Today an ethnic group in northeastern Ghana and Togo, the Dagomba established a kingdom in the 14th century.
Observers have explained the origins of the Dagomba, both as an ethnic group and as a people, in several ways. One tradition tells of the noble warrior Nyagse, who made the Dagomba into a nation through the conquest of villages and the massacre of local priests. Nyagse then created a hierarchical state in which the sons of the ya-na, or top chief, acceded to power. Another tradition connects the Dagomba to the Mossi kingdoms, situating it as a “junior brother” in the Mossi hierarchy. According to this tradition, Sitobu, a second son of Na Gbewa, the founder of the Mossi people, left his father’s kingdom to found his own. He slaughtered the local priests in his effort to gain political domination of the area. Succession to the throne in this tradition was determined by direct lineage to previous rulers, whose authority came from three “gate skins.” Limiting the lines of succession in this way was intended to diminish the internal power struggles plaguing the kingdom by the end of the 17th century.
According to anthropological evidence, the Dagomba amalgamated into a distinct ethnic group around the 14th century, when migrant horsemen conquered the indigenous Gur speakers in the region who cultivated grains, raised cattle, and worked with iron. The spiritual leaders of these agriculturalists were the tindamba (“earth priests”). Although the conquerors assimilated linguistically, they imposed their social structure and cultural mores onto the indigenous peoples. The kingdom, known as Dagbon, was hierarchical, ruled by the top chief, or ya-na, but administered by the tindamba, who allocated land, appointed chiefs, and were the spiritual leaders.
The Dagomba kingdom prospered due to its policy of taxing the trade goods that passed through its territory. The Hausa kingdom traded cola nuts, GOLD, slaves (see slavery), salt, and cloth with the Dagbon and were instrumental in introducing Islam to the Dagomba kingdom. Although Islam took a firm hold on the nobles of the kingdom, inspiring one king, Na Luro (d. 1660), to invite the Muslim scholar Shaykh Sulayman to establish a school in the kingdom, the indigenous religion endured among the commoners. The Gonja kingdom expelled the Dagomba from its western territories in the 16th century, forcing the Dagomba eastward. The Dagomba conquered the Konkomba people in the east, founded a new capital for their kingdom at Yendi, and ruled over the Konkomba as overlords.
Further reading: David P. Johnson, Jr., “Dagomba,” in Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, eds. Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (New York: Basic Civitas Books, 1999), 550; Ivor Wilks, “The Mossi and the Akan States, 1400-1800,” in History of West Africa, vol. 1, 3rd ed., eds. J. F. Ade Ajiya and Michael Crowder (London: Longman, 1985), 465-502.
—Lisa M. Brady
World History
