Salaga is a town and is the capital of

East Gonja district East Gonja Municipal Assembly is one of the seven districts in Savannah Region, Ghana. Originally created as an ordinary district assembly in 1988 when it was known as East Gonja District, until the eastern part of the district was split off by a ...

, a district in the

Savannah Region The Savannah Region is one of the newest regions of Ghana and yet the largest region in the country. The creation of the Region follows presentation of a petition by the Gonja Traditional Council, led by the Yagbonwura Tumtumba Boresa Jakpa I ...

of north

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 ...

. Salaga had a 2012

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), downward movement of a structure's foundation *Settlement (finance), where securities are delivered against payment of money *Settlement (litigatio ...

population of 25,472 people. Salaga was the largest slave market in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Etymology

The name Salaga comes from the Dagomba word ''"salgi"'' which means ''"To get used to a place of abode"''.

History

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Salaga served as a key

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...

, particularly for the busy regional kola trade, and controlling Salaga gave a monopoly over trade to the north and south. Situated in the southernmost reaches of the

Sahel The Sahel region (; ), or Sahelian acacia savanna, is a Biogeography, biogeographical region in Africa. It is the Ecotone, transition zone between the more humid Sudanian savannas to its south and the drier Sahara to the north. The Sahel has a ...

, Salaga was referred to as "the

Timbuktu Timbuktu ( ; ; Koyra Chiini: ; ) is an ancient city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. It is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali, having a population of 32,460 in the 2018 census. ...

of the south" for its cosmopolitan population and varied trade.

Gonja Gonja may refer to: *The Gonja kingdom * The Gonja people who live there *Gonja language *Ranjan Ramanayake See also * Central Gonja District * East Gonja Municipal District * North East Gonja District * North Gonja (district) * West Gonja Munici ...

, a powerful warrior kingdom, ruled Salaga and several other towns. However, being a cosmopolitan town, Salaga was inhabited by Hausas, Wangaras, Dagombas, Gurmas, and other groups from the region as well as the indigenous Gonja. Salaga was central to the emergence of the

Zabarima (emirate) The Zabarma Emirate was an Islamic state that existed from the 1860s to 1897 in what is today parts of Ghana and Burkina Faso. The leaders of the Zabarma Emirate, who belonged to the Zarma ethnicity from which the Emirate is named, originated i ...

as a power in the area that is now northern Ghana, when the scholar Alfa Hano and the warrior Gazari migrated here from their former homes south-east of

Niamey Niamey () is the capital and largest city of Niger. As the Niamey Urban Community (, CUN), it is a Regions of Niger, first-level division of Niger, surrounded by the Tillabéri Region, in the western part of the country. Niamey lies on the Nige ...

in the 1860s. The Salaga market served as a transit point through th
northern Sahel
and the southernmost coast of the 'Sahel', as well as through the Dagomba towns of

Kpabia Kpabia is a small town in the Yendi Municipal district, a district in the Northern 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 th ...

and

Yendi Yendi (Dagbani language, Dagbanli: Yani, meaning "Seat of the Yaa Naa"), is the traditional capital of the Kingdom of Dagbon and the administrative centre of the Yendi Municipal District in the Northern Region of Ghana. As of 2021, the populatio ...

. This gave rise to the transport of cattle and groundnuts from

via the Salaga market.The Evolution of War: A Study of Its Role in Early Societies By Maurice R. Davie It also was the transit point through which kola was transported from modern day Ghana to northern

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. During the

Trans-Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people to the Americas. European slave ships regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Passage. Europeans est ...

, Salaga also served as an important market from where slaves were transported to the coast for export. In Salaga, there is a pond named "Wonkan bawa," which is a Huasa phrase that means "the bathing spot of slaves." There is also a young

Baobab ''Adansonia'' is a genus of medium-to-large deciduous trees known as baobabs ( or ). The eight species of ''Adansonia'' are native to Africa, Australia, and Madagascar but have also been introduced to other regions of the world, including Barb ...

tree in the area that was formerly the Slave Market. This is why a market in Jamestown is called the "Salaga Market": slaves originally shipped from the

Salaga slave market Salaga Slave Market is an 18th-century slave market located in the East Gonja Municipal District, East Gonja District of the Savannah Region of Ghana. During the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, Salaga served as an important market where slaves were t ...

were sold there. In 1892, civil war broke out in Salaga, resulting in a mass exodus of mostly Zongo peoples out of the area.

Education

The town is served by

Salaga Senior High School Salaga Senior High School, also known by its acronym SASS is a second-cycle co-education institution located in Salaga, the district capital of Central Gonja Municipal in the Savannah Region of Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Gha ...

, established in 1976. The school is a mixed day and boarding school offering programmes in agriculture, business, home economics, visual arts, general arts and general science.

Notable people

Abdul-Yakuni Iddi Abdul-Yakuni Iddi (born 25 June 1986, in Salaga) is a Ghanaian footballer. He currently plays as an offensive midfielder for Malderen in the Belgian provincial leagues. Career Iddi began his career by Feyenoord Ghana and joined Feyenoord Rott ...

References

External links