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Concept
Aja people
Summary
The Aja also spelled Adja are an ethnic group native to south-western Benin and south-eastern Togo.
According to oral tradition, the Aja migrated to southern Benin in the 12th or 13th century from Tado on the Mono River, and 1600, three brothers, Kokpon, Do-Aklin, and Te-Agbanlin, split the ruling of the region then occupied by the Aja amongst themselves: Kokpon took the capital city of Great Ardra, reigning over the Allada kingdom; Do-Aklin founded Abomey, which would become capital of the Kingdom of Dahomey; and Te-Agbanlin founded Little Ardra, also known as Ajatche, later called Porto Novo (literally, "New Port") by Portuguese traders and the current capital city of Benin.
Those Aja living in Abomey mingled with the local people, thus creating a new people known as the Fon, or "Dahomey" ethnic group. This group is now the largest in Benin. Another source claims the Aja were the rulers of Dahomey (Benin) until 1893, when the French conquered them. Currently, there are approximately 500,000 Ajas in an area straddling the border between Benin and Togo, long and wide.
The Aja speak a language known as Aja-Gbe, or simply 'Aja'; only 1-5% are literate in their native tongue. According to one source, voodoo originated with the Aja. Most Gbe speaking people especially the Ewe and Fon trace their origins to Adja Tado (formerly known as Azame ) and consider Adja as their mother tribe. The Gbe people claimed to have met the Alu , Za along with some light skinned dwarfish people with straight hair - possibly pygmies or remnant bushmen (San) -in the vicinity when they arrived from southwest Nigeria via Ketou. Scarcity of natural resources , overpopulation and chieftaincy disputes contributed to the separation and dispersal of both the Ewe and later the Fon from Adja. The Awormezi ( the paramount stool) of Anlo in the Volta Region of Ghana is reputed to be the original stool of Adja Tado and was taken away by Torgbui Sri ( a prince) to Notsie when succession dispute arose among the claimants of the stool after the death of the occupant.
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