Bono state

Bono State (or Bonoman) was a trading state created by the Bono people, located in what is now southern Ghana. Bonoman was a medieval Akan kingdom in what is now Bono, Bono East and Ahafo region respectively named after the (Bono and Ahafo) and Eastern Ivory Coast. It is generally accepted as the origin of the subgroups of the Akan people who migrated out of the state at various times to create new Akan states in search of gold. The gold trade, which started to boom in Bonoman as early in the 12th century, was the genesis of Akan power and wealth in the region, beginning in the Middle Ages. The origin of the Akan people of Bonoman was said to be further north in what is now called the Sahel or the then Ghana Empire when Bono natives wanted to remain with their traditional form of Bono ancestral worship and spirituality, those Akans that disagreed and fought wars against Islam, migrated south of the Sahara, in present-day Ghana. Bono Mansa [literally "On the state of Bono"]) sometimes known as Bono Manso or Mansu was a trading area in the medieval state of Bonoman, and a major trading centre in what is now predominantly Bono East region. Located just south of the Black Volta river at the transitional zone between savanna and forest, the town was frequented by caravans from Djenné and Timbuktu as part of the Trans-Saharan trade. Goods traded included kola nuts, salt, leather, and gold; gold was the most important trading good of the area, starting in the mid-14th century. Begho (also Bighu or Bitu; called Bew and Nsokɔ by the Akan) was a medieval trading town located just south of the Black Volta at the transitional zone between the forest and savanna north-western Brong-Ahafo. The town, like Bono-Manso, was of considerable importance as an entrepot frequented by northern caravans from Mali Empire from around 1100 AD. Goods traded included ivory, salt, leather, gold, kola nuts, cloth, and copper alloys. Excavations have laid bare walled structures dated between 1350 and 1750 AD, as well as pottery of all kinds, smoking pipes, and evidence of iron smelting.