Ghana

===Mediaeval kingdoms===
{{main|Ashanti Empire|Kingdom of Dagbon}}
[[File:Guinea from Milner's Atlas.jpg|thumb|An 1850 map showing the [[Akan people|Akan]] [[Kingdom of Ashanti]] within the [[Guinea (region)|Guinea region]] and surrounding regions in West Africa|left]]
[[File:Lidded Vessel (Kuduo) MET DP108293.jpg|thumb|18th-century Ashanti brass ''kuduo''. Gold dust and nuggets were kept in ''kuduo'', as were other items of personal value and significance. As receptacles for their owners' ''kra'', or life force, ''kuduo'' were prominent features of ceremonies designed to honour and protect that individual.]]
The earliest recorded kingdoms to emerge in modern Ghana were the [[Mole-Dagbon people|Mole-Dagbon]] states.<ref name="col" /> Before the unification of Dagbon, societies were decentralised, and headed by the Tindaamba (singular: tindana).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tradition and Religion in Africa: Exploring the Changing Roles of the Tindana in Dagbon |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350897077}}</ref> These decentralised states were unified by [[Naa Gbewaa|King Gbewaa]], who lived a long life, and formed a stable, peaceful society.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://articles.ghananation.com/articles/ghana-history/3017-invasion-of-the-peoples-of-the-north.html |title=Invasion of the Peoples of the North |publisher=GhanaNation |date=15 November 2011 |access-date=22 June 2014 |first=Jessica |last=W |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140708222407/http://articles.ghananation.com/articles/ghana-history/3017-invasion-of-the-peoples-of-the-north.html |archive-date=8 July 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> Dagbon extended beyond the boundaries of present-day Ghana.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://articles.ghananation.com/feed/articles/ghana-articles/3093-dagomba.txt |title=Ghana Articles: Dagomba |publisher=GhanaNation.com |date=19 November 2011 |access-date=22 August 2014 |author=Curtis M. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019101858/http://articles.ghananation.com/feed/articles/ghana-articles/3093-dagomba.txt |archive-date=19 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bristoldrumming.com/ghanagoods/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=42&Itemid=67 |title=Dagomba: Background |publisher=BristolDrumming |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714121340/http://www.bristoldrumming.com/ghanagoods/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=42&Itemid=67 |archive-date=14 July 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sim.org/index.php/content/mamprusi |title=Mamprusi |publisher=Sim.org |access-date=22 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714184651/http://www.sim.org/index.php/content/mamprusi |archive-date=14 July 2014}}</ref> Kingdoms that emerged from Dagbon include the [[Mossi Kingdoms]] of [[Burkina Faso]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-01-25 |title=The Mossi Kingdoms of West Africa - Right for Education |url=https://rightforeducation.org/2018/01/25/mossi-kingdoms/ |access-date=2023-10-13 |language=en-GB |archive-date=18 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231018111608/https://rightforeducation.org/2018/01/25/mossi-kingdoms/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> and [[Bouna, Ivory Coast|Bouna Kingdom]] of [[Ivory Coast]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bouna {{!}} African kingdom {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bouna |access-date=2023-10-13 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> The kingdom enjoyed great prosperity establishing Ghana's earliest educational systems,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Science and Technology in 18th Century Moliyili ) Dagomba) and the Timbuktiu Intellectual Tradition |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323228777}}</ref> and using a writing script<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lauer |first=Helen |date=November 2007 |title=Depreciating African Political Culture |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0021934706286905 |journal=Journal of Black Studies |language=en |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=288–307 |doi=10.1177/0021934706286905 |s2cid=146634078 |issn=0021-9347}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Dagbanli Ajami and Arabic Manuscripts of Northern Ghana |url=https://open.bu.edu/handle/2144/32937 |access-date=2023-10-13 |website=open.bu.edu}}</ref> prior to European invasion. Female chiefs who rule over male subjects are present in the kingdom,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Female Chiefs in Dagbon Traditional Area: Role and Challenges in the Northern Region of Ghana |url=https://www.eajournals.org/wp-content/uploads/Female-Chiefs-in-Dagbon-Traditional-Area.pdf}}</ref> and inheritance is both patrilineal and matrilineal.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Refugees |first=United Nations High Commissioner for |title=Refworld {{!}} Ghana: Information about the Dagomba tribe in Ghana |url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ab75c.html |access-date=2023-10-13 |website=Refworld |language=en}}</ref> The [[Yaa Naa]] is the King of Dagbon and the [[Gundonaa Samata Abudu|Gundo Naa]] is the Queen.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Yaa-Naa |url=http://www.adrummerstestament.com/2/2-05_The_Yaa-Naa_and_the_Yendi_Elders_web_chapter.html |access-date=2023-10-13 |website=www.adrummerstestament.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-02-03 |title=Jan 20: In Yendi, the Yaa Naa, GundoNaa and Babatu – Interim on Slavery: Tamale-Ghana 2020 |url=https://pages.stolaf.edu/interiminghana2020/2020/02/03/jan-20-in-yendi-the-yaa-naa-gundonaa-and-babatu/ |access-date=2023-10-13 |language=en-US}}</ref> The kingdom remained uncolonised. In 1896, Germany invaded Eastern Dagbon (Naya) and burnt down its capital, Yendi,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-10-13 |title=German Colonialism in West Africa: Implications for German-West African Partnership in Development {{!}} H-Soz-Kult. Kommunikation und Fachinformation für die Geschichtswissenschaften {{!}} Geschichte im Netz {{!}} History in the web |url=http://www.hsozkult.de/conferencereport/id/fdkn-122532 |access-date=2023-10-13 |website=H-Soz-Kult. Kommunikation und Fachinformation für die Geschichtswissenschaften |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Different Ideas of Borders and Border Construction in Northern Ghana: Historical and Anthropological Perspectives |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/558361/pdf}}</ref> during the [[Battle of Adibo]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pukariga |first=Dasana |date=2005 |title=Dagbon recalling history, the battle of Adibo |url=https://www.africabib.org/rec.php?RID=329631551 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-04-20 |title=The Battle of Adibo fought in 1896 |url=https://www.sanatuzambang.info/2020/04/20/the-battle-of-adibo-fought-in-1896/ |access-date=2023-10-13 |website=Sanatu Zambang |language=en-GB}}</ref>

The [[Akan people|Akan]]-speaking peoples began to move into what later became Ghana toward the 15th century.<ref name="col">{{cite web |url=http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/history/pre-colonial.php |title=Pre-Colonial Period |publisher=Ghanaweb.com |access-date=13 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123235900/http://ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/history/pre-colonial.php |archive-date=23 November 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pdmhs.com/PDFs/ScannedBulletinArticles/Bulletin%2013-4%20-%20Pre-European%20Gold%20Mining%20at%20Ashanti,%20Ghana.pdf |title=Pre-European Mining at Ashanti, Ghana |type=PDF |publisher=Pdmhs.com |date=October 1996 |access-date=24 January 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141122214748/http://www.pdmhs.com/PDFs/ScannedBulletinArticles/Bulletin%2013-4%20-%20Pre-European%20Gold%20Mining%20at%20Ashanti,%20Ghana.pdf |archive-date=22 November 2014}}</ref> By the 16th century, the Akans were established in the Akan state called [[Bono state|Bonoman]], for which the [[Brong-Ahafo region]] was named.<ref name="col" /><ref>{{cite book |author1=Tvedten, Ige |author2=Hersoug, Bjørn |title=Fishing for Development: Small Scale Fisheries in Africa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Itt1hIbsbQsC&pg=PA60 |year=1992 |publisher=Nordic Africa Institute |isbn=978-91-7106-327-4 |pages=60– |access-date=27 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912143828/https://books.google.com/books?id=Itt1hIbsbQsC&pg=PA60 |archive-date=12 September 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> From the 17th century, Akans emerged from what is believed to have been the Bonoman area, to create Akan states, mainly based on gold trading.<ref>Dennis M. Warren, ''The Techiman-Bono of Ghana: An Ethnography of an Akan Society''. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1975.</ref> These states included Bonoman (Brong-Ahafo region), Ashanti ([[Ashanti Region]]), [[Denkyira]] ([[Central Region (Ghana)|Western North region]]), [[Mankessim Kingdom]] ([[Western Region (Ghana)|Central region]]), and [[Akwamu]] [[Eastern Region (Ghana)|(Eastern region)]].<ref name="col" /> By the 19th century, the territory of the southern part of Ghana was included in the [[Ashanti Empire|Kingdom of Ashanti]].<ref name="col" /> The government of the Ashanti Empire operated first as a loose network and eventually as a centralised kingdom with a specialised bureaucracy centred in the capital city of [[Kumasi]].<ref name="col" /> Prior to Akan contact with Europeans, the Akan people created an economy based on principally gold and [[gold bar]] [[Commodity|commodities]], which were traded with other states in Africa.<ref name="col" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://rubens.anu.edu.au/htdocs/surveys/african/ashanti/history.html |title=A Short History of Ashanti Gold Weights |publisher=Rubens.anu.edu.au |access-date=24 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130902030803/http://rubens.anu.edu.au/htdocs/surveys/african/ashanti/history.html |archive-date=2 September 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The Ga-Dangme and Ewe migrated westward from south-western Nigeria. The Ewe - formerly known as Dogbo- migrated from Oyo area with their Gbe-speaking kinsmen (Adja, Fon, Phla/Phera and Ogun/Gun) and in transition, settled at Ketou in Benin Republic, Tado in Togo, Dogbo Nyigbo in Benin Republic and with Nortsie (a walled town in present-day Togo) as their final dispersal point. Their dispersal from Nortsie was necessitated by the high-handed rule of King Agorkorli (Agɔ Akɔli) who was the reigning monarch of the tribe at that time. The Ewe in Ghana speak three principal dialects: Anlo(along the coast),Tongu(along the Volta river) and Ewedome (in the hill country side).The [[Ga-Adangbe people|Ga-Dangme]] occupy the Greater Accra Region and parts of the Eastern Region, while the Ewe are found in the [[Volta Region]] as well as the neighbouring Togo, Benin Republic and Nigeria (around Badagry area).