The
Guan-speaking Gikyode. Akyode people live in the northern
Volta basin in the Oti Region of
Ghana
Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...
,
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
.
[The Peoples of Africa, by James Stewart Olson, 1996] These people migrated into the Volta valley from the
Mossi region of
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...
around 1000 AD. The
Akyode language is called ''Gikyode''.
The Akyodes are made up of communities,
Shiare
Shiare is a village mountain settlement in the Breast Mountains in the Oti region of Ghana. The Oti Region is in the northern part of the Volta Region. Shiare is a part of Nkwanta South Municipal District. It is noted that the village settleme ...
,
Abrewanko,
Nyambong,
Kyilinga,
Siban,
Pawa,
Bonakye,
Gekorong,
Kanba (Abrewanko Junction),
Nyakoma,
Kromase, and]. The paramount seat is in
Shiare
Shiare is a village mountain settlement in the Breast Mountains in the Oti region of Ghana. The Oti Region is in the northern part of the Volta Region. Shiare is a part of Nkwanta South Municipal District. It is noted that the village settleme ...
. Kingship is called , and is the form of leadership in these communities. Each community has a chief, or , who rules the town. The chief of Kromase is called . But the chief of
Shiare
Shiare is a village mountain settlement in the Breast Mountains in the Oti region of Ghana. The Oti Region is in the northern part of the Volta Region. Shiare is a part of Nkwanta South Municipal District. It is noted that the village settleme ...
can be called or .
The Akyode people came to meet the people of Challa who migrated from Eastern part of Nigeria to Ghana in Amurifa around the Kyabobo Mountain. The Challas divided themselves into groups to settle at different areas in the present Nkwanta south Municipality, Odomi, Keri and Kue and some move to Togo and Benin. They welcomed the Akyode people and assigned them to Shiare to do their menial jobs in agriculture and hunting. History is told that the Akyodes undertook their initiation rituals under the authority of the Challa Priest known as SeiBine before they are able to perform rites of the Akyode deity known as Burukum.
References
Kyode people,
Ethnic groups in Ghana
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