Konquest:

That's an impressive feedback.

Indeed the Asante Empire conquerred the GUAN (also called Gonja). The name Gonja is actually a Hausa-derived name meaning "Goron ja" or "red kolanut"... Which is one of the commodities that the Guan traders engaged in selling and there was a trade linkage with the Hausaland and Northern Ghana.
Thanks again for shedding more light on the Guan group who I had always known by the more popular name of Gonja.

Not quite true.
The word Gonja is a mispronunciation of what the Gonja call themselves , The Gbanja of Gbanya. Yes, Kolanut trade settled upon this region for much of the West African middle ages and that is why the kind of kola originally gotten from there (2 lobed Kola) is still called Obi Gbanja by the Yoruba (Who also participated in this criss-cross West African trade) till today. Obi Gbanja and Obi Abata, the two popular Kolanut types.

Hausa would most often mispronounce the "Gb" phoneme which they lack as [Gw] not as [Go]. Case in point, the Hausa call the Gbari/Gbagyi people 'Gwari', not 'Gari''. In the same line, [Kp] becomes [Kw] e.g Akpoto becomes Kwoto. (Egbira Akpoto = Ebira Kwoto in Hausa) The Yoruba word 'Pana-pana' (pronounced; Kpana -Kpana) becomes Kwana-Kwana. Etc. An Hausa mispronunciation would have called them Gwanja and not Gonja.

Gonja is not a derivation of an Hausa word, although I wouldn't be surprised if some gonja people themselves have accepted this false premise. Many Gonjas speak Hausa already.

Konquest:

That's an impressive feedback.

Indeed the Asante Empire conquerred the GUAN (also called Gonja). The name Gonja is actually a Hausa-derived name meaning "Goron ja" or "red kolanut"... Which is one of the commodities that the Guan traders engaged in selling and there was a trade linkage with the Hausaland and Northern Ghana.


Thanks again for shedding more light on the Guan group who I had always known by the more popular name of Gonja.

Also on the bolded parts, the Guan are not 100 = Gonja, it isn't a 1 to 1 identification. The Gonja are a subset of the larger Guan people. They just happen to be the biggest and most popular subset. You can't call Guang people Gonja, the Guan are found in ALL the regions of Ghana; Asante, Volta, Brong, Ahafo, North, Eastern E.tc as aborigines (which is testament to their ancient status as first comers) and the Gonja are just a single group of Guans found in a particular/specific region of the country. All Gonja are Guan but not all Guans are Gonja, there is still Awutu, Logba, Avatime, Larteh, Cerepong, Etc I hope you understand?

scholes0:

Also on the bolded parts, the Guan are not 100 = Gonja, it isn't a 1 to 1 identification. The Gonja are a subset of the larger Guan people. They just happen to be the biggest and most popular subset. You can't call Guang people Gonja, the Guan are found in ALL the regions of Ghana; Asante, Volta, Brong, Ahafo, North, Eastern E.tc as aborigines (which is testament to their ancient status as first comers) and the Gonja are just a single group of Guans found in a particular/specific region of the country. All Gonja are Guan but not all Guans are Gonja, there is still Awutu, Logba, Avatime, Larteh, Cerepong, Etc I hope you understand?

Aha! I do understand.

It's just like saying all Oyo are Yoruba but NOT all Yoruba are Oyo! Brilliant.

Konquest:

Aha! I do understand.

It's just like saying all Oyo are Yoruba but NOT all Yoruba are Oyo! Brilliant.

Touché

scholes0:


Not quite true.
The word Gonja is a mispronunciation of what the Gonja call themselves , The Gbanja of Gbanya. Yes, Kolanut trade settled upon this region for much of the West African middle ages and that is why the kind of kola originally gotten from there (2 lobed Kola) is still called Obi Gbanja by the Yoruba (Who also participated in this criss-cross West African trade) till today. Obi Gbanja and Obi Abata, the two popular Kolanut types.

Hausa would most often mispronounce the "Gb" phoneme which they lack as [Gw] not as [Go]. Case in point, the Hausa call the Gbari/Gbagyi people 'Gwari', not 'Gari''. In the same line, [Kp] becomes [Kw] e.g Akpoto becomes Kwoto. (Egbira Akpoto = Ebira Kwoto in Hausa) The Yoruba word 'Pana-pana' (pronounced; Kpana -Kpana) becomes Kwana-Kwana. Etc. An Hausa mispronunciation would have called them Gwanja and not Gonja.

Gonja is not a derivation of an Hausa word, although I wouldn't be surprised if some gonja people themselves have accepted this false premise. Many Gonjas speak Hausa already.

That's another insightful historical perspective from you.

What I read about the Gonja is that the name is a corruption or mispronunciation of the Hausa name for red kolanuts (which is Goron ja in Hausa). Goro (Gworo) is "kolanut" in Hausa, while "Ja" is red in Hausa.

It's just like the name Abuja which means "Abubakar Ja" or literally light reddish-skinned Abubakar. Abuja was named after the Fulani guy called Abubakar Ja who led a raid of Fulah jihadists into the Gbagyi region, but history says the Gbagyis were never fully conquered but lost some of their folks due to captivity and slave raidings.

Konquest:

That's another insightful historical perspective from you.

What I read about the Gonja is that the name is a corruption or mispronunciation of the Hausa name for red kolanuts (which is Goron ja in Hausa). Goro (Gworo) is "kolanut" in Hausa, while "Ja" is red in Hausa.

[b]It's just like the name Abuja which means "Abubakar Ja" or literally light reddish-skinned Abubakar. Abuja was named after the Fulani guy called Abubakar Ja who led a raid of Fulah jihadists into the Gbagyi region, [/b]but history says the Gbagyis were never fully conquered but lost some of their folks due to captivity and slave raidings.

Bro this is wrong again, lol.
Muhamman Makau was the last Hausa (Haabe) Emir of Zazzau (Zaria) before it was conquered by the Fulani (Fulbe) under one Mallam Musa which ushered the new dynasty which his descendants continue to rule in Zaria till today as Fulani emirs. After the defeat of Makau in 1804, he was forced to flee southwards into Gbagyi land with many of his followers. It was there that he tried to set up a mirror kingdom of his kingdom which he had now lost to the Fulbes. He settled at Zuba, and from there he started attacking some of the Gbagyi, Koro and Nupe villages. It was in one of these raids on Lapai (A Nupe town now in Niger state) that he met his waterloo and was killed at the gates of Lapai.

When he died, his younger brother, son of Ishiaku Jatau, popularly nicknamed Abu-Ja (Abu the red) left Zuba and founded a new village which he began walling around 1829. It was this new village that became Abuja. That town he built is now the well known city of Suleja in Niger state. The current Abuja capital city is not the Abuja build by the exiled Hausas of Zaria. The original Abuja renamed itself to Suleja after the emir ruling there in 1975 when the federal capital was moved from Lagos (Suleiman Barau). The new capital city was to take their original name.

Anyways, the person known as Abu the Red was actually an HAUSA person not Fulani. And neither did he lead a raid of Jihadists upon the Gbagyi.

scholes0:


Bro this is wrong again, lol.
Muhamman Makau was the last Hausa (Haabe) Emir of Zazzau (Zaria) before it was conquered by the Fulani (Fulbe) under one Mallam Musa which ushered the new dynasty which his descendants continue to rule in Zaria till today as Fulani emirs. After the defeat of Makau in 1804, he was forced to flee southwards into Gbagyi land with many of his followers. It was there that he tried to set up a mirror kingdom of his kingdom which he had now lost to the Fulbes. He settled at Zuba, and from there he started attacking some of the Gbagyi, Koro and Nupe villages. It was in one of these raids on Lapai (A Nupe town now in Niger state) that he met his waterloo and was killed at the gates of Lapai.

When he died, his younger brother, son of Ishiaku Jatau, popularly nicknamed Abu-Ja (Abu the red) left Zuba and founded a new village which he began walling around 1829. It was this new village that became Abuja. That town he built is now the well known city of Suleja in Niger state. The current Abuja capital city is not the Abuja build by the exiled Hausas of Zaria. The original Abuja renamed itself to Suleja after the emir ruling there in 1975 when the federal capital was moved from Lagos (Suleiman Barau). The new capital city was to take their original name.

Anyways, the person known as Abu the Red was actually an HAUSA person not Fulani. And neither did he lead a raid of Jihadists upon the Gbagyi.

Hello @Scholes0,

I concede I was incorrect about Abu ja's (Abu the red) ethnic origin... He's indeed Hausa.

Incidentally, I recall reading a Punch article (within the last 10 years) indicating that some of the Hausa (Haabe Dynasty) rulers and their families from Kano also fled to the current Plateau State in the early 1800s, and surprisingly their descendants in that Plateau town that they founded are Christians and not even Muslims (although historically the majority of ethnic Hausa peasants practiced the traditional religion or the Maguzawa religion, while the Hausa Sarkis or kings majorly practiced Islam and had Fulah Royal court advisers and clerics). It seems to have been a defiant rejection of the so-called Fulani jihad and influence.

Some of the things I stated in that last post of mine are based on my attempts to recall events offhand that I read since the 1980s without doing a quick Google search for updated memory recollection and fact-checks.

I've learned my lessons... Lol

Thanks again for the concise info here.