Tamale is the capital city of the Northern Region of Ghana. It is Ghana's third largest city, with a population of 371,351 people. The city has been ranked as the fastest-growing city in West Africa. Tamale is located in the Kingdom of Dagbon, Ghana's oldest Kingdom. Major ethnic groups who resided in Tamale are Dagomba, Gonja, Mamprusi, Akan, and Dagaaba.
Yaa Naa Yakubu Andani II (1945–2002) was the King of Dagbon, the traditional kingdom of the Dagomba people in northern Ghana, from 31 May 1974 until his assassination on 27 March 2002. He was born in August 1945 in Sagnarigu, a suburb of Tamale in the Northern Region of Ghana. Yakubu II was killed on 27 March 2002 at Yendi, the capital of the Kingdom of Dagbon, by unknown people when clashes broke out between the two feuding Gates of Dagbon Kingship. For 600 years the Abudu and Andani clans, named after two sons of the ancient Dagbon king Ya Naa Yakubu I, cordially rotated control of the kingdom centred in Yendi, 530 kilometres (330 mi) north of Accra, the capital of Ghana. A regent acted as sovereign of the kingdom until 18 January 2019 when a new ruler is chosen to occupy the revered Lion Skins of Yendi.
The Dagbamba or Dagomba are an ethnic group of Ghana, and Togo. They number more than 3.1 million people. The term Dagbamba is originally extended to refer to other related peoples who were unified by Naa Gbewaa including the Mamprusi and Nanumba. The Dagomba country is called Dagbon and they speak Dagbanli language. Dagbanli is the most spoken language of northern Ghana and second most widely spoken local language of Ghana. Dagbanli belongs to the Mabia (Mole-Dagbani) subgroup of the Gur languages, a large group of related languages in West Africa. The Dagomba practises both patrilineal and matrilineal systems of inheritance.
Yendi , is the traditional capital of the Kingdom of Dagbon and the administrative centre of the Yendi Municipal District in the Northern Region of Ghana. As of 2021, the population of Yendi was 154,421 comprising 76,142 males and 78,279 females. It is the seat of the King of the Dagbon, Ghana's oldest kingdom.
The Northern Region is one of the sixteen regions of Ghana. It is situated in the northern part of the country and ranks as the second largest of the sixteen regions. Before its division, it covered an area of 25,000 square kilometres, representing 10 percent of Ghana's area. In December 2018, the Savannah Region and North East Region were created from it. The Northern Region is divided into 16 districts. The region's capital is Tamale, Ghana's third largest city.
Bekwai is a town and the capital of the Bekwai Municipal, a municipality in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Bekwai is the seventy-ninth most populous settlement in Ghana, with a population of 7,267 people as of 2013. Bekwai and Bekwai Municipal are south of Kumasi and north of Obuasi. As of 2021, the current mayor of the municipal is Hon. Kwaku Kyei Baffour.
Ya Na Darimani (Kulkarijee) was Ya-Na or king of the Kingdom of Dagbon, a kingdom located in the northern part of modern-day Ghana. He was said to have ruled Dagbon for only seven weeks in 1899 but played an important role in the Dagbon chieftaincy conflict.
West Mamprusi Municipal Assembly is one of the six districts in North East Region, Ghana. Originally created as an ordinary district assembly in 1988 when it was known as West Mamprusi District, which was created from the former Mamprusi District Council, until the western part of the district was split off on 28 June 2012 to create Mamprugu-Moagduri District; thus the remaining part has been retained as West Mamprusi District. However, on 15 March 2018, it was elevated to municipal district assembly status to become West Mamprusi Municipal District. The municipality is located in the western part of North East Region and has Walewale as its capital town. Other settlements within the municipal assembly include Wulugu.
Gushegu Municipal District is one of the sixteen districts in Northern Region, Ghana. Originally it was formerly part of the then-larger Gushegu-Karaga District in 1988, which was created from the former East Dagomba District Council, until the western part of the district was split off to create Karaga District on 27 August 2004; thus the remaining part has been renamed as Gushegu District, which it was later elevated to municipal district assembly status on that same year to become Gushegu Municipal District. The municipality is located in the northeast part of Northern Region and has Gushegu as its capital town.
Naa Gbewaa is the founder of the Kingdom of Dagbon, in what is now northern Ghana. His sons and daughters are credited with founding several states, including the Mossi Kingdoms of Burkina Faso. He established a stable and prosperous kingdom. Naa Gbewaa's shrine is located at Pusiga, 90 km east of Bolgatanga. His descendants continue to pay respects at the shrine.
Walewale is a town and the capital of Mamprusi West Municipal in the North East Region of Ghana. The West Mamprusi Municipal is one of the 261 Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in Ghana, and forms part of the 6 MMDAs in the North East Region. The West Mamprusi Municipality is one of 45 new districts created in 1988 under the Government of Ghana’s decentralization and was later replaced with LI 2061 in 2012. With its administrative capital as Walewale.
Bimbilla is the capital town of Nanumba North District, a district in the Northern Region of Ghana. It is located in the East of the region, and is near the Oti River. The location is situated within the range of 8.5° north to 9.25° north latitude, and between 0.57° east to 0.5° east longitude. It borders five municipalities: Yendi Municipal to the north, Mion Municipal to the northwest, East Gonja Municipal to the west and southwest, Nanumba South Municipal to the south and east, and Zabzugu Municipal to the north-northeast.
Nyankpala, with the appelation Beyom Yili, is a town located about 10 miles south-west of Tamale, the capital of the Northern Region of Ghana. The University for Development Studies (UDS) has its premier campus located in the town. This campus is the first of the university's campuses, the first to be established in northern Ghana.
The Kingdom of Dagbon is the oldest and one of the most organised traditional kingdoms in Ghana founded by the Dagomba people (Dagbamba) in the 15th century. During its rise, it comprised, at various points, the Northern, Upper West, Upper East, Savannah Region and North East regions of present-day Ghana. It also covered portions of Burkina Faso, North East Ivory Coast and North West Togo. Since Ghana's independence in 1957, the Kingdom just like all of Ghana's kingdoms and ethnic states has assumed a traditional, customary role.
Mion District is one of the sixteen districts in Northern Region, Ghana. Originally it was formerly part of the then-larger Yendi District in 1988, which was created from the former East Dagomba District Council, until the western part of the district was later split off to create Mion District on 28 June 2012; thus the remaining original part has bee retained to become Yendi Municipal District. The district assembly is located in the central part of Northern Region and has Sang as its capital town.
Japekrom is the Municipal Capital of Jaman South Municipality of the Bono Region of Ghana. It has been an important town since the colonial Gold Coast days in Ghana's History, then referred to as Pruano but spelled as Pulliano in colonial Gold Coast maps. The Japekromhene is part of Asanteman council. The township was built on a foundation of solid stone and as a result of resistance to any form of suppression or oppression. Traditional leaders of the Japekrom strongly uphold the principles of truth, fairness, hard work, a welcoming heart, inclusion and preservation of culture. The people of Japekrom are very welcoming of people from other tribes and cultures.
The Zabarma Emirate was an Islamic state that existed from the 1860s to 1897 in what is today parts of Ghana and Burkina Faso.
Bukali II, known as Gariba II, is the current Yaa Naa, traditional ruler of the Kingdom of Dagbon in Northern Ghana.
Alhassan Andani is a Ghanaian economist and grandson of Naa Andani who ruled Dagbon in the colonial era. He is the founder and chairman of Leadership Vision Strategy Africa. Mr.Andani is a former chief executive director of Stanbic bank. He holds the position of Chairman of Council for Scientific & Industrial Research, Chairman of SOS Children's Villages Ghana and serves on the board of Gold Fields Limited. Alhassan Andani is Independent Non-Executive Director of the company. Mr Andani is a former CEO and executive director of Stanbic Bank Ghana; the board chairperson of the Ghana Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), a director of SOS Villages Ghana, and has held other corporate directorships in the past. He holds BSc (Agriculture), University of Ghana; MA, Finafrica Institute in Italy.
Ibrahim Mahama is a Ghanaian lawyer, and civil servant. He was Ghana's Commissioner for Secretariats and Departments from 1967 to 1968 and Commissioner for Information from 1968 to 1969.
