The Bono State (or Bonoman) was an early Akan state in what is now the Bono Region of Ghana. Bono traditions trace its origins to Amowi near modern day Nkoranza. From Amowi, the early settlers moved to Yɛfri and later to Bono Manso, which became the capital.
The state traded gold, kola, and other forest products through Begho for goods brought from the north. Bono expanded by bringing surrounding settlements under its rule, but began to decline during the 17th century. The Asante Empire conquered state in 1722–1723 and Bono royal line was later re-established at Takyiman under Asante rule.
Etymology Bonoman combines Bono with ɔman ("nation" or "state") and means "the Bono nation" or "land of the Bono." Effah-Gyamfi identified the Bonnoe shown on a Dutch map of 1629 with the Bono state and noted that Bono Manso means "the seat of the Bono state." He considered the name "Bono Manso State" repetitive and used Bono for the state itself.
Takyiman oral tradition gives two explanations for the name Bono. In one, the name means a "pioneer" or something that is first of its kind and is connected with the Akan expression abɔnɔwo, used when a woman gives birth for the first time. Takyiman traditions regard Bono as one of the earliest Akan states and its people as the first organized population to settle in the present Brong-Ahafo region. They hold that Asante, Denkyira, and Gyaman developed afterward, while Berekum, Dormaa, and Nkoranza were established later and adopted the Bono dialect. The other explanation derives the name from boɔ or boo, which can refer to a hole, cave, or rock shelter. In this tradition, the name comes from the belief that the ancestors of the Bono emerged from a hole at Amowi.
History Origins Takyiman tradition traces the ancestors of the Bono to Amowi, a sacred hole near a rock shelter about two kilometres southeast of Pinihi in the modern Nkoranza area. The site had been inhabited since at least the 5th century CE. According to the tradition, the ancestors of the Bono state emerged from the hole on a Friday. Their emergence from Amowi is remembered in songs performed during the annual Apɔɔ festival at Takyiman. The tradition states that an early king disappeared back into the hole after being startled by a hunter and left a large necklace at its entrance. Queen Ameyaa then led the people to a settlement about one kilometre from Amowi with their deity Biakru. Her son became ruler and was given the name Asaman, meaning "spirit of the dead", because the former king was believed to remain in the spirit world. Families soon established settlements under their own family heads throughout the surrounding area.
Another account records a movement from Amowi to Yɛfri (Yefri) and later to Manso. Asaman sent hunters to search for a site for a new capital. He and part of the population later moved about seventeen kilometres from the earlier settlement, while the priest of Biakru and some inhabitants remained behind to guard the sacred hole. The new settlement became Bono Manso, the capital of the Bono state. Takyiman tradition also recognizes the Gyamma as earlier inhabitants of the area. Asaman's hunters were said to have found their ancestors living in caves while searching for the site of the new capital. The Gyamma cared for the Bono stool while Manso was being built. As the town grew, they were later absorbed into the larger Bono population. During the Takyiman yam festival, the chief of Gyamma presented the first yams to the Omanhene of Takyiman, a custom that recognized the Gyamma as the hosts of the Takyiman people. Sites associated with Gyamma traditions were also found about eighteen kilometres south of Bono Manso. Gyamma elders regarded a group of inselbergs there as the homes of their earliest ancestors. Archaeological remains from the sites included material associated with the Kintampo tradition, which had been dated to around 1500–1100 BC.
State formation and consolidation Bono developed by bringing older settlements and communities around Bono Manso into the state through intermarriage and political ties rather than military conquest. Settlements had different origins. Some were associated with caves and rock shelters, while others began as royal settlements, migrant communities, trading or farming settlements, hunting camps, or settlements founded on the instructions of deities. Akumadan was a hunting settlement, its name derived from the hunter Ankoma and nnan (camp), while Besedan developed as a kola-growing settlement associated with dependents of a Bono queen. Some communities were already established before they became part of Bono. Dewoman had also existed as a separate state before its ruler became subordinate to the Bono king and was sometimes referred to as his "son."
Chiefs who became part of Bono remained in their own settlements while attending the royal court at Bono Manso. Many chiefs and members of the royal court established settlements within about 15 kilometres of the capital and maintained houses there for festivals and other visits. This allowed them to govern surrounding villages while remaining close enough to be summoned by the king while remaining close enough to be summoned by the king. Some wing chiefs controlled ten or more villages. One early sub-chief, Takyi Firi, lived at Nkwakuru and also ruled Baafi and Takyiman. As the settlements were brought together, Bono Manso became the political center of the state and the surrounding chiefs formed a hierarchy under the Bono king. The ruler came to be known as "Bono Kyempim Duoduakwa Hene mu Hene", translated as "King of the countless Bono who were planted everywhere" or "king of kings."
Growth and expansion According to Adu Boahen, Bono developed from the need to protect and regulate gold production and the trade routes between the forest and the Middle Niger. Effah-Gyamfi also connected the wealth of the state with its location and natural resources. The area produced yams, sorghum, kola, and other forest and savanna products and also contained gold deposits. Its position near the northern edge of the forest placed Bono at the southern end of the northwestern trade route from the Middle Niger. Northern traders using horses and donkeys generally stopped there because their animals could not travel far into the forest. Bono traders could therefore exchange local gold, kola, and other forest products with merchants arriving from the north. The nearby town of Begho, also known as Nsɔkɔ, became a trading center where gold, kola, ivory, and other forest products were exchanged for textiles, salt, and metal goods brought by Wangara merchants.
The rulers Ameyaw and Obunumankoma expanded Bonoman during the second half of the 15th century. By the 16th and 17th centuries, Bono Manso had become a major center of trade and craft production. Trade and craft production remained in the hands of Bono elites, and the population was mostly Akan. Oral traditions remember long periods of peace, with disputes (akokoakoko) consisting mainly of family quarrels and secessions rather than large wars. Until the 17th century, Bono remained the main power in the area, and Dewoman and Nyafoman owed allegiance to its king. Other traditions record wars with neighboring states, such as the Gonja kingdom.
Decline Bonoman began to decline during the 17th century when drought, dynastic disputes, and changes in trade affected the state. At the same time, southern Akan states such as Akyem and Denkyira, and later the Asante Empire, gained greater access to coastal trade and European firearms. Bono remained inland and lost its earlier importance in regional trade. High taxation and succession disputes also weakened the state. Oral traditions describe growing opposition to Ameyaw Kwakye I, the last Bonohene, who was accused of neglecting ritual duties and raising taxes. Before the Asante invasion, some of his subjects refused to defend the capital, saying, "Se hene Ameyaw anya ne ko a onko nhye" ("If king Ameyaw has got his war, let him fight it all").
Akan migrations and Asante expansion into Bono Before the rise of the Asante Empire, Akan-speaking groups from Adanse and the Kumasi area had already moved north into the region around Bono. Most arrived as settlers or refugees rather than conquerors and often joined existing villages and towns instead of founding separate settlements. Some settled in the area that later became Nkoranza, while others moved farther northwest toward Bondoukou. Nkoranza traditions traced some of the earlier settlers to the Asene clan of Adanse. One branch moved from Ayaase in Adanse to the Kumasi area, where they founded Amakom. During the growth of Asante, Amakom came into conflict with the Oyoko rulers of Kumasi. Its chief, Akosa Yiadom, was killed at Swedru by pursuing Asante forces, and some of the inhabitants fled north to Nkoranza. Traditions from Nkoranza and Takyiman state that Baffo and his followers from Amakom joined three hunters who already had nnan (hunting camps) at the site of Nkoranza and supplied meat to the Bono king. The immigrant population later became larger than the earlier population there.
The migrants later moved in search of new lands under Adu Denyina and another warrior also named Adu. Denyina settled at Swedru and was succeeded by his sister's son, Baffo Pim. Longoro-Nkwanta, inhabited mainly by Mo people, was one of the few settlements in the Bono area associated with migration for better land or escape from political disputes. Asante military campaigns caused more Akan movement into the northwest. During the reigns of Obiri Yeboa and Osei Tutu, fighting around Kumasi displaced Dormaa and other groups. Dormaa refugees moved north and established themselves near Sunyani before continuing toward Wam and Bondoukou, where Dormaa lineages later became associated with the Abron kingdom of Gyaman. Goody did not consider the earlier Akan movement into Nkoranza, Abron, and other parts of the northwest as an Asante invasion. He described the migrants as settlers and refugees whose presence later made Asante expansion into the region easier. Asante forces pursued the Dormaa northward and attacked Wenchi during the same period. The date of the defeat of Wenchi is uncertain. One tradition placed it during the reign of Opoku Ware, while another placed it under Obiri Yeboa. Goody suggested that Wenchi had already been defeated or immobilized before the main attacks on Takyiman and Abron (Gyaman). Asante was in a stronger position around Bono and from Wenchi, Nsawkaw could be neutralized and Nchira kept out of the coming war. Akan settlers already living in Nkoranza and other parts of the northwest assisted the Asante advance. Goody regarded their support as part of a larger strategy that included earlier wars, diplomacy, and the isolation of Takyiman. By the time Bono was attacked, the state had been deprived of several of its former allies.
Asante conquest of Bono