The Anufo or Chakosi are an

Akan people The Akan () people are a kwa languages, Kwa group living primarily in present-day Ghana and in parts of Ivory Coast and Togo in West Africa. The Akan speak languages within the Central Tano languages, Central Tano branch of the Potou–Tano la ...

who live in the

Dapaong Dapaong (also known as Dapaongo or Dapango) is a city in northern Togo and prefecture seat of Tône in the Savanes Region, of which it is also the capital. It had a population of 58,071 at the 2010 Census. It is situated 638 km north of th ...

and (Sansanné-)Mango areas of Togo, as well as in Ghana. They trace their origin to a place called Anou or Ano on the Komoé River in the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

. Thus, they refer to themselves ''Anoufou'' "people of Anu". The exonym ''Chakosi'' has also been spelled 'Chokossi', 'Chakossi', 'Kyokosi', 'Kyokoshi', 'Tschokossi', and 'Tyokossi'. They migrated to their present location in the late 18th century. The Anufo had their own kingdom based in Sansanné-Mango, prior to German colonization of Togo. As of 2003 they had a combined population of 137,600. They speak the Anufo language, one of the

Akan languages The Central Tano or Akan languages are a pair of dialect clusters of the Niger-Congo family (or perhaps the theorised Kwa languages) spoken in Ghana and Ivory Coast by the Akan people. There are two or three languages, each with dialects that ...

. Anufo have names like Amoin, Akisie (Agishie), Kouasi, Adjoah, Amlan (Amanna) Ouwe, Yao, Koffi, Afoueh, N'gisah after days of the week: Mueneh (Sunday), Cishe (Monday), Djore (Tuesday), Mana (Wednesday), Ohue (Thursday), Ya (Friday) and Fue (Saturday) Kwa.

History

Early 18th century

It appears that migrations in the early 18th century brought together

Mande Mande may refer to: * Mandé peoples of western Africa * Mande languages, their Niger-Congo languages * Manding languages, Manding, a term covering a subgroup of Mande peoples, and sometimes used for one of them, Mandinka people, Mandinka * Garo p ...

horsemen and their malams from the North and Akan peoples from the East. Together with the indigenous Ndenyi people, they were amalgamated into one people with a mixed language and culture.

Mid 18th century

In the mid 18th century, a small band of mercenaries left Ano to the

Upper West region The Upper West Region of Ghana is located in the north-western corner of Ghana and is bordered by Upper East Region to the east, Northern Region (Ghana), Northern Region to the south, and Burkina Faso to the west and north. The Upper West regional ...

Upper East region The Upper East Region is located in the northern part of Ghana and it is the third smallest of the 16 administrative regions in Ghana. It occupies a total land surface of 8,842 square kilometers, or 2.7% of the total land area of Ghana. The reg ...

, Northern region, and North East region The band consisted of Mande horsemen, Akan musket-toting foot soldiers, and some

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

scholar amulet-makers.Kirby 1986, p. 34 These groups provided the basis for a society divided into three classes or estates: Nobles, commoners and Muslims. Eventually, the small army established a camp on the shores of the

Oti River The Oti River or Pendjari River ( French: ''Rivière Pendjari'') is an international river in West Africa. It rises in Benin, forms the border between Benin and Burkina Faso, flows through Togo, and joins the Volta River in Ghana. Geography The ...

where the town of

Mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...

Togo Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...

stands today. Since they were warriors and not farmers, they made their living by conducting raids into the farming communities around them. This provided them with wives and slaves as well as foodstuffs and livestock. Eventually the people settled in the surrounding farming communities, and assimilation took place.

References

Sources

* Kirby, J.P. (1986) God, Shrines and Problem-Solving among the Anufo of Northern Ghana. Collectanea Instituti Anthropos, No. 34, Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, for Anthropos Institute, St. Augustin. {{Authority control Akan