Bono State
The Bono State was one of the earliest Akan polities located in what is today the Bono Region and Bono East Region of Ghana. Archaeological and oral evidence situate its origins at Amowi near Nkoranza, with later expansion to Bono Manso, which became its capital during its formative period. The state played an important role in trade between the forest and savanna zones. Bonoman was a trading center connecting merchants across Africa.
The Bono state was strategically located in the northern forest fringes of the Akan world, within the forest–savanna transition zone south of the Black Volta. This location facilitated frequent caravans from Djenné, Timbuktu, and other trade centers across Sudan and Egypt, making Bono a major commercial hub. Gold from Begho was sent north through Kong and Bobo-Dioulasso, where it was carried to the Djenné–Timbuktu corridor and across the Sahara.Etymology
According to Takyiman oral traditions, the Bono consider themselves the first organized Akan group to develop in the region, with other Akan states emerging later. This belief is reflected in an Akan expression in which a woman’s firstborn child is referred to as abɔnɔwoo. The name Bono means a pioneer or the first of its kind, and to referred specifically to the ancestors of the Takyiman people.
Another interpretation, connects the name to the Bono word Bɔɔ, meaning “hole.” This version holds that the ancestors of the Takyiman people emerged from a hole and were given the name because they originally lived in rock shelters. The tradition states that the name Bono exclusively refers to the Takyiman people. The name of the capital, Bono Manso, translates to ɔman and so or “the seat of Bono.” According to Effah Gyamfi, the expression “Bono Manso State” would be tautological. The term Bonoman combines Bono with ɔman, and which means “the Bono nation” or “land of the Bono.”History
Emergence from Amowi cave
The earliest ancestors of the Bono people originated from a sacred rock-shelter known as Amowi, which was situated near Pinihi in the modern Nkoransa area and had been inhabited since at least the 5th century CE. The site is remembered as the place from which the first people of the land are said to have emerged and began to farm in the area. From Amowi, the early settlers, led by the ancestral figure named Nana Asaman, moved in short distances to Yɛfri and later to Manso, which became the capital of their state. Excavations at Amowi I, Amowi II, and Bono Manso revealed extended periods of continuous occupation, with pottery remains forming more than 99 percent of all recovered materials. Most ceramics were locally made, but some imported vessels originated from the Banda and Bole regions. More excavations near Bono Manso identified early iron-smelting activities dating to 300 CE at Abam and to the 6th century CE in the surrounding area. Researchers believe the evidence indicates that the Bono of the Bono Manso region had established permanent communities that later developed into a proto-urban settlement.Consolidation and political formation
According to historians Bono Manso was not the earliest of the large villages and towns in the region but it was the first to gain supremacy over all the neighboring settlements through political assimilation.
The Bono began consolidating authority through the gradual unification of dispersed towns across the area. Small hunter and farmer camps, known as nnan, evolved into permanent villages that formed the foundations of the state. Early communities like Akumadan and Besedan developed from the camps. Besedan, was established by slaves of a Bono queen to cultivate and care for kola trees. As Bono authority expanded, it absorbed neighboring groups and incorporated them into a centralized administrative structure. The Gyamma people, who originally lived in caves near the first Bono settlements, became custodians of the sacred golden stool called Sika puduo, the principal symbol of Bono unity and kingship. The Dewoman people were also integrated into the political hierarchy and their ruler served in the Bono court.Trade and Prosperity
According to Adu Boahen, Bonoman rose because there was a need to protect and regulate gold extraction and develop commercial routes linking the forest lands to the Middle Niger. The nearby town of Begho emerged as a complementary trading hub where regional goods like gold, kola, ivory, and forest products were exchanged for textiles, salt, and metal goods brought by Wangara merchants. Two early rulers, Ameyaw and Obunumankoma, oversaw Bonoman's territorial expansion and commercial ascendancy in the latter half of the 15th century. Between the 16th and 17th centuries, Bono Manso developed into a major commercial and cultural center. Its commerce was controlled by Bono elites. The population was largely Akan and ethnically homogeneous, and Bono's internal administration maintained direct oversight of trade and craft production. The state's cohesion benefitted from long periods of peace. Disputes mentioned in traditions were family quarrels and secessions rather than large scale wars. Until the seventeenth century, Bono's authority remained unchallenged in the region, with subordinate states such as Dewuman and Nyafoman owing allegiance to its king. However, some accounts recall external pressures from rival states such as the Gonja kingdom.Growing decline
The decline of Bonoman was gradual and driven by internal and external factors. Signs of demographic and economic decline began in the 17th century, due to droughts, dynastic instability, and shifting trade networks. As southern Akan states like Akyem, Denkyira, and eventually the Asante Empire secured greater access to coastal markets and European firearms, Bonoman, located inland and lacking direct access to Atlantic trade, was surpassed in regional commerce. Internally, excessive taxation, succession disputes, and elite misconduct contributed to weakening central authority. Oral histories collected from Bono informants describe widespread discontent under Ameyaw Kwakye I, the last Bonohene. He abused his power by ignoring religious obligations and raising tax levies. Before the Asante invasion, disillusioned citizens refused to defend the capital, expressing their frustration with the phrase: “Se hene Ameyaw anya ne ko a onko nhye”.Fall and conquest
Bono's prosperity and mineral wealth attracted Asante expansion. Documentary sources date the invasion to 1722–1723 AD. A letter from the Dutch West India Company in 1724 described Asante defeating “a district three times stronger” through treachery. The Kitab Ghunja notes "Bawo's attack on Takyiman" in 1722/23. The Bono king and queen were captured and taken to Kumasi, and Bono craftsmen were absorbed into Asante workshops, where they taught their arts to the Asante. Much of Bono territory was incorporated into the Nkoransa state under Baffo Pim, while Takyiman, originally a subordinate village, became the new seat of Bono's surviving royal line. The royal lineage was later re-established in Takyiman under Asante suzerainty by 1740. Attempts to restore the old state failed, and relations with Asante and Nkoransa remained strained thereafter. Refugees from Bono moved northwest where they were integrated into Gyaman, while others regrouped in Dormaa, Nkoranza, and Berekum. Techiman, as successor to Bono-Manso, preserved many of the surviving traditions.Divisions
In its height Bono's territories bordered Bonduku and Banda to the west, Gonja and Yendi to the north, Mampong and Offinso to the south, and Kete-Krakye to the east. Effah-Gyamfi observed that Bono towns, were culturally homogeneous Akan communities rather than ethnically mixed trading colonies compared to Begho and Wenchi. The capital was a royal residence, market centre, and ritual hub. The sites were described in oral tradition as “the town with one-hundred-and-seventy-seven streets.” Beneath the capital were provincial centers like Takyiman, Amoman, and Dewoman, with each said to have “seventy-seven streets.” The subordinate town were called krom like Kramokrom and Forikrom, while nkuraa villages were Akyemhatae and Besedan which specialized agricultural or craft functions.Bono Manso
Bono Manso was the capital of Bonoman and a major trading hub. It was located south of the Black Volta River and was a key node in the Trans-Saharan trade, connecting the Akan goldfields to major Sahelian markets like Djenné and Timbuktu. Bono Manso traded gold, kola nuts, salt, leather, and cloth. According to Effah Gyamfi, the town was already settled by the 13th century and was a commercial and ritual center by the 14th and 15th centuries. It covered an area of between 150 and 230 hectares and supported a population of approximately 5,000 inhabitants, based on architectural remains and settlement density estimates. Its strategic location near the Tano River placed it at the southernmost range of safe caravan travel, where the tsetse fly made pack animal transport unviable.Kranka Dada
Kranka Dada was a village settlement northeast of Bono Manso. It played an essential role in Bono Manso's political and economic systems. Excavations conducted between 2009 and 2012 uncovered household remains, ritual features, and long-distance trade artifacts. The site consisted of residential mounds occupied from the late 13th to the Asante Empire conquest in 1723. According to Anne Compton, it contained wattle-and-daub structures, granaries, iron-smelting debris, and ceremonial hearths. It had locally made artifacts like brass fragments, glass beads, imported ceramics, and terracotta rasps. Kranka Dada functioned as a satellite settlement, supplying agricultural produce, labor, and ritual expertise to the capital. Compton places it within a four-tiered settlement hierarchy, reflecting the integration of smaller communities into centralized Bono administration. Oral traditions recall shrine priestess that still remained in the area after the town's collapse.