There is archaeological evidence which shows that humans have lived in present day Ghana from about 1500 BC. Nonetheless, there is no proof that those early dwellers are related to the current inhabitants of the area Ghana.
Oral tradition has it that many of Ghana's current ethnic groups such as the multi-ethnic Akan, the Ga and the Ewe arrived in Ghana around the 13th Century AD. However, the Mamprusi are believed to be the first settlers, having been fully established by 1210 AD, before the arrival of the other ethnic groups of the Akan, the Ga and the Ewe in the 13th Century AD.
Modern Ghanaian territory includes what was the Empire of Ashanti, one of the most influential states in sub-Saharan Africa before colonial rule. Akan migrants moved southward and founded several nation-states including the first great Akan empire of the Bono(Brong), which is now known as the Brong-Ahafo region in Ghana. Much of the area of modern day south central Ghana was united under the Empire of Ashanti (from the Ashanti people), a branch of the Akan people by the 16th century.
The Ashanti government operated first as a loose network and eventually as a centralized kingdom with an advanced, highly specialized bureaucracy centered in Kumasi. It is said that at its peak, the Asantehene could field 500,000 troops and had some degree of military influence over all of its neighbors. The Ga people developed an effective unit around 1500 and the Gonja, Dagomba and Mamprusi also fought for political power in the 1620s.
We all migrated to Gold Coast but settled at different places and later changed the name from Gold Coast to Ghana.
FRANCIS TAWIAH (Duisburg - Germany)
