Notes Introduction 1. Taken as a whole, the Akan region covers a large part of southern and central Ghana and southeastern Ivory Coast. The River Volta in the east and the River Bandama in the west can be taken its current approximate borders. See Valsecchi and Viti, 1999, pp. 9–20. 2. See Arhin, 1967, 1970; Daaku, 1970a; Fynn, 1971; Goody, 1965; McCaskie, 1974, 1995; Perrot, 1982; Reynolds, 1974; Terray, 1995; Wilks, 1975. 3. See, in particular, Kea, 1982, and Daaku, 1970a. 4. See, for example, Kwamena-Poh, 1973; Chouin, 1998; and Daffontaine, 1993. 5. In particular, E. Cerulli, V. L. Grottanelli, V. Lanternari, M. G. Parodi da Passano, B. Palumbo, M. Pavanello, G. Schirripa, I. Signorini, and A. Wade Brown. For a comprehensive list of Italian anthropological studies on Nzema, see http://meig.humnet.unipi.it/. For an extensive bibliogra- phy on Nzema see Valsecchi, 2002, pp. 329–343 (passim). 6. See Ackah, 1965; Baesjou, 1998; and Valsecchi, 1986, 1994, 1999. 7. The inverted commas thus suggest “so-called by Europeans,” without however implying any value judgment. 8. In particular, Wilks, 1977, 1982a. 9. According to Kea (1982, pp. 321–323), the period that ran from the late fi fteenth century to the very early eighteenth century witnessed expansion in trade, demographic growth, urbanization, monetization, and consolida- tion of slavery in production. The merchant class attained hegemony by the joint control of the means of administration, destruction, and production. Independent polities were numerous and roughly equivalent in terms of strength, though networks of trade towns (especially the Akani system) provided forms of regional unifi cation. 10. Kea, 1982, pp. 321–326. 11. Ibid., pp. 90–94. 12. Wilks, 1978. For a critical alternative to Wilk’s reconstruction of Akan origins, see Klein, 1994, 1996. 13. For the debate on these defi nitions, see Claessen and Skalník, 1978; Claessen, van de Welde, 1987; Eisenstadt, Abitbol, and Chazan, 1988; Viti, 1998. 14. See Kopytoff, 1987. 15. Perrot, 1982; Viti, 1998. 222 Notes 16. See Bosman, 1705, Letter IX, p. 130. 17. See Perrot, 1982; Diabate, 1984; Deffontaine, 1993; Terray 1995; Chouin, 1998. 18. See Valsecchi, 1999b. 19. See Amselle, 1990, p. 22–28; Ranger, 1989, pp. 118–150; Comaroff and Comaroff, 1991, chap. 7. 20. Amselle, 1995, p. 87. 21. Lentz and Nugent, 2000. 22. For various analyses of Asante, see Wilks, 1975, 1993; Yarak, 1990; McCaskie, 1995. For a study of the Gyaman state, see Terray, 1995. 23. See Viti, 1995, on Baule; Rathbone, 1996, on Akyem Abuakwa. 24. See Ackah, 1965, app. 1, “Information given by the ɔmanhene of Eastern Nzema,” arguing for an origin in Takyiman, and PRAAD ADM 11/1/1699 Notes of Evidence taken before an Inquiry . into the Constitution of Apo- lonia, 1914, pp. 25–27; “Kwasi Hawba, Head Linguist, Beyin 13 march 1914,” pp. 44–53; “Yamike Kwaku, Sekondi, 19 March 1914” (on the ancestral origins in Anwea Anwea). 25. See Essuah, 1962, I, p. 115; Aka and Perrot, 1972, p. 111, n. 4; Daaku, 1973a; Niangoran-Bouah, 1965, pp. 56–58; Perrot, 1982, pp. 40–52. For Wassa, see PRAAD ADM 11/1/1703, Wassaw Enquiry, 1913. Notes of Evidence by F. Crowther, p. 23, “Omanhene Kwanina Bassayin of Wassa Amenfi , Kwajo Adu, and Kwasi Danso, Akropong, 9 Sept. 1913.” 26. Van Dantzig, 1977, pp. 58–59; Niangoran-Bouah, 1965, pp. 56–58, Per- rot, 1982, p. 42. 27. For the Nzema pantheon, see Grottanelli, 1978, especially Chap. 2. Bozonle corresponds to the twi ɔbosom. For an examination, see McCaskie, 1995, p. 276. 28. Ackah, 1965, p. 61, n. 13. 29. My interviews: nana Ala Kpanyinli II and maanle mgbanyinli, Elubo, Oct. 24, 1995; nana Whajan Kpanyinli IV and maanle mgbanyinli, Adusuazo, Nov. 23, 1995. See also PRAAD ADM 11/1/1699, Notes of Evidence taken before an Inquiry . into the Constitution of Apolonia, 16th Jan.–11th April 1914, pp. 11–13, “Nkuma Nkatia, ohene of Allubo, 4 March 1914.” 30. Davies, 1967, pp. 205, 283, 290; Daaku, 1971, pp. 34–37; Van Dantzig, 1977, pp. 57–62; Chauveau, 1978, pp. 20–21, 27. 31. Kea, 1982, pp. 21–23, 74, 79. 32. See, for example, Hans Propheet’s map of 1629, which shows the different districts of the Gold Coast, in ARA, Collectie Leupen n. 743, “Caerte des Lantschaps van de Gout Kust in Guinea, Mouri, Dec. 25, 1629.” 33. Kea, 1982, pp. 92–93, 364–365. 34. Van Dantzig, 1990. 35. Wilks, 1977, 1982a. For historical insights of Akan (Asante) matriliny, see also McCaskie, 1985, 1995. 36. Wilks, 1977, 1993; McCaskie, 1985. 37. Wilks, 1977, pp. 522–523. 38. Cf. Rattray, 1923, 1929; Fortes, 1950, 1969. 39. McCaskie, 1985, p. 169. See also Amon d’Aby (1960, pp. 127–136) for the Anyi-Nzema area and J. M. Sarbah (1897, pp. 8–11, 45) for Notes 223 nineteenth-century Fante accounts of the unequal relations within the abusua. 40. According to Yarak, who attempts to reinterpret the Asante state through a Marxist analysis, this relationship “constitutes a distinct mode of surplus appropriation in Asante, a ‘coercive rent-taking’ or ‘feudal’ mode of pro- duction that was subordinate to the tax-raising mode” (1996, p. 235). 41. Wilks (1977, p. 522) observes in relation to the matriclan: “Historically, clan affi liations seem not to have been such as to transcend local political allegiances, and in various internecine struggles fellow clansmen found themselves quite naturally aligned one against the other.” 42. Perrot, 1982; Diabate, 1984; Terray, 1995; Viti, 1998. 43. FC (Furley Collection, Balme Library, University of Ghana) N49 (A-f), 1757–1762 (E) [ARA WIC 963], pp. 63–72, Oct. 15, 1762: Letter from Axim (Huydecoper), 12/10. The words in brackets are in the original manuscript by Furley. 44. A comprehensive idea of the political geography of early eighteenth- century western Ivory Coast can found in the map drawn by J. B. B. d’Anville in 1729 (Carte particuliere de la partie principale de la Guinée, située entre Issini et Ardra), and published by J.-B. Labat in 1731, 2: fac- ing p. 1. For the internal subdivisions of the Nzema area, see also Van Dantzig, 1979; Kea, 1982, pp. 74–83; Valsecchi, 1994. 45. For the Furley Collection and its merits and limitations as a historical source, see Van Dantzig, 1987. The Dutch section of the collection (marked with the letter N), which is by far the largest, consists of 124 notebooks. Chapter 1 1. For an examination of the different names attributed to the region throughout history, see Ackah, 1965, pp. 4–8. 2. According to Grottanelli (1977, 1, p. 34), in the past Apolonya was a comprehensive denomination that included Axim and the εvaloε areas. This interpretation reminds us of the Apollo in the Ivory Coast to indicate all the Nzema, as well as Binger’s defi nition of Apollonia as the entire Nzema-speaking region from Assini to Cape Three Points (Binger, 1892 [1980], 2, p. 323), However, in historical sources that concern the eastern part of the Nzema region the name Apollonia by either Europeans or locals always refers very clearly to an entity located to the west of the Ankobra. 3. A local form for Benyinli is Bεntenlebo (Essuah, 1958, pp. 11–19; Ackah, 1965, p. 7). 4. The term maanle, which corresponds to the Twi ɔman, is applied in the same manner at every nonelementary level of community, irrespective of its relative hierarchical position: a small village (e.g., Miegyinla maanle), an important town (Awiane maanle, i.e., Half Assini), a Paramountcy (Adoabo maanle), and all larger entities (Nzema maanle, Ghana maanle, Africa maanle). In specifi cally political terms, maanle can mean “the people,” in the sense of the community as a whole as opposed to its chiefs. 224 Notes 5. The hill closest to the ocean, called Ewakonu, separates the modern towns of Kεnrεne and Twenεne, but in the past there were settlements at its base that have since disappeared, such as Nyεmanu, Azanwulenu, and the important ancestral site of Adwɔmɔlɔ, a name that was later used to designate the western part of Nzema. The highest point on Ewakonu is home to a sacred grove supposedly defended by a swarm of wasps, which is a manifestation of the local bozonle. The awozonle Ezia Boka and Ewakonu are thought to be associated as male and female, respectively (Mr. M. B. N. Nyanke, abusua kpanyinli of the Ndwea ebia, Kεnrεne, Oct. 29, 1995). 6. Teixeira da Mota, 1950, p. 266. 7. Barbot, c. 1688, 2, lettre 3me. 8. Teixeira da Mota, 1950, p. 266. 9. Donhela, 1977, pp. 326–327, 433. 10. “Extracts from Report on Apollonia District, 1869,” FC N86 1870–1872 Journal, pp. 42–48, [ARA NBKG 642, Jan. 31, 1870, “Annual Report Appolonia, by J. G. Schnerr”]. 11. On the attempted settlement, see Van Dantzig, 1978, pp. 63–64 (Munic- ipal Archive, Rotterdam 1262; Attestation C. le Petit). 12. Bowdich, 1819; Dupuis, 1824; Cruickshank, 1853, 1, pp. 41, 47; TNA CO 96/27, F. Swanzy, “Narrative of the Expedition to Appolonia, from Cape Coast Castle, in 1848 (from the ‘M. S. Magazine’ of May–June 1850)” (Amelhaya); BPP 1842 C551-I, Minutes of Evidence taken before the Select Committee on West Coast of Africa, F. Swanzy, Apr. 29, 1842 (904) (Ahmelyiah). “Extracts from Report on Appolonia, 1869” FC N86 1870–1872 Journal, pp. 42–48, [ARA NBKG 642, Jan. 31, 1870]. 13. The term belemgbunli (pl. arelemgbunli, cfr. the Twi ɔbirεmpɔn) means gen- erally chief or “king.” In the case of “paramount chiefs” the Fante-Twi title ɔmanhene is currently preferred. 14.