Bono State

Bono State (also known as Bonoman) was the first centralized Akan state, founded by the Bono people in what is now central Ghana. Bonoman is generally considered a cultural, political ancestor and origin to Akan subgroups that migrated southward and eastward during and after its decline in the 18th centuries.
The capital centered at Bono Manso, the state flourished in the forest–savanna transition zone and encompassed areas within present-day Bono Region, Bono East Region, and Ahafo Region, as well as parts of eastern Ivory Coast. Bono state was a trading centre connecting merchants across Africa.

The state's wealth grew substantially through the control of gold production and trade, with material culture such as goldweights, brassworking, and textiles attesting to its urban complexity. The Akan gold trade to the savannah and far beyond had been essential since the opening of Akan goldfields to Juula merchants under Mali and Songhai empire dating back to at least 15th century. Begho sent gold mined in the Akan goldfields to the north both Kong and Bobo-Dioulasso, from whence the gold was carried to Djenne-Timbuktu corridor and across Sahara.

History and origin

Origin

While some theorists have linked the origin of the Akan people of Bonoman to a southward migration from the Sahara or Ghana Empire or broader Sahel region, recent archaeological and linguistic evidence points to their long-term residence in modern-day Ghana and Ivory Coast. According to oral tradition, the Bono people trace their mythical origin from the Amowi sacred cave. With an early leader named Nana Asaman and his followers later moved from this site to Yefiri, further moved to settle at Bono Manso, which became the capital of the Bono state. This leadership and direction was orchestrated by the Biakuru god, thus builder of towns. Bono means “pioneer or firstborn on the land” as this emphasises the status of Bono as first born among Akan translated as ‘Akan piesie’.

Archaeological survey

Archaeological evidence reveals iron-smelting at the site of Abam in Bono Manso by c. 300 CE. Early remains include red-slipped and burnished pottery, grinding stones, swish-walled dwellings constructed using wattle-and-daub techniques, and iron-smelting furnaces with slag. These findings reflect a proto-urban society engaged in agriculture, craft production, metallurgy, and regional exchange. The earliest settlements were typically located in caves or near inselbergs, echoing Bono origin traditions which describe their ancestors as emerging from a sacred hole near the rock-shelter at Amowi, in the vicinity of modern-day Nkoranza.

Rise of the state

Bonoman was the first Akan state to develop in the forest–savanna transition zone of what is now the Bono Region, Bono East Region and Ahafo Region of Ghana. Archaeologists date the founding of Bono Manso to c. 1000 CE, although both oral traditions and archaeological data indicate that the site was already occupied by the late 11th to early 13th century. These settlements were associated with sedentary village life, local religious institutions, and the establishment of land tenure systems. Other authors place the emergence of the centralized state in the late 14th or early 15th century.

The town itself likely covered an area of between 150 and 230 hectares and supported a population of approximately 5,000 inhabitants, based on architectural remains and settlement density estimates. Its strategic location near the headwaters of the Tano River enabled access to the forest-savanna transition zone and placed it at the southernmost range of safe caravan travel, beyond which the tsetse fly made pack animal transport unviable.

A key factor in the rise of Bonoman was the need to protect and regulate gold extraction in the surrounding Akan goldfields and to develop commercial routes linking the area to the Middle Niger. The nearby town of Begho (also known as Nsɔkɔ) emerged as a complementary trading hub where regional commodities like gold, kola, ivory, and forest products were exchanged for textiles, salt, and metal goods brought by Wangara merchants. Two early rulers, Ameyaw and Obunumankoma, oversaw Bonoman's territorial expansion and commercial ascendancy in the latter half of the 15th century.

By the late 16th century, Bonoman faced external pressure from rival states such as the Gonja kingdom.

Fall of Bonoman

The decline of Bonoman was gradual and driven by overlapping internal and external factors. Archaeological evidence from Bono Manso indicates signs of demographic decline and economic restructuring beginning in the 17th century, likely due to droughts, dynastic instability, and shifting trade networks. As southern Akan states like Akyem, Denkyira, and eventually the Asante Empire secured greater access to coastal markets and European firearms, Bonoman—located inland and lacking direct access to Atlantic trade—was increasingly bypassed in regional commerce.

Internally, excessive taxation, succession disputes, and elite misconduct contributed to weakening central authority. Oral histories collected from Bono informants describe widespread discontent under Ameyaw Kwakye I, the last Bonohene. His perceived abuses of power included neglect of religious obligations and extortionate tax levies. Before the Asante invasion, disillusioned citizens are said to have refused to defend the capital, expressing their frustration with the phrase: “Se hene Ameyaw anya ne ko a onko nhye” ("If king Ameyaw has got his war, let him fight it all").

The decisive collapse came in 1722–1723, when Opoku Ware I of the Asante Empire launched a successful military campaign against Bono Manso. The town was sacked, and Ameyaw Kwakye I was captured and taken to Kumasi along with his royal regalia and numerous skilled artisans. Some sources suggest he was later appointed as a royal official within the Asante court. The population was dispersed, with many fleeing to Gyaman and other Akan territories.

Following the conquest, several Bono villages were turned into Asante administrative posts or transferred to allied rulers such as the Nkoranzahene. The royal lineage was later re-established in Techiman under Asante suzerainty by approximately 1740. Techiman including other Bono settlements became independent in 1896 after the British conquest of Asante.

Bono settlements and urban centers

Bono settlements demonstrated organized town planning, sacred architecture, and advanced iron-working industries. Based on archaeological excavations, radiocarbon dating, and oral traditions, Effah-Gyamfi identified three broad phases of urban development. In the early phase (13th to 15th centuries), towns such as Bono Manso were relatively compact, housing several thousand residents, though not all lived within the urban core. Structures from this period featured daubed wattle construction, while painted pottery dispersed over a 3.3 km radius indicates the spread of household and ritual activity.

During the second phase (16th to 17th centuries), Bono towns expanded in size and layout. Settlements developed more structured layouts, with residential clusters organized around central marketplaces, reflecting increased coordination and socio-economic complexity. Archaeological discoveries—such as imported glass beads, mica-coated pottery, and foreign ceramics—demonstrate sustained engagement in long-distance trade networks across West Africa.

Bono Manso

Bono Manso (literally "great town of Bono") was the capital of Bonoman and a major trading hub in present-day Bono East Region. Located just south of the Black Volta River, it was a key node in the Trans-Saharan trade, connecting the Akan goldfields with major northern markets such as Djenné and Timbuktu. Goods traded through Bono Manso included gold, kola nuts, salt, leather, and cloth. Archaeological and historical evidence suggest the town was already settled by the 13th century and had become a prominent commercial and ritual center by the 14th and 15th centuries.

Bono Manso was the seat of the Bonohene and housed sacred shrines and ancestral stools. The king belonged to the Ayoko royal clan, while other clans such as Biretuo, Aduana, and Asenie maintained residences in surrounding areas. The unit of currency was gold, measured using standardized gold weights. Chiefs and elders regulated the value of commodities by fixing gold quantities corresponding to units such as ''peredwan'', ''doma'', and ''dwoa''.

Wenchi

Wenchi (also ''Wankyi'') was an inland Akan settlement complex associated with the ancestral towns of Bonoso and Ahwene Koko, located in the northern forest–savanna transition zone of the Bono region. Oral traditions claim the Wenchi people emerged from a hole in the ground at Bonoso, led by a queen mother named Asase-ba-ode-nsee, a narrative interpreted as a declaration of autochthonous origin.

Findings at Bonoso during excavations included iron slag, grindstones, animal bones, and micaceous pottery. Radiocarbon samples dated to 663–774 AD confirm that the site was one of the earliest inland Akan settlements. At nearby Ahwene Koko, similar pottery was found alongside a radiocarbon date of 1585 ± 80 AD, indicating cultural continuity and later reoccupation of the area. Neither site yielded any European goods, suggesting they were occupied before Atlantic contact. Iron smelting was a major activity, and painted pottery—uncommon in southern Akan contexts—was also discovered. Together, these findings reflect the deep local roots of the gradual development of Wenchi as a distinct Akan polity in the precolonial era.

Kranka Dada

Kranka Dada was a village settlement northeast of Bono Manso and one of the best-documented hinterland sites in the Bono Region. Although not an urban center, it played an essential role in Bono Manso's political and economic systems. Excavations conducted between 2009 and 2012 uncovered household remains, ritual features, and long-distance trade artifacts.

The site consisted of residential mounds occupied from the late 13th to the mid-18th century. Radiocarbon data confirms continuous habitation until the Asante Empire conquest in 1723. Notable features include wattle-and-daub structures, granaries, iron-smelting debris, and ceremonial hearths. Artifacts such as brass fragments, glass beads, imported ceramics, and terracotta rasps highlight both local industry and regional connectivity.

Kranka Dada likely functioned as a satellite settlement, supplying agricultural produce, labor, and ritual expertise to Bono Manso. Compton places it within a four-tiered settlement hierarchy, reflecting the integration of smaller communities into centralized Bono administration. Despite its rural character, Kranka Dada households had access to many trade goods also found at the capital. The site was abandoned after the 1723 invasion, though oral traditions recall that a shrine priestess remained after the town’s collapse.

Begho

Begho (also ''Bighu'', ''Bitu'', ''Bew'', or ''Nsokɔ'') was a medieval market town situated just south of the Black Volta in the forest–savanna transition zone. It served as a cultural and linguistic bridge between Akan and Mande societies. Although not politically subordinate to the Bonohene, Begho was governed by an Akan elite over a multiethnic population, including a substantial Muslim Wangara merchant community.

Numerous Akan language terms for trade and status—such as kramo (Muslim), oponko (horse), gyata (lion), and adaka (box)—derive from Mandé languages, reflecting long-standing trade interactions. Begho emerged as an entrepôt for northern caravans beginning around 1100 AD. Goods included ivory, salt, leather, gold, kola nuts, cloth, and copper alloys.

Islamic sources claim the Mali Empire launched a punitive expedition against Begho in the mid-16th century after disruptions in the gold trade. While these accounts suggest temporary Mande political influence, oral traditions assert that the invaders were repelled, and that Begho's internal governance persisted uninterrupted.Effah-Gyamfi, Kwaku. Traditional History of the Bono State. Legon: Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, 1979.

Excavations at Begho uncovered walled structures, iron-smelting furnaces, pottery, and smoking pipes, dating from 1350 to 1750 AD. With an estimated population exceeding 10,000, it was one of southern West Africa's largest urban centers by the time the Portuguese arrived in 1471.

Bonduku

Bonduku (or Bondoukou) was another trading center associated with Bonoman. It later became the capital of the Gyaman (Jamang) kingdom, which flourished between 1450 and 1895 in present-day Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. Bonduku was particularly noted for cotton production and retained cultural links to Bono settlements.

Misconceptions and controversies

The colonial fabrication of a Ghana Empire exodus

One common but historically unsupported narrative claims that the Bono people migrated from the Ghana Empire (centered in modern-day southeastern Mauritania and Mali) to establish Bonoman. This theory, often repeated in colonial-era textbooks and early nationalist histories, lacks archaeological, linguistic, and oral historical support.

This belief was shaped by early European scholars and colonial administrators who sought to link West African civilizations to more familiar Sahelian polities, often underestimating the capacity for local cultural development. Recent research shows that no oral traditions from Bono-Takyiman or Begho communities reference any connection to the Ghana Empire. Instead, accounts consistently point to local origins rooted in sacred caves such as Amowi, emphasizing emergence from the land rather than migration from the Sahel.

Further archaeological work reinforces these traditions. Excavations around Bono Manso reveal a long sequence of occupation, with evidence of settlement, agriculture, and iron smelting dating back several centuries before any documented Sahelian contact. In particular, early radiocarbon dates from the site of Amowi confirm its antiquity, consistent with oral traditions identifying it as a sacred emergence site of the Bono.

Myth of Mande-Islamic origins

Another recurring misconception is that the Bono state and its institutions were introduced or significantly shaped by Mande-speaking Muslim traders (Wangara or Dyula). While Muslim traders did play an important role in the gold trade, they settled in designated quarters in towns like Begho, and did not govern the polity nor introduce its core political or spiritual institutions.

While acknowledging the presence of intercultural trade, scholars emphasize that the political authority, kinship systems (abusua), ancestral shrines, and regalia of Bonoman are of indigenous origin, not borrowed from the north.

A 2022 study further critiques the “Sahelian diffusionist” framework as a colonial invention. It argues that trade networks have been wrongly equated with political or cultural dominance, noting that Muslim traders in Bono cities such as Begho maintained segregated quarters and peripheral roles in local governance.

Modern archaeological and ethnohistorical research has shown that Bonoman developed indigenously in the forest–savanna transition zone of what is now the Bono Region of Ghana, long before th
Ghana Empire's decline
Sites like Amowi, Nkukua Buoho, and Bono Manso demonstrate continuous occupation, iron smelting, and complex social organization centuries before the 13th century.

Notable scholars refute the notion of northern origin, noting that archaeological layers at Bono sites and linguistic data suggest long-term, local development. The consensus is that the Akan states were not the product of Mande or Islamic diffusion, but rather a result of adaptive forest-based societies that evolved over millennia.

Legacy of early scholarship: reassessing Meyerowitz

One of the first figures to document Bono traditions was Eva L. R. Meyerowitz, whose mid-20th century work attempted to reconstruct Akan origins through oral histories and symbolic interpretation. While her efforts helped foreground the historical importance of Bono Manso and Techiman, her conclusions have since drawn critical re-evaluation. Scholars have questioned her reconstructions of long-lost kingdoms and her assignment of exact dates to events based on oral narratives lacking corroboration in archaeological evidence.

Her chronology, which dates the foundation of Bono-Manso to 1295, was criticized by historian Colin Flight. He determined that the earliest reigns in the king lists, when summed in groups of three, total 100 years, and therefore represent generations rather than reigns. Evidence has also come to light that Meyerowitz's translator was working out his own chronology, different than hers, and that the entire chronology is in fact fictitious.

Anthropologist Dennis M. Warren, who conducted fieldwork in the same region, found that several of Meyerowitz’s core claims — including accounts of foreign origins and references to places like Kumbu and Timbuktu — were not only uncorroborated but explicitly denied by the very stool elders and local authorities she had cited. According to Warren, when presented with quotations attributed to them in Meyerowitz’s work, many of these elders responded that they had no memory of making such statements, and in some cases, believed their words had been misrepresented by translators or filtered through interpretive bias.

Archaeological and oral evidence of indigenous development

Archaeological studies confirm that iron smelting was practiced at Bono Manso by the 3rd century CE, and that surrounding settlements such as Amowi and Atwetwebooso were occupied well before the rise of the Sahelian empires. Oral traditions collected by Dennis M. Warren also trace the origin of the Bono to local sacred caves such as Amowi, not to distant external migrations.

Effah-Gyamfi’s findings further support these traditions, showing that early Bono settlements featured complex political structures, advanced ironworking, and ceremonial practices associated with local rulers. His excavations confirm continuous habitation in the region long before any recorded influence from northern traders or empires.

Further analysis shows that core elements of the Bono gold economy—such as gold-weighing systems and regalia—were already developed locally before the peak of Muslim trade activity in the region, suggesting that cultural influence likely flowed in the opposite direction.

Foundational role in Akan civilization

Cultural legacy

Bono is generally credited as the hub of Akan culture and cradle of Akan civilisation. This is widely emphasised by scholars and oral tradition. Various key elements of Akan culture—such as ceremonial stools, ritual swords, golden regalia, umbrellas used for kings, palanquins—originate in the Bono state. Bono is also credited with advancing the crafts of goldsmithing, blacksmithing, kente weaving, gold-weights and scales, and the symbolic system of adinkra motifs. These practices, deeply embedded in Bono society, later spread across southern Akan areas of Ghana.

The Bono Region, especially Techiman, played a central role in the transmission of these traditions. Oral and archaeological sources indicate that Bono artisanship—especially in textiles, metalwork, and symbolic design—predates and influenced later Akan states such as Asante. After the conquest of Bono Manso, skilled Bono weavers, goldsmiths, and blacksmiths were relocated to Kumasi by the Asantehene, where their expertise shaped Asante court culture.

Bono oral traditions—expressed through proverbs, songs, and folktales—also influenced wider Akan aesthetics and moral teachings. These themes appear in the patterns and names of kente and adinkra cloth, shrine regalia, and royal attire, highlighting the enduring symbolic legacy of Bono craftsmanship.

Formation of inland Akan polities

It is widely acknowledged that Akan trace its origins to Bono, and Bono played a significant role in early Akan history as the first centralized Akan state. Situated near goldfields and key northern trade routes such as Begho, Bono-Manso served as a nucleus for political and economic development in the forest zone.
This dispersal and southward migration of Akan people from the Bono state contributed to the formation of other Akan states such as Fante, Akyem, Akwamu, Aowin, Denkyira, Sefwi, Wasa, among others.
As historian F. K. Buah recorded:

However, Buah also highlights Adanse as a point of early Akan dispersion and institutional formation. He notes that some oral traditions maintain that

Modern historians such as and support a plural origins model, which recognizes that early Akan societies—including those in Bono, Adansemanso, Begho, and Asantemanso—developed as network of settlements across the forest and savanna zones before the emergence of later centralized states.

Groups from Bono moved northwest to integrate into Gyaman, while others established Dormaa, Nkoranza, and Berekum. These states retained cultural and political links to Bono, particularly in ritual practices and chieftaincy structures. Techiman, as successor to Bono-Manso, preserved many of these traditions. It remains a major traditional authority, with oral histories and rituals connecting it directly to the early Bono kingdom.

Demography, geography and structure

The Bono state was strategically situated in the northern forest fringes of the Akan world as commonly described as forest savanna transition zone at the south of the Black Volta river. This presented no challenges for frequent caravans from Djene, Timbuktu and other merchants from Sudan, Egypt, across Africa trading in the great commercial centre of Bono.

The Bono kingdom was structured around a centralized kingship system, with a powerful network of chiefs managing towns and villages. Governance was decentralized enough to allow significant autonomy to towns maintaining local customs and allegiance to the king. Society operated under a matrilineal inheritance system, with lineage and property rights passed through the mother’s family. The kingdom's population was heavily urbanized compared to neighboring polities. For example, Begho had an estimated population exceeding 12,000 inhabitants during the 15th century, comparable to major Sahelian cities. As Bono Manso population was estimated around 5000 and other areas thereafter, the inclusive total population of the state depicted it as a highly developed pre-colonial African state.

The Bono people were primarily agrarian but also skilled in crafts like pottery, metalwork, cloth weaving, and blacksmithing. Spiritual life centered around river gods (such as Tano) and ancestral veneration of Asaase Yaa and spiritual connection to Nyame, practices which were deeply embedded into political authority and social order.

See also

* List of rulers of the Akan state of Bono-Tekyiman

Sources

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References

Further reading

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* {{cite book , last1=Konadu , first1=Kwasi , last2=Campbell , first2=Clifford C. , title=The Ghana Reader: History, Culture, Politics , publisher=Duke University Press , year=2016 , doi=10.2307/j.ctv125jqp2 , isbn=9780822359845 , url=https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv125jqp2 , access-date=24 April 2025

History of Ghana
Archaeology of West Africa
17th century in Ghana
Countries in precolonial Africa