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Northern Factors in Asante History
Emmanuel Akyeampong
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Abandoned colonial building in Kete Krachi
Date: July 24, 2010Old Krachi was flooded when the River Volta was dammed to create the Volta Lake and a hydroelectric dam in Ghana in the mid-1960s. Inhabitants, including the deity Dente, relocated to what is now new Krachi.
Alhaji Abdul Mumin Harun, Imam to King of Asante (Asantehene)
Date: 2006The function of the Asantehene's Kramo (Imam) has been played by prominent Muslims since the time of Asantehene Osei Kwame in the 1770s, who first brought Muslims in a significant way to Kumasi in the mid-eighteenth century.
Alhaji Abdul Mumin Harun, Imam to King of Asante (Asantehene)
Date: 2006The function of the Asantehene's Kramo (Imam) has been played by prominent Muslims since the time of Asantehene Osei Kwame in the 1770s, who first brought Muslims in a significant way to Kumasi in the mid-eighteenth century.
Alhaji Abdullah Muhammad, Principal Fawziya Islamic School, Nima, Accra
Date: 2006The Fawziya Islamic School is Quranic School in Nima, Accra, started 20 years ago (c. 1986) to teach children the principles of Islamic religion. It is a co-ed institution with 180 children aged between 4 and 13 years. Classes are held during weekends during the regular school year and children obtain their formal education elsewhere.
Alhaji Muniru Marhaba, Imam of the Wangara Community of Ghana (1)
Date: 2006Alhaji Muniru Marhaba has been the Imam of the Wangara community since 1975. His father was the Imam of the Wangara community before him. He teaches, leads prayer, preaches and settles disputes among the Wangara. He is also custodian of the Marhaba Mosque, set up in 1953.
Alhaji Muniru Marhaba, Imam of the Wangara Community of Ghana (2)
Date: 2006Alhaji Muniru Marhaba has been the Imam of the Wangara community since 1975. His father was the Imam of the Wangara community before him. He teaches, leads prayer, preaches and settles disputes among the Wangara. He is also custodian of the Marhaba Mosque, set up in 1953.
Chief Fanyinama III, head of the Wangara Community in Ghana
Date: 2006Fanyinama III (red top) and Elders. The Wangara represent the first trading diaspora from the Mande world that accessed the Akan forest in search of gold and kola nuts. Among the earliest residents of Salaga, the Wangara relocated to Kintampo when Salaga overthrew Asante role in the late 19th century. With Asante backing, Kintampo became an important trading town and the key interior market for Asante kola.
Compound of Dente priest in Krachi town
Date: 2010Seated in the compound of the priest of Dente Shrine. Dente priest Nana Ojiminkpa II in white cloth, Professor Akyeampong sitting on skin before priest, and Jackson Donkor (former registrar of Kete Krachi Traditional Council) opposite in white âTâ shirt.
Ferry on Volta River at Makango Port in eastern Gonja
Date: 2006The Volta River separated Gonja from Asante, and the king of Asante in precolonial times declared Salaga as the final stop for northern traders. A ferry service now connects eastern Gonja on the northern shore of the Volta at Makango with Yeji on the southern shore of the Volta and Asante.
Khalifa Ustaz Kaamil Amin (Authority or Master on Islam)
Date: 2006Khalifa Ustaz Kaamil Amin ibn Sa'id (in white) is the leading Islamic scholar in Ashanti Region today. He carries the title of "Hujjat-ul-Islam" (Authority or Master on Islam) and is successor to Shaykh Baba Al Waiz.
Kpembiwura Alhaji Ibrahim Haruna, chief of Kpembe and overlord of Salaga
Date: 2006Kpembiwura Alhaji Ibrahim Haruna is chief of Kpembe and overlord of Salaga town. Kpembi town, the royal town of Kpembe division in the Gonja state, is the residence of the Kpembiwura and about two miles from Salaga.
Kpembiwura Alhaji Ibrahim Haruna, his elders and Professor E. Akyeampong
Date: 2006Kpembiwura with female elder of palace and two sub-chiefs, the Mobuwura (blue and white cap) and the Salagawura (chief of Salaga in black cap). Though Salaga is in the Gonja State, chiefs of Salaga have traditionally been Hausa, appointed by and responsible to the Kpembiwura. The present chief of Salaga is Kanyiti Mahama Osman Fusheini.
Landing site at new Kete
Date: 2008The landing site on the Volta Lake in new Kete after the abandonment of old Kete due to flooding from the Volta Lake.
Nana Ojiminkpa II, Bosomfuo (priest) of Krachi Dente Shrine (in white) with shrine officials
Date: July 24, 2010Krachi Dente, a Guan deity that relocated from Larteh in Akuapem to Krachi, was one of the most revered deities in precolonial Asante. It was consulted often by the Asante state in matters of war.
Old Quran in the family of Fanyinama III, Chief of the Wangara Community
Date: 2006The Wangara are Muslim and played a major role in the extension of Islam in precolonial Asante. They are also at the center of early Islamic scholarship in precolonial Ghana. This Quran is one of the oldest held by the family of the Fanyinama of the Wangara community.
Rocks in Volta River at old Kete
Date: 2008Rocks in Volta River marking approximate site of Old Dente Shrine. Dente has an affinity for rocks and his new location is also in a rocky setting.
Section of old Kete reclaimed by Bush
Date: 2008Abandoned site of old Kete, an important market town in the precolonial and colonial era. Old Kete was flooded with the damming of the Volta River in the 1960s. Kete Krachi was one of the most affected districts by the new Volta Lake. This site housed offices of the German administration before World War I.
Shaykh Baba Al Waiz, Founder of Wataniya Islamic School, Aboabo, Kumasi
Date: 2006Shaykh Baba Al Waiz (1915/16-1982) has been described as one of the "Big Eleven" in Islamic scholarship in Ashanti. He was the sarkin zongo (zongo chief) in Kumasi, and was one of Ibrahim Niass' early associates in Kumasi in the latter's trip to Ghana and Nigeria in the 1940s and 1950s. Ibrahim Niass was the founder of a branch of the Tijaniyya Brotherhood in Senegal and he would strengthen the Tijaniyya presence in Kumasi. Shaykh Al Waiz was the founder of the Wataniya Islamic School in Aboabo, Kumasi.
Sign indicating historic site of Salaga Slave Market
Date: 2006Sign indicating location of Salaga market in the precolonial times. Salaga was the largest internal slave market in the Gold Coast in the precolonial times.
Slave wells at entrance of Salaga town
Date: 2006Salaga was the largest internal slave market in the Gold Coast in the precolonial era. Slaves after the long trek from northern markets and homes were dirty and dusty on arrival in this savannah town. They were washed with water from wells at the entrance of Salaga, dug for that very purpose. Salaga remains notorious for water scarcity.
Tijaniyya Mosque at Aboabo
Date: 2006A prominent Tijaniyya Mosque in Aboabo, a zongo (strangers' quarter) in Kumasi with heavy northern/Muslim settlement. The spread of Tijaniyya in Ghana on a large scale has been a twentieth-century phenomenon.
