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| A king of the largest Akan group, Asante/Ashanti |
Origin and Migration of the Akan
The Akan occupy a
greater portion of the forest and savannah lands of southern Ghana. They
constitute about half of the present population of the country. The Akan speak
the Akan language which has been divided into two: Fante and Twi. The
Fante-speaking peoples live some 80miles along the coast, and some 30 miles
inland. The main Twi-speaking groups include the Adanse, Akuapem (Akwapim),
Akwamu, Akyem (Akim), Asante, Assin, Denkyira and Kwawu (Kwahu). Other
Akan-speaking peoples are the Ahanta, Bono (Brong), Nzema (Nzima), Sehwi
(Sefwi), Twifu and Wassa. They speak a common language, Twi, or dialects of
that language. They also have common social and political institutions and
practices, common religious beliefs, chieftaincy, a common calendar, and a
number of matrilineal and patrilineal clans into which the entire population is
divided.
The origins of the Akan pose a difficulty in the
history of Ghana. The reason is that there is no single theory which
sufficiently explains exactly where they originated from. A school of thought,
led by J.B Danquah and Eva Meyerowitz, points out that the Akan first lived in
Ethiopia. From there, they later moved to Egypt and then came to settle in the
ancient Ghana Empire of the Western Sudan. This view, has however, been
challenged in the light of new historical and linguistic research. Based on the
new evidence, another school of thought, led by historians like Adu Boahen and
Harry Johnson, claim that the Akan lived in Yorubaland in modern Nigeria. From
there, they crossed the Mono and Volta rivers and entered the Afram Plains. The
Akan later traveled northwards but turned again southwards to settle in the
Pra-Offin basin. From this region, each Akan group migrated to settle in its
present site.