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    History of Guans

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    kidmasked7
    The Guans originated in the Mossi region of Burkina Faso and migrated south through Ghana, settling in areas like the Volta Region. There are six main Guan tribes that primarily speak Guan languages. The Guans had a non-centralized political system with each town ruled independently by fetish priests or priestesses who held both political and religious power. Later, the Guans adopted a system with both chiefs and priests, assisted by councils of elders and courts.

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    History of Guans

    Uploaded by

    kidmasked7
    158 views14 pages
    The Guans originated in the Mossi region of Burkina Faso and migrated south through Ghana, settling in areas like the Volta Region. There are six main Guan tribes that primarily speak Guan languages. The Guans had a non-centralized political system with each town ruled independently by fetish priests or priestesses who held both political and religious power. Later, the Guans adopted a system with both chiefs and priests, assisted by councils of elders and courts.

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    The Guans originated in the Mossi region of Burkina Faso and migrated south through Ghana, settling in areas like the Volta Region. There are six main Guan tribes that primarily speak Guan languages. The Guans had a non-centralized political system with each town ruled independently by fetish priests or priestesses who held both political and religious power. Later, the Guans adopted a system with both chiefs and priests, assisted by councils of elders and courts.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    158 views14 pages

    History of Guans

    Uploaded by

    kidmasked7
    The Guans originated in the Mossi region of Burkina Faso and migrated south through Ghana, settling in areas like the Volta Region. There are six main Guan tribes that primarily speak Guan languages. The Guans had a non-centralized political system with each town ruled independently by fetish priests or priestesses who held both political and religious power. Later, the Guans adopted a system with both chiefs and priests, assisted by councils of elders and courts.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    of 14

    HISTORY OF GUANS

    GROUP MEMBERS

    Ewuresi Elorm Matekpor


    Victoria Opii Adu-Poku
    Phylix Naa Larteley Lartey
    Learning Objectives

    Origin of Guans
    Political Organisation
    ORIGIN OF THE GUANS
    The Guans are believed to have migrated from the
    Mossi region of modern Burkina moving
    gradually through the volta valley in a southerly
    direction, they created settlement along the black
    volta, throughout the Afrain plains, in the volta
    gorge and in Akuapim hills before moving farther
    south onto the costal plains.
    There are six tribes under the Guan ethnic group which
    are Gonja, Larteh, Nkonya, Anum, Nawuri and
    Ntsumburu. The people primarily speak guan language
    of the Niger-Congo language family. Guans are mostly
    located in the Eastern region in places like Anum,
    Boso, Larteh, Okyere and Kyerepong.
    Since the Guans were of the first settlers in present
    day Ghana, some assimilated into the cultures of
    major ethnic groups. Some of the indigenes of
    Kpeshie, Nzema, Ahanta, Sefwi in the western and
    West-north region may also trace the roots to Guan
    people.
    They are noticeably very tolerant and live as common in
    their various environments.
    They speak the languages of the major ethnic group which
    originated from the Kwa language
    POLITICAL ORGANIZATION OF GUANS
    The Guan people can be located at Winneba, Akuapem Ridge,
    Anum, Wurupong, among others. The Guan political system was
    theocratic with the following characteristics or features.
    1. Non-Centralised System of Adminstration. The Guans had no
    centralized each Guans states. The Guan did not unite and therefore
    considered each Guan as independent of another. According to
    Reindorf, the Guan were not governed by any principal man but
    every town had its ruler. Each Guan state was also made up of
    independent clans each under its own head.
    Fetish Priests/Priestesses.

    The Guan state was rather ruled by fetish priests and priestesses
    who exercised both political and religious functions. The fetish
    priests and priestesses controlled the shrines and wielded great
    political power. They were thus regarded as priest-kings. For
    example, Manfe was ruled by the priest of Topve; Abiriw by the
    priest of Bosompra, whilst Obosomase was ruled by Kyenku priest.
    According to Theophilus Opoku, the king, an old man, had
    much less influence than the king. The priest was a much
    respected man and settled through the fetish disputes where
    the power of the king is inadequate, and all are subject to
    his decision. The fetish priests were thus honoured and
    highly respected not only because they took charge of the
    spiritual well-being of the people, but more importantly,
    there were effective officers of the land. To offend them
    meant incurring the wrath of the gods.
    Rule by Chiefs.
    The Guan were later ruled by both a chief and a priest due to the
    influence of the Akans. However, the sacred office of a priest was
    separated from that of a chief. For example, Dente Bosomfo
    exercised immense political power than the king of Krakye .
    Presently, in the Guan states, all political power rest with the chief
    who is assisted by council of elders.
     Council of Elders.
    Another important political feature of the Guan was that
    the various clan heads of each state formed the council of
    elders. The council of elders assisted the chief to make laws
    and decisions. They also served as advisors to the chief.
    Existence of Courts.
    The existence of courts also formed part of the Guan
    political system. The chiefs had the power to judge cases
    himself and again exercise the function of the final courts of
    appeal. The chief applied both supernatural and natural
    powers in the trial of cases that come in his courts.

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