Sefwi (Kingdom)
Sefwi ( also: Sehwi or in similar spellings ) was a historical state in the west of today's Ghana, which existed from the beginning of the 18th century to the end of the colonial period and continues to exist today as a traditional area.
The titular nation was the Sefwi , whose language is the Sehwi .
Geographical location
The area known as Sefwi comprises an area that extends approximately from today's state border between Ghana and the Ivory Coast in a south-easterly direction to the Ankobra River and is located between 6 ° and 7 ° north latitude. The neighbors are the inhabitants of the Ahafo region in the north, the Wam in the northwest (on the Ghanaian side), the Ndenye (Indénié) in the west (on the Ivorian side), the Aowin in the south, the Wassaw in the southeast and the Ashanti in the east and northeast .
The settlement area of the Sefwi people consists of three larger sub-areas with the main towns Boinzan (sometimes also called Bonzina), Wiawso and Debiso.
The linguistics define the language spoken in Sefwi Land as an independent dialect within the Bia languages .
Economic basis
In the past, the economic basis of the region consisted of food-producing agriculture, above all in gold production. Since the Middle Ages there has been a particularly high demand for gold in the north, from where the gold entered the trans-Saharan trade and, after the Europeans gained a foothold on the coast, also to the south. During colonial times, the economic focus increasingly shifted to the newly introduced cocoa , rubber and the production of tropical timber .
history
Inkassa and Boinzan as precursor states
The forerunner state of Sefwis was the historical Kingdom of Inkassa (Encassar), whereby on the Dutch map of the regions of the Gold Coast from December 25, 1629 three regions are drawn in the hinterland of the Cape of the Three Points, which indicate: "Igwijra", "Great Inkassa" and “Incassa Igwijra” (from south to north). In “Igwijra” there is the addition “rich in gold”.
From the 1680s at the latest, Inkassa belonged to Denkira's sphere of influence.
On the map of the Gold Coast of the French court cartographer Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville from April 1729, "Inkassa Iggina" is shown as the northern province of Denkiras, "Grand Inkassa" as the southern province of Denkiras and "Egwira" as an independent state south of it. The latter has the addition "riche en Or, Republique" (French for rich in gold, republic )
After the defeat of Denkira in the Denkira-Ashanti War 1699–1701, the former Inkassa probably regained its independence. At least from the northern areas, Boinzan emerged with the capital of the same name, Boinzan.
Ashantic conquest
The Boinzan, d. H. The inhabitants of the region around the city of the same name, Boinzan, claim to be the oldest settlers in this area, who settled here long before the Wiawso under the leadership of the Asankera family around the middle of the 17th century Land came in. The Wiawso were predominantly Akan groups of Ashantin origin. However, since the Boinzanhene at that time refused the Wiawso permission to settle, a war broke out, which ultimately ended with Boinzan's defeat.
The Wiawso then occupied the eastern and south-eastern parts of the country, where numerous new settlements were founded. Wiawso, a little east of the Tano River, became the main town and ancestral seat of the Asankera clan .
Foundation of Sefwi
But Boinzan's defeat was not a complete annihilation. Part of the Boinzan population migrated westwards after the defeat, but a large part of the Boinzan tried to come to terms with the Wiawso peacefully. The alliance was finally sealed with a marriage, the then Wiawso-Omanhene Bumankama married a woman named Mra Akuia, in whose veins the blood of the royal family of Boinzan flowed. Their son, Benchema, later became Boinzanhene. Despite this alliance, which was sealed by marriage, both states, Wiawso and Boinzan, coexisted more or less in constant conflict in the period that followed, until Boinzan, partially defeated militarily, proposed an agreement. They were ready to be incorporated into the national territory of Wiawso, but only if they were granted the prestigious post of Kontihene, one of the highest offices in the state after the Wiawsohene. The Wiawso page responded. The Kingdom of Sefwi was founded with the Wiawsohene as head (Omanhene) and the Boinzanhene as Kontihene as the second highest man in the state. The date of this state establishment is set around 1720. The first Omanhene of Sefwi was Nkua Okodom, who was also a son of the founder of the state of Asante and first Asantehenes Osei Tutu I and a woman named Koka Adwua.
At the beginning of the 19th century, a hunter and some followers from Wiawsohene received permission to cross the Bia River, which at that time formed the north-western border of the state, in order to look for new settlements in the areas behind the river. At that time, this area was largely deserted, or at least had no permanent settlements, as these areas were frequently hit by Ashantine slave-hunting expeditions in the 18th century, which led to an almost complete depopulation. Finally, on the other side of the Bia River, about 100 km north-west of Wiawso (as the crow flies) Debiso was founded as the capital of a new state, which at the same time recognized the authority of Wiawsohene as head of state.
Decline in power
When British Captain Lonsdale toured the area in 1882, he noticed that Sefwi, while united under the authority of a single king, did not feel much of his direct power. Also in September 1893, the British colonial official Vroom stated that the Wiawsohene would have little to no influence among the people of Boinzan and Debiso.
King List
Wiawsohenes, d. H. Omanhenes from Sefwi, were:
- Nkuah Okodom, Gov. 1720 (?) - 1790 (?)
- Aduhene I. K Kogyebuor, reg. 1790 (?) - 1845 (?)
- Kwaku Kye, Gov. 1845 (?) - 1885 (?)
- Kwaku Nkuah Kaa, reg. 1885 (?) - 1892 (?)
- Kwasi Ata Gyebi, reg. 1892 (?) - 1900
- Kwame Tano I., reg. 1900-1932
- Kwame tano II., Reg. 1932 - 1935 (dethroned)
- Kwame Nkuah, Gov. 1936-1945
- Kofi Ahinkorah, Gov. 1945-1952
- Kwadwo Aduhene, reg. 1953-1996
- Nkuah Okodom II, since May 1997
Footnotes
- ↑ refers the historical Kingdom Boinzan is the capital of the same at 6 ° 23 ' N , 2 ° 53' W .
- ↑ The King of Boinzan.
- ↑ There are several places in Ghana called Wiawso. Is meant Wiawso at 6 ° 54 ' N , 2 ° 2' W . Sefwi-Wiawso is often used to distinguish it from the other localities of this name.
- ↑ The military commander in chief of the army (after the king).
- ↑ "Oman" means "human" in the Twi language, which in the plural "Aman" also stands for a tribe, an ethnic group, but also for an entire people. However, the political head of a smaller group of people, such as a clan or a village community, still bears the general title “Omanhene” without specifying its position in more detail. The title of an "Amanhene", which is also used next to it, in this context indicates the political head of an entire tribe or a larger ethnic group. For example, the Asantehene , i. H. the king of Asante, also the "Amanhene" of the entire Ashanti nation, that is, the political head of all Ashanti.
- ↑ is meant Debiso at 6 ° 39 ' N , 3 ° 6' W .
swell
- Stefano Boni, Contents and contexts: The rhetoric of oral traditions in the oman of Sefwi Wiawso, Ghana , in: Africa , 70 (4), 2000, pp. 568-594
- Kwame Yeboa Daaku, Trade and politics on the Gold Coast 1600-1720 - A Study of the African Reaction to European Trade , Oxford 1970