History and Traditions of the Gonja (African Occasional Papers No. 6)

Author: J. A. Braimah H. H. Tomlinson Price: $ 63.50 (used) Medium: Paperback (124 pages) Publisher: Univ of Calgary Pr 1997-12

Editorial Description

This book contains three papers describing the history, customs and organisation of the Gonja state in northern Ghana. Gonja is one of the largest of the states in the area and has an interesting and complex history going back for several hundred years when, according to tradition, those who became the founders of Gonja rode their horses south from ancient Mali to investigate the reasons for the cessation of the northward flow of gold from the gold fields of the forest to the south. Not only is the history of Gonja described, but there is much about the customs, still largely preserved by this people, as also of the ways in which traditional government is carried out and the various rights and duties of different chiefs and authorities.