Kabye people

Last updated
Kabye people
Total population
1,439,000
Regions with significant populations
Flag of Togo.svg  Togo 1,372,000
Flag of Ghana.svg  Ghana 52,000
Flag of Benin.svg  Benin 15,000
Languages
Kabiye language
Religion
Animism and Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Logba people

The Kabye (also known as Kabiye, Kabre, Cabrai), are a people living in the north central mountains and northern plains of Togo. [1] [2] They speak the Kabiye language. The Kabye are primarily known for farming and cultivation of harsh, dry, infertile lands of Togo. They grow cotton, millet and yams. [2]

Contents

Kabye people also live in northwestern Benin near the Togolese border. The Logba or Lugba people of Benin are closely related to the Kabye. Broadly defined and subgroups included, the Kabiye people are the second largest ethnic group in Togo after the Ewe people, and they dominate the Togolese government and military. [1]

Society and culture

The Kabye are a patrilineal society that has been primarily devoted to subsistence farming. In contemporary economy, many are migrant labor. [1]

Evala wrestling

Evala is a form of traditional wrestling practised mainly by the Kabyé of northern Togo, in West Africa. Competitors meet yearly at a festival following a retreat marking the initiation of young men into adulthood. [3] [4] [5]

Evala is the penultimate element of this initiation rite, during which young men are separated from their families for one week, residing in special huts where they are fed and subject to mental training. Prior to wrestling, participants go on a pilgrimage which involves climbing three mountains; those who do not complete it are not initiated into adulthood. Although wrestlers are initiated regardless of whether they win or not, losing is considered shameful to the family name. The last of these initiation rites is circumcision.[ citation needed ]

Notable people

The country's former president, Gnassingbé Eyadema, who took power in a coup, was of Kabye ethnicity. [1] Togo is now led by Eyadema's son, Faure Gnassingbé.

Angèle Patassé, the Togolese-born former First Lady of the Central African Republic, was also a member of the Kabye people. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Togo</span> Country in West Africa

Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It is one of the least developed countries and extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its capital, Lomé, is located. It is a small, tropical country, which covers 57,000 square kilometres and has a population of approximately 8 million, and it has a width of less than 115 km (71 mi) between Ghana and its eastern neighbour Benin.

The history of Togo can be traced to archaeological finds which indicate that ancient local tribes were able to produce pottery and process tin. During the period from the 11th century to the 16th century, the Ewé, the Mina, the Gun, and various other tribes entered the region. Most of them settled in coastal areas. The Portuguese arrived in the late 15th century, followed by other European powers. Until the 19th century, the coastal region was a major slave trade centre, earning Togo and the surrounding region the name "The Slave Coast".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of Togo</span> Togolese Politics

Politics of Togo takes place in a framework of a presidential republic, whereby the President of Togo is both head of state and head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. After independence, the party system was dominated first by the authoritarian Rally for the Togolese People, and later by its successor party, Union for the Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gnassingbé Eyadéma</span> President of Togo from 1967 to 2005

Gnassingbé Eyadéma was a Togolese military officer and politician who was the president of Togo from 1967 until his death in 2005, after which he was immediately succeeded by his son, Faure Gnassingbé.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of Togo</span> Traditional and contemporary music of the Togolese Republic

The music of Togo has produced a number of internationally known popular entertainers including Bella Bellow, Akofah Akussah, Afia Mala, Itadi Bonney, Wellborn, King Mensah and Jimi Hope.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faure Gnassingbé</span> President of Togo since 2005

Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé Eyadéma is a Togolese politician who has been the president of Togo since 2005. Before assuming the presidency, he was appointed by his father, President Gnassingbé Eyadéma, as Minister of Equipment, Mines, Posts, and Telecommunications, serving from 2003 to 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Losso people</span> West African ethnic group

The Nawdba, sing. Nawda, to whom some refer as Lossos in Togo, are an ethnic and linguistic group of people living in the Doufelgou District (Préfecture) of the Kara Region in Northern Togo, West Africa. The district capital is Niamtougou which is also an important regional market town. The Nawdba live on a plateau in the Togo Mountains between two mountain ranges: the Kabiyé Mountains to the South and the Défalé Chain to the North. They occupy the communities of Niamtougou, Koka, Baga, Ténéga, Siou, Djogrergou, Sioudouga, Kpadeba, Hago, Koukou, and Kounfaga. The Doufelgou District is bordered by the Kozah District to the South, by the Binah District to the East, by the Bassar District to the West, by the Kéran District to the North, and by the international border with Bénin to the Northeast.

Fambaré Ouattara Natchaba was a Togolese politician. He was the President of the National Assembly of Togo from September 2000 to February 2005. He was a prominent member of the ruling Rally of the Togolese People (RPT) and a member of the Pan-African Parliament representing Togo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicolas Grunitzky</span> 2nd President of Togo (1963–67)

Nicolas Grunitzky was the second president of Togo and its third head of state. He was President from 1963 to 1967. Grunitzky was Prime Minister of Togo from 1956 to 1958 under the French Colonial loi cadre system, which created a limited "national" government in their colonial possessions. He was elected Prime Minister of Togo —still under French administration— in 1956. Following the 1963 coup which killed his nationalist political rival and brother-in-law Sylvanus Olympio, Grunitzky was chosen by the military committee of coup leaders to be Togo's second President.

Kléber Dadjo was a Togolese politician and military officer who served as Interim President of Togo in his role as Chairman of the National Reconciliation Committee from 14 January 1967 to 14 April 1967 following the overthrow of President Nicolas Grunitzky's government.

Kabiye is an Eastern Gurunsi Gur language spoken primarily in northern Togo. Throughout the 20th century, there was extensive migration to the centre and south of Togo and also to Ghana and Benin. Kabiye speakers made up over 23% of the Togolese population in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kara, Togo</span> Place in Kara Region, Togo

Kara is a city in northern Togo, situated in Kara Region, 413 km north of the capital Lomé. Kara is the capital of the Kara region and, according to the 2010 census, had a population of 94,878. The Kara River flows through the city and is its main resource of water. The city developed from the 1970s onwards from the village originally known as Lama-Kara. Its growth was largely due to the influence of the previous Togolese head of state Gnassingbé Eyadéma; he was born in the nearby village of Pya and understood Kara's strategic position at a crossroads of two trade routes.

Dama Dramani is a Togolese politician who was the President of the National Assembly of Togo from 2013 to 2018. He was Secretary-General of the Rally of the Togolese People (RPT), the ruling party, from 2003 to 2006, and following the 2007 parliamentary election he was President of the RPT Parliamentary Group in the National Assembly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1974 Togo presidential C-47 crash</span> 1974 aviation accident in Togo

On 24 January 1974, a Togo Air Force Douglas C-47 Skytrain carrying several notable political figures crashed at an isolated location near the village of Sarakawa in northern Togo. Gnassingbé Eyadéma, the President of Togo, was on board the aircraft, which was flying from Lomé to his native village, Pya. As the C-47 descended for landing, it crashed near Sarakawa. Eyadéma survived, but his French pilot and all three other passengers died.

A coup d'état occurred in March 2003 in the Central African Republic when the forces of General François Bozizé marched on Bangui, the country's capital, while President Ange-Félix Patassé was attending a regional Community of Sahel–Saharan States leaders' summit in Niger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Korea–Togo relations</span> Bilateral relations

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">1967 Togolese coup d'état</span> 1967 coup in Togo

The 1967 Togolese coup d'état was a bloodless military coup that occurred in the West African country of Togo on 13 January 1967. The leader of the coup, Lieutenant Colonel Étienne Eyadéma ousted Togo's second President, Nicolas Grunitzky, whom he essentially brought to power following the 1963 coup d'état.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1986 Togolese coup attempt</span> 1986 coup attempt in Togo

The 1986 Togolese coup d'état attempt was a coup attempt that occurred in the West African country of Togo on 23 September 1986. The coup attempt consisted of a group of some 70 armed dissidents crossed into capital Lomé from Ghana in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the government of President General Gnassingbé Eyadéma.

The 2005 Togo protests and riots were demonstrations and rioting against the results of the presidential election and Faure Gnassingbe's takeover of power. Protests began in February with protesters demanding new elections and the end of the Gnassingbe dynasty. Around 100 were killed before the elections, but after the 2005 Togolese presidential election around 500 protesters were killed by Togolese Armed Forces, assisted by military-trained Rally of the Togolese People (RPT) militias.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Anthony Appiah; Henry Louis Gates (2010). Encyclopedia of Africa. Oxford University Press. p. 625. ISBN   978-0-19-533770-9.
  2. 1 2 Paul Humphrey; et al. (2001). Peoples of Africa, Volume 10: Togo-Zimbabwe. Marshall Cavendish. p. 533. ISBN   978-0-7614-7168-4.
  3. Jim Hudgens, Richard Trillo, and Nathalie Calonnec (2003). The rough guide to West Africa (4th ed.). Rough Guides. ISBN   1-84353-118-6.
  4. Gemma Pitcher, David Andrew, Kate Armstrong, James Bainbridge, Tim Bewer, and Jean-Bernard Carillet (2007). Africa (11th ed.). Lonely Planet. pp. 524. ISBN   1-74104-482-0.
  5. "Initiation wrestling in Togo". 10 September 2019. Retrieved 2019-09-10 via The African.
  6. "Décès à Lomé de l'épouse de l'ex-président centrafricain A. F. Patassé". Xinhua . Sagonet. 2007-12-06. Archived from the original on 2015-04-15. Retrieved 2023-08-28.

Further reading