The Nzemas Settled at The Gold Coast 830 Years Ago

The Nzema people of modern Ghana are part of a very large Akan family who moved from various locations to settle at their present location.

They currently live in southwestern of modern Ghana and in the southeast of modern Côte d’Ivoire.

The Nzema area is divided into two electoral districts of Nzema East District and Nzema West which is also referred to as Jomoro District of Ghana.

Their language is also known as Nzima (in Ghana) or Appolo (in the Ivory Coast).

The Nzema trace their ancestry from the Agona clan of the Akans (one of the legendary 7 clans of the Akanic Empire).

The Agona and Bretuo families among the 7 clans are siblings.

According to ancient tradition, these two families both lived together at Ahensan in Adanse (the aboriginal home of most of the Akan clans) and as a result of expansion, some members left to settle at a place they later called Denkyera, in so doing they changed their family and became the Agona family.

With the help of their first King Nana Boa Amponsem l they formed the first Akan Empire.

The Empire controlled the whole of the Akan states and also had a direct access to the coast and was also the middlemen to the white traders at the coast.

The Agona family members are by nature very good businessmen because it is said that their ancestors had always controlled the gold and kola strade before arriving at Adanse.

From Denkyera two brothers who were hunters left with their families to seek for a new settlement.

One of the families found themselves at Nsaabaa and the other at Tafo in Kwaaman (later Kumase).

Much is not known of the family that arrived at Nsaabaa.

Those who settled at Tafo became the first settlers of modern Kumase.

Nana Oti Akenten hunter who discovered Kwaaman actually on behalf of his chief bought the first piece of land for settlement from Agonaba Nana Adwoa Nkraa Awere.

She and her people were living around the present location of the SAT building in Kumase and they were those who gave the name to that small stream in Kumase.

The river was small but very close to them and they used to say “nsuo yi ben” – meaning “the river is very close”.

This later change to become and eventually- “Subin”

Because the Agonas were the first settlers in Kumase the chief of Tafo still controls a large portion of the land in Kumase.

After Kumase was burnt down it was the Tafohene who offered a piece of land for the new palace at Manhyia.

The patriarch of the agona family is Nana Boa Amposem l of Denkyera.

Their totem is the parrot and their symbolic quality is eloquence and perfect management.

If an Agona greets you their response is- “Yaa Adome or Yaa Otwidam.”

As earlier stated, the Nzemas are of Agona ancestry.

They first settled at the Gold Coast around 1192 led by Ajumro Wa who died shortly after they arrived.

Before coming there, they moved from the southern part of the Egyptian Nile river, around the famous valley of kings.

Ancient Egyptians built massive public monuments for their pharaohs and spent years creating hidden underground mausoleums.

The most famed collection of such elaborate tombs—the Valley of the Kings—lies on the Nile’s west bank near Luxor.

During Egypt’s New Kingdom (1539-1075 B.C.), the valley became a royal burial ground for pharaohs such as Tutankhamun, Seti I, and Ramses II, as well as queens, high priests, and other elites of the 18th, 19th, and 20th dynasties.

So the Nzemas moved from this area spiritually led by a WATER SPIRIT.

Since the spirit was borne of water and needed a sea or river to settle in, it led the Nzemas to live between river Tano and Ankobrah.

 

Nubian Origins

Some of the Nzemas migrated to Southern Sudan.

In the 1820s, some members of the Shilluk, Dinka, Bari, Lotuko, Madi, Lugbara and Alur ethnic groups coalesced into a community of people known as “Sudanese-Nubians”.

They practised Islamic culture and spoke a creolised form of Arabic.

It is not surprising that some of the patriarchs of the Nzema were moslems and farmers.

The Sudanese Nubians developed as a distinct group as a result of Egypt’s military expansion south into Sudan in the first half of the nineteenth century.

Among Sudanese Nubians were professional mercenaries who were used by both Africans and Europeans to capture slaves, ivory and minerals from Gondokoro (southern Sudan) during the 19th century.

In the process, Africans adapted to the Arabic culture.

King Alobre was the first king of the Nzema at the Gold Coast after the death of their migration leader.

In 1192, King Alobre was in charge.

After him came Elimafle, followed by the one who established the Nzema Monarchical System, Awulai (King) Amishe Kpenhele I in 1400.

In 1410, they built their first palace at Beyin.

When they initially settled there was a lion disturbing them but it was killed by Kadengo, a spiritually skilled hunter.

When the reign of Awulai Amishe Kpenhele I ended, Anobraka, who was living at Mpoho those days was skilled at harvesting thorny palm fruits.

He became king in the early 1500s.

At that time, there was no Kundum Festival.

It was the Agona of Ahanta who introduced the festival to them.

“Kundum” means ‘Famine Could Not overpower Us’.

The people named it so after surviving a famine period in the early 1800s.

 

Now back to the 1500s, Beyin was then called “Bentiribo”.

What Really Happened to Kaku Ackah in The 1800s?

As soon as he was enthroned in 1821 he expanded the territories of Nzema to Ivory Coast (Balsam) by 1831.

He wanted to build a great Nzema Empire.

He fought with the Wassa but spared the Ahanta people because they were also Agonas.

In his quest to unite his people and create a formidable Nzema land, Kaku Ackah decided to garner support and execute his plans.

Among some of his strategies was to annex a portion of the Aynin land which was situated in then Gold Coast and under the French colony.

With a well-coordinated plan, the Nzema King sought to compensate the loss of Nzema land in Ivory Coast after he was said to have beheaded the King of Anyin.

Through other means, he sought to unify his people and created a formidable kingdom where the people of Nzema were under the umbrella of Beyin.

Word of this formidable Nzema kingdom quickly spread and this troubled the George MacLean leadership in the then Gold Coast.

The British governor decided to hatch a diabolic plan which sought to thwart Kaku Ackah’s regime which many Europeans, coming into the Gold Coast, could not withstand.

The British were on a “mad” mission to colonise all tribes on the Gold Coast including the belligerent Asantes inland.

This resulted in all kinds of fierce resistance lasting for a century (1801 to 1901) at the Gold Coast.

 

With a strict ruling module, Kaku Ackah quickly fenced the Nzema land within Gold Coast with an able army to defend the land and its people.

In 1843, George MacLean’s leadership was outlawed by the British government and a new governor, Commander Hill was posted to the Gold Coast and given a brief on Kaku Ackah’s regime.

The new Commander, just a year after assuming his post, persuaded all nine coastal kingdoms to sign the Bond of 1844 – one which Awule Kaku Ackah and his Nzema people refused to sign as he would not allow foreigners to dictate to him.

The other eight states which included, Denkyira, Anomabo and others seemed to have betrayed the famous King and signed the infamous Bond of 1844 even after he [Awulae Kaku Ackah] cautioned them not to sign.

Little did they know they had innocently waived off their rights, lands, people and possessions to the British and Europeans.

The Gold Coasters only became free when they gained independence in 1957 and attained Republic status in 1960.

While all this went on, Kaku Ackah remained unperturbed but sensed danger.

After the 1844 bond, the British hatched a plan to silence the famous chief by spreading falsehood about him “engaging in slave trade against his own people” due to his bold refusal to sign the Bond.

To save himself and strategise against the British, Kaku Ackah was said to have transferred the capital town from Beyin to “Adoa Ne Bo”, also known as Atoabo.

But betrayal will once again follow him to Atoabo where one of his subjects named Ebanyiri, was planted as a spy by the British and reported of the King’s daily activities.

Ebanyiri was a levy collector at the king’s palace so it was easy for him to indulge in that espionage.

Another tax collector, Amechi of Beyin was also a spy for the British.

These two betrayed their king.

After a while, Awulae Kaku Ackah was ordered to be arrested but he fled to North of Nzema and activated a self-imposed exile after his faithful subjects and elders were now compromised and silenced by the British.

More falsehood quickly spread about the King to a point where his own people said nothing good about him.

In his absence, the Nzema land was shared among the British and other signees of the Bond.

Nzema land which was once a formidable kingdom quickly become disintegrated and shortly after this, King Awulae Kaku Ackah was later captured.

Kaku Ackah was wearing his famous hat when he was captured.

As they were walking, he kept his gaze at the sea and started cursing the Nzema people for betraying him.

As he did that the waves occasionally carried fishes to the shore, and they instantly died.

This happened continuously as he cursed till they got to river Ankobrah.

As they (together with his captors who were British soldiers) took a canoe to cross to the other side he cursed one last time:

“If I don’t come back and my descendant is not crowned king, the HEAD of Nzema will forever remain at the Ivory Coast and LEGS at Cape Coast.”

This means disintegration for the entire Nzema people that no longer will they be united.

In 1848 he was taken to court in Cape Coast.

He decided not to speak when he was questioned.

All he said was:

“No sovereign King/Queen can judge Another King/Queen in his/her own land.”

He died in exile at the Cape Coast castle in 1851.

According to Nzema legend, the king was not human and could turn into any animal at will.

The king had mysterious powers which was believed to come from his famous hat.

During the war between Nzemaland and the British, King Kaku’s army was defeated and he was the last man standing but the only way the British could overcome him was to take off his hat.

He tried to escape but upon getting to a village called Sanwoma which means ‘only air’, his hat was blown away by the wind and that was when he was captured.

After his trial, he was jailed and died in exile at the Cape Coast castle.

Entries from Provincial commissioner’s File, Sekondi, dated 25th October, 1924, indicates that “the Nzema language has an affinity with the Aowin dialect and with Gwira, Ajumoro (the dialect of the Apatem village) and Evalue (Axim).”

Despite profound dissimilarities and a wide range of variation in their ancestral backgrounds, these heterogonous groups still share a distinctive substratum of cultural and linguistic identity with the Guan – speaking people of Ghana.

 

THE NVAVILƐ LINEAGE OF THE NZEMA

 

The Ruling Stool of the United Nzema Kingdom was the stool of their Great Leader – Ahor Blay, an ancestor of the current King Kaku Aka III.

Before King Kaku Aka III came, the list below shows the names and dates of those Leaders who sat on the stool from the 1300s till date:

 

Ahor Blay…1200 – 1300;

Anlima Fule..1300 – 1400;

Amuhyia Kpanyinli…1400 – 1450;

Dehelè Koasi…1450 – 1500;

Anor Blay Aka…1500 – 1550;

Bua Kpanyinli…1550 – 1600;

Anor Bolormane I …1600 – 1660;

Mènla Ékyi Kofi…1660 – 1701;

Koasi Ezoa Ékyi…1701 – 1746;

Anor Bolormane II …1746 – 1789;

Mieza Ékyi…1789 – 1820;

Nyanzu Aka…1820~1831;

Kaku Aka I …1831 – 1851

{He was condemned (29/11/1849) and died (28/12/1851).

After the death of Kaku Aka I, or when the split of his Kingdom came…1851 – 2005};

His stool was revived by King Kaku Aka II …1/10/2005;

Kaku Aka II…2005~2013;
and finally,
Kaku Aka III…2013 to Date.