Wankyi or Wenchi was a traditional Akan state in what is now the Bono Region of Ghana. Occupied since at least the early second millennium CE, the area formed a distinct branch of the Bono people with its own clan system, origin traditions, and political institutions. Centered on the historic capitals of Bonoso and later Ahwene Koko, Wankyi flourished as a hub of gold production, cloth manufacture, and regional trade before coming under the influence of the Asante Empire in the early 18th century.
The name Wankyi is explained in two ways: one attributes it to the wankyie, a pig-like animal said to have been unearthed at the emergence site; the other derives it from wan akyi, meaning "beyond brightness," referring to an ancestral abode in a hole beyond the realm of light.[2]
History
Oral traditions and origins
According to Wenchi oral history, the ancestors of the Wankyi people emerged from a hole in the ground at Bonoso, near the source of the Ayusa stream.[2] Their leader was the Queen-Mother Asase-ba-ode-nsee, whose title translates as "child of Mother Earth whose origins date to the beginning".[2] The Akyem-style title Akyemehene ("chief royal spokesman") is said to have led the people with an ancient staff.[2]
Traditions describe a Paramount Chief who withdrew into the hole after being offended by a man named Nkrumah, the ninth-born son of his mother, leaving the Queen-Mother to rule in his absence.[2] Several clans, including Akyease, Awerepeme, Akwandu, Sisiraese, Ababaa, and Twemma, are believed to have descended from the original emergence, and their leaders served as sub-chiefs of the state.[2]
The earliest European reference to Wenchi appears on a 1629 Dutch map, which depicts the state as rich in gold and noted for its cloth industry, and records trade links with the "Akani".[3]
According to both oral and documentary sources, the Wenchi capital of Ahwene Koko was attacked by the Ashanti during the reign of Osei Tutu. The timing of the invasion is disputed: while Ozanne suggested a date between 1690 and 1700, historian Daaku used Dutch records to argue that the destruction occurred between 1711 and 1715, shortly before the Ashanti campaign against Aowin in 1715.[4]
Map of the Gold Coast c.1729 showing Bono and Wankyi (Wenchi) under Asante dominion.
Tradition holds that the wealth of the Wenchi state in gold, beads, and other valuables attracted Ashanti attention.[5] In one version, the Ashanti informed Wenchi that they intended to attack Dormaa at Abesim, advising the erection of a barrier along the road to Ahwene Koko to differentiate it from the route to Abesim. This may have been a deception intended to lower Wenchi's guard.[6] In another version, the Ashanti invaded on a Thursday (Kuru Yaw in the 42-day cycle), knowing that Friday was a day of rest and that many inhabitants would be away farming.[7] In both accounts, the attack was a surprise, resulting in the capture of the Queen-Mother, Nana Afoa Dankoto, and the looting of the state's regalia and wealth.[7]
Wenchi possessed no standing army; military roles were assigned only in times of conflict, and weapons consisted mainly of slings, spears, or bows and arrows. This contrasted with the Ashanti army's permanent, highly organised “wings” system created under Osei Tutu, which employed firearms acquired through coastal trade.[8] Following the defeat, Wenchi was made a tributary state, its wealth greatly diminished, and it fought in several Ashanti campaigns against external enemies, leading to long-standing hostility with Techiman.[9][10]
Later resettlement
In 1948, the site of Ahwene Koko was resettled when the Wenchihene, Nana Kwame Abrefah V, allocated the area to a group of Wenchi people and Ashanti immigrants. Under the leadership of Nana Yaw Fosu, the settlers engaged in hunting, farming, and rubber-tapping. The new village was nostalgically named “Ahwene” after the former Wenchi capital.[11]
Society and social structure
Unique clan structure
Historical traditions collected in Adanse describe the Pra–Ofin basin as the cradle of Akan culture, where the matrilineal clans were first created and from which migrants founded other Akan states. In contrast, Wenchi traditions do not support this origin narrative. Ethnographic research by Rattray and Boachie-Ansah records that Wenchi (and nearby Techiman) clans are named after the residential quarters of their ancestors rather than totems used by southern Akan societies like the Asante, and these quarters were themselves named after trees under which the first settlers lived.[12]
Wenchi tradition holds that seven clans emerged from the sacred hole at Bonoso: Asere (the Queen-Mother's clan), Akyease, Akwandu, Twemma, Ababaa (Konton), Twafuo (Sisiraese), and Nyinsae.[13] These names do not correspond to clan names found in other Akan areas and may have developed independently.[14] While some researchers, as noted by Boachie-Ansah, have argued that similar clan names occur in Techiman, Wenchi, and other Akan areas, others, including Rattray, have emphasised the differences. Busia recorded that Wenchi as a whole belonged to the Asene clan, while Goody and Meyerowitz claimed that only the royal lineage traced Asene descent.[15]
Some scholars suggest that migrant groups belonging to clans recognized elsewhere in Akan territory, such as the Asene, may have been adopted into Wenchi royalty or imposed their rule on the indigenous population, later adopting local traditions to ease integration.[16] Like other Akan groups, Wenchi clans are exogamous, but unlike their southern counterparts, they do not have individual animal totems. Instead, all Wenchi clans share a single totem—the panta or wankyie, a pig-like animal linked to the state's emergence tradition.[17]
Military-political structure
Unlike many southern Akan states, which have long integrated a “wings” system in which chiefs also serve as commanders of military divisions, Wenchi historically lacked this arrangement; it was only introduced into the traditional area during the 1930s.[12]
Clan structure and political roles in Wankyi
Like other Akan societies, Wankyi State was organised around several matrilineal clans, each occupying a distinct quarter within the settlement.[2] The principal clans included Akyease, Awerepeme, Akwandu, Sisiraese, Ababaa, and Twemma. Leadership within each clan was vested in a sub-chief, who held authority over local affairs while owing allegiance to the Paramount Chief.[2] However
The Queen-Mother occupied a central political and spiritual position, presiding over matters of succession, mediating disputes, and safeguarding the traditions of the emergence narrative.[2] Certain offices, such as the Akyemehene ("chief royal spokesmen"), played a role in state ceremonies and the transmission of oral history.[2]
Taboos and practices
Members of these clans who trace their ancestry to the emergence are collectively known as Yefiri, meaning “we come from [the hole]”.[18] Wenchi tradition forbids eating the wankyi or panta—a pig-like animal believed to have unearthed the ancestors—as well as allowing a ninth-born child to occupy the Wenchi stool.[18] The number nine is significant in the tradition: a ninth-born was said to have prevented the first Paramount Chief from emerging, forcing the Queen-Mother to rule in his place.
The hole at Bonoso remains a sacred site. On Munuko, a day in the 42-day cycle that coincides with the Odwira festival, the Wenchihene performs libations and offers sacrifices there to honour the ancestors.[18] Scholars have noted striking similarities between Wenchi's emergence traditions and those of Bono Manso, including the belief in origins from a hole, the withdrawal of the first ruler into it, and the avoidance of farming around its entrance.[19] These parallels are often interpreted either as the diffusion of a shared tradition between neighboring states or as evidence of a common remote ancestry.[19]
Economy, crafts and industry
The earliest European reference to Wenchi's industries appears on a 1629 Dutch map, which depicts the area as rich in gold and noted for its cloth production, with its inhabitants trading with the “Akani”.[20] By the 17th century Wenchi had developed a reputation for manufacturing textiles, a fact recorded by Olfert Dapper in 1670.[20]
The earliest form of cloth was bark cloth, produced from the bark of the kyenkyen tree (Antiaris sp.), which was stripped, beaten on a log to soften and widen it, and used for clothing. Bark cloth continues to be worn by fetish priests when carrying shrines to give oracles.[21]Cloth dyeing was also practiced: dye pits were lined with cow dung, filled with water, and infused with pounded leaves of Lonchocarpus cyanescens mixed with ash from the silk-cotton tree. After about ten days, the liquid turned blue, and cloths or cotton thread were soaked, dyed, and dried in the sun.[22]
Spindle whorls for spinning thread were sometimes obtained from Dyula (Dwera) traders from Bondoukou, who also practised dyeing in Wenchi. The Wenchi identify Lonchocarpus cyanescens as “dweera”, suggesting the plant was named after these traders.[22] Manufactured cloths were traded southwards to Denkyira and the Kwahu region, while goods sent north included foodstuffs, ivory, and later rubber. From the coast, copper rods, European cloth (especially a red cloth known locally as koogyan), beads, tobacco, and salt were imported and exchanged, including in trade for slaves.[23]
Archaeological Evidence
Discoveries in Bonoso
Excavations at Bonoso in 2010, 2012, and 2013 have confirmed long-term occupation of the site.[2][24] Radiocarbon dating of charcoal samples from the lowest stratigraphic levels indicates habitation beginning in the 7th century CE and continuing for over four centuries into the 12th century.[25][26] These findings suggest that Akan-speaking communities were established in the Wenchi area many centuries before the arrival of Europeans.
Material remains include decorated pottery sherds, iron slag, lateritic building foundations, and grindstones.[25][27] Pottery from the site has been classified into four wares, with Bonoso Wares 1 and 2 comprising the majority, and exhibiting forms such as everted-rim jars and hemispherical bowls, decorated with grooves, incisions, triangular stamps, and comb stamping.[28] Comparisons with assemblages from Ahwene Koko and other Akan sites indicate participation in a wider cultural network across the forest–savannah transitional zone during the early second millennium CE.[25][29]
Oral traditions and archaeological evidence point to craft specialisation, including local pottery production using micaceous clays and iron smelting under the authority of a sub-chief known as the Awerempehene.[30] The presence of daub fragments suggests mud-built houses, and grindstones indicate processing of staple crops such as yams, which feature prominently in Wenchi cultural festivals.[31]
Discoveries in Ahwene Koko
Excavations at Ahwene Koko, identified in oral tradition as the later capital of the Wenchi state, were conducted in March 2010 to refine the site's chronology and investigate evidence of trade.[32] A 2 × 6 m trench on a mound revealed two cultural layers containing pottery, locally manufactured smoking pipes, grindstones, cuprous objects, iron slag, a glass bead, and a clay spindle whorl.[33]
The pottery assemblage from Ahwene Koko included Ahwene Ware I, Ahwene Ware II, and Begho Ware. Begho Ware was the only ware decorated with rouletted motifs and it also contained a number of carinated sherds.[34] Corn-cob rouletted pottery, regarded by Wenchi potters as the work of Mo potters, appears only in Begho Ware, and this association is supported by evidence.[35] Sherds of Begho Ware found at Ahwene Koko, Twemma, and Kaam point to trade and cultural links with both the Begho area and the Mo.[35] The most common vessel forms were spherical-bodied pots with everted rims and hearth pots arranged in a tripod to hold cooking vessels.[36]
Smoking pipes—predominantly Ozanne's Type 2 (AD 1655/60–1690)—were found throughout the cultural deposits, suggesting that occupation began in the 17th century.[37] Radiocarbon dates from charcoal samples in the same level (AD 771–887 and AD 1411–1461) were rejected as inconsistent with the stratigraphy and associated artefacts.[38] Additional finds included a Venetian bead (16th–19th century) and a fragment of a forowa, a brass container for valuables produced between the late 18th and early 20th centuries.[12]
The range of artefacts reflects participation in long-distance trade networks linking the Wenchi area to Begho, northern Ghana, linking the Wenchi area to Begho and the wider trans-Saharan trade.[35]Spindle whorls and small spinning bowls provide evidence for textile production, a craft associated with Mande influence in the region.[39] The dominance of Type 2 pipes, combined with oral accounts of an Ashanti attack, suggests that Ahwene Koko was largely abandoned in the early 18th century.[40]
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