksmiths . The Be-Tyambe are subdivided again into the actual Be-Tyambe and the Be-Tapumbe . The latter means “people from below” and marks people who come from the southern border regions to the former Kingdom of Kotokoli.

The Ntcham live mainly in Togo with a population of around 100,000 - 275,000 people. An estimated 57,000-59,000 Ntcham live in Ghana.

Territorial division

On what is now the Togolese side of the Bassari country, the Bassari country was divided into the two cantons of Bassari-South ( Bassari-Sara ) and Bassari-North during French colonial times . Bassari-Süd consisted of the chiefdoms Bassari (exercised the political supremacy), Dimouri, Bitjabé and Banjéli, while Bassari-Nord comprised the area of ​​the great chiefdom of Kabou. A part of the Bassari has also settled further east in the area of ​​the former Kingdom of Kotokoli and here represents the main part of the population of the chiefdom and canton of Tchamba, which is a Bassari eclave in the otherwise Tem -speaking area.

The real Be-Tyambe

When the Be-Tyambe came to the area around today's Bassar, however, they did not find the area deserted. The Nataka and some tribes of the Lama were found here , while those who migrated to the region around Kabou have come to uninhabited areas. To the south, the area was inhabited by the people later known as Be-Tapumbe . The Be-Tyambe apparently have the same forefathers as the Konkomba (north-western neighbors) or the Nanumba (western neighbors), but the latter are Guang in origin . The ethnic origin of the former is unclear.

According to the tradition of the Nada clan of the Be-Tyambe, his ancestors are said to have come from Nawuri (in Ghana) after they were driven there by the Dagomba . After changing the place of settlement several times, they finally settled at the foot of the mountain that belonged to the fetish bazaar . Here an alliance was formed with the Losso (a group of the Lama ) from Binkoudjiba, which guaranteed them the right to stay and political rule, while in return the Losso chief was granted the position of "Lord of the Earth", i.e. H. as landowner and religious leader. The Losso are essentially composed of the Lama clans of the Koli , Nayur and Nafale , who claim to have been the first settlers in this area. Possibly it was the Nada who founded the city of Bassar and named it after the local lama deity. It is said that from today's perspective this happened eight to nine generations ago, which would point to the 18th century. In the literature, however, an earlier point in time is considered possible, because at least other Bassari tribes, which are also among the first Be-Tyambe and trace their origin to Gurma , have the tradition that they were born before the introduction of the horse the area had come. According to legend, horses appeared for the first time south of the Sahara with the Kisra people (the ancestors of the Nigerian Yoruba ), whose arrival at Lake Chad is estimated between the 13th and 15th centuries. The Nada expulsion could also be related to the Gonja invasion of Dagomba around 1550 (and probably subsequent looting of revenge by the Dagombas).

other Be Tyambe tribes in Bassari

  • Sâdo (origins in Kotokoli Land (southern neighboring region));
  • Nata (or Natu ) (belong to the Nata faction of the Naudema of Niamtougou)
  • Kisitikpiu (or Bisibi ) ( lama who fled from sansanne mango )
  • Nawali (origins in Gonja ( Salaga )), they call themselves Be-Gbâdjabe and make up the main part of the Bassari in Kabou
  • Moatete (or Kozi ) (origins in Dagomba )

younger immigrant groups (late 19th / early 20th century):

The Be-Tapumbe

  • Kolkol (origins in Tabalo)
  • Sibi Kakuti (origins in Tabalo);
  • Walakpa (a group of the Konkomba ?)
  • Lambo (or Lambu ) (a group of the Konkomba ?)
  • Nambul (Bou Bankam origins?);
  • Kpambu (come from the “Fomboro” district of Sansanné-Mango );
  • Walem (a group with Konkomba origins, came from the region around Démon)

Kabou and the surrounding area

As mentioned above, the Kabou region was uninhabited when the first Bassari settlers arrived here. The oldest settlers all came exclusively from Kotokoli. But with them came some of the otherwise autochthonous tribes of the Lama in Kotokoli country .

The local Bassari are composed as follows:

  • Koli , Nadju , Bisibi and Usiboli (branches of the Lama )
  • Nâwali (origins in Gurma ; the clan is the political head of Kabou.)

Recent immigrants (late 19th / early 20th century):

The Tchamba-Bassari

The region around Tchamba is a Bassari enclave in the otherwise Tem -speaking area of ​​the former Kingdom of Kotokoli. The Tchamba-Bassari are also counted among the Be-Tapumbe . However, they had already separated from the rest of the Be-Tyambe before Bassari was founded. Since they belonged to the enslaved ethnic groups up to the 19th century and were partly kept as slaves in the south of Togo, a cult called Tchamba with possessive slave spirits is practiced there.

In Tchamba the following groups exist in addition to an important autochthonous core:

  • Lare (the clan that exercises political rule over the Tchamba chiefdom)
  • Koli (a branch of the Lama indigenous to the Bassari country that came to Tchamba with the Lare )
  • Dopu (Bariba origins (Nikki))
  • Sagbe ( Temba clan from Kotokoli)
  • Nadju ( Lama tribe, indigenous to Kotokoli)
  • Nintye ( Temba clan from Kotokoli)
  • Nato ( Temba clan from Kotokoli)
  • Dikeni ( Temba clan from Kotokoli)

See also

literature

  • Pierre Alexandre: Les Kotokoli et les Bassari . In: J.-C. Froelich, P. Alexandre, R.Cornevin (eds.): Les populations du Nord-Togo . Paris 1963

further reading

  • Richard Mohr: Travel Notes from Bassari (North Togo). In: Paideuma, Volume 10, Issue 1, Frobenius Institute, July 1964, pp. 39-51

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ The adopted orthography Ntcham is based in this case on Ethnologue.com and probably represents the orthographic implementation of the name heard in the dialects of North Guang. In the printed literature, the spelling of the language is also Tyam.
  2. ↑ The local Bassari must not be confused with the Bassari , who settled in the historical Kingdom of Gandiaga on both sides of Senegal and whose descendants are today's Bassari in the border area of ​​Senegal / Guinea / Guinea-Bissau.
  3. ↑ a b c d Kabou at 9 ° 27 ′  N , 0 ° 49 ′  E
  4. ↑ There are very different representations of the Kisra legend , especially with regard to its chronological order, in the literature.
  5. ↑ Niamtougou at 9 ° 46 ′  N , 1 ° 6 ′  E
  6. ↑ Sansanne mango at 10 ° 21 ′  N , 0 ° 28 ′  E
  7. ↑ Today's Borgou Province of the Republic of Benin represents only the western part of the former Kingdom of Borgu (with the capital Nikki) founded by Kisra people. The historical Kingdom of Borgu was joined by the Niger in the west and north and the Mossi in the east. Country.
  8. ↑ a b Tabalo at 9 ° 13 '  N , 1 ° 0'  O
  9. ↑ There is a place of that name in both Ghana and Benin. In this case it appears to be to the Ghanaian Démon, which at 9 ° 29 '  N , 0 ° 12'  O is located. The Benin Démon is at 8 ° 59 '  N , 2 ° 34'  O location.
  10. ↑ Tchamba at 9 ° 1 ′  N , 1 ° 25 ′  E