Asante and the North have mutually shaped their histories and cultures. Just as Hausa became the
lingua franca for the trading town of Salaga, many Asante who live around the zongos in Kumasi have picked up some Hausa. In the Dagbon trading town of Tamale, almost all the market women speak Twi, the language of the Akan. The Dagbon chieftaincy has been marked by recurrent strife from the colonial period between two branches of the royal family -- the Abudus and the Andanis – eligible to the paramount position (
Ya-Na). In March 2002 this erupted into violent conflict and the abduction and murder of the reigning Ya-Na. As the Ghanaian government struggled to bring calm and resolve this historic feud, it put together a small mediating group of three paramount chiefs: the Asantehene, the paramount chief of the Mamprusi (
Na-Yiri), and the chief of Damongo (
Yabonwura). The then minister for information, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, noted significantly that the Asantehene was included in the team because “traditionally they are brothers …” acknowledging the historical nature of the Northern factor in Asante (
www.modernghana.com/new/21600/1. Accessed January 28, 2011)
References
Maier, Donna (1983),
Priests and Power: The Case of the Dente Shrine in Nineteenth-Century Ghana. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Wilks, Ivor (1961),
The Northern Factor in Ashanti History. Legon: University of Ghana.