land, lineage and clan in early anlo

International African Institute

Land, Lineage and Clan in Early AnloAuthor(s): Sandra E. GreeneSource: Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 51, No. 1 (1981), pp. 451-464Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the International African InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1158948 .

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Africa 51(1), 1981

LAND, LINEAGE AND CLAN IN EARLY ANLO'

Sandra E. Greene

According to G. K. Nukunya, the contemporary social organization of the Agb- E%se-a people located in the southeastern corner of the Republic of Ghana-is 'based on a [segmentary] lineage system . . . generalized at a higher level in clanship.' (Nukunya 1969:20). The clan or hb) is the largest social unit in the Agb1 social system and is defined as a group of males and females who observe the same totems and taboos, worship the gods of the particular clans to which they belong, and who claim to be the descendants, through approximately eight to ten generations, of a common putative male ancestor.2 Fifteen clans, dispersed throughout the towns, villages and hamlets of A13b are recognized by the traditional political authorities as part of the hlD system. They include the Lafe, Amlade, Adzovia, Bate, Like, Bame, Klevi, Tovi, Tsiame, Agave, Ame, Dzevi, Vifeme, betsofe and Blu.

The traditions of origin associated with each of the Ag1o clans, hljw., divide these social units into several groups. The Lafe, Amlade, Adzovia, Bate and Like form a separate set because their founding ancestors are believed to have been the first to settle in the A1b area; the date of this settlement has not been established. The Bame, Klevi, and Tovi clans are said to form another group because their founders are noted to have been the descendants of the ancestors of the first five hlaw).3 The traditions also maintain that only after the ancestors of the eight clans mentioned above established themselves in A_1b did the remaining clan ancestors move into the area. For example, the founder of the Dzevi clan, Aduadui, is noted to have migrated eastward to Ag1- from the Adangbe-speaking coastal district after the latter area was attacked by Akwamu, a state located to the northwest of the Adangbe coast. These raids-dated with the aid of European documentary sources-occurred between 1679 and 1688. The ancestor of the Vifeme clan, Amega Le, is said to have moved to A913 from the west after the Ak i or Shai war in 1702.4

Of particular note in these same traditions is the assertion that the clan system itself did not come into existence until after the early Akwamu raids on the Adangbe coast but before the Ak) or Shai war. On the basis of these claims, it would appear that during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, important changes occurred in the social organization of the A,9i, involving the addition of clans to the pre-existing patrilineal segmentary lineage system. The clan traditions of origin explain the development of these hljhw in the following manner. When a founding ancestor of a clan, settled in A!}1, he first established a house, afe, for his wife or wives, children and the various gods, trawo, he brought with him or found in the area during his hunting trips. With the passage of time, the children left the afe because of marriage, disputes or because they have found their own triwo which needed separate accommodation. They then established their own houses. This segmentation-called 'branching' in

Ag1o-continued for several unspecified generations until the clan was formed, the organizational principal of which was that the patrilineal descendants of an ancestral house, tjbguife, remained tied together as a group, serving the trJwo of their t}gbuife,



LAND AND CLAN IN ANLO

because of the genealogical connection to their common ancestor.5 Several problems arise from this particular view-that the clan developed through a natural increase in the number of lineages associated with an ancestral afe. First, it is not consistent with the other clan traditions of origin discussed above. The latter, when analyzed in the light of documentary sources, indicate that the emergence of the clans involved the development of a new unit of social organization at a specific point in time, that is, during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. As such, the process would not have entailed the gradual expansion of each lineage into a hl. Second, this view suggests that most clan members are truly genealogically related, and that the lineage system by its very nature, gives rise to the clan. Theoretically, the first suggestion is possible. The Aglo clans could have developed through an expansion of the afe and thus the core of the clan members could be related. But this is acceptable only if one also assumes that the second is correct as well-that there is a natural tendency in the lineage system for this type of clan development to occur. Such conclusions about the lineage system are questionable however, for most Eae-speaking peoples who are culturally and linguistically related to the A91l, and live geographically contiguous to them, have a segmentary lineage system, but are thought not to have clans or other social units comparable to the Anlo hlwo. (Kludze 1973:33-5; Manoukian 1952:22; Fiawoo 1974a:163, 167)6 I. Wilks (1978) and J. Steward (1963) also raise doubts about the inherent ability of the lineage to generate a clan system in their studies of clan formation among the Asante of Ghana and Yuman Indians in the southwest United States, respectively. Consequently, both looked for factors outside the lineage system to account for this process. Here I propose to do the same. The first section of the paper will discuss the ecological setting and social formation of early Anlo society before the late 17th and early 18th century period of clan formation; the second will look at the historical events that affected A.rjl society; and the third will examine why these events appear to have prompted the formation of a new social unit known as the hl, and what impact the addition of this new group had on the pre-existing social formation of the A0lo.

THE EARLY ANLO ECOLOGICAL SETTING AND SOCIAL FORMATION

The particular district occupied by the early Aglo can be divided into two major zones: one, the coastal sand bar situated to the east of the Volta River, stretching approximately 25 miles from Attiteti to Tegbi and separated from the interior by a number of salt water lagoons, the largest of which is known locally as Tagbamu or Keta lagoon; and two, the islands and marshy areas on the western side of this latter body of water. The entire area encompasses roughly 94 square miles, three-quarters of which constitutes the second zone. This latter zone is sparsely populated and little agricultural activity takes place, for the lands that are above water have highly saline soils and are subject to periodic flooding. Approximately 25-30 inches of rain falls in the first and heaviest rainy season from March to June, but great variation exists. As a result, floods-caused in large part by the addition of rains into the lagoonal waters as well as into the rivers that flow into these poorly drained bodies of water-are unpredictable (Dotse 1969:9, 14). Most of the early AoI communities were established on the sandy littoral, the primary characteristics of which were described by Danish physician P. Isert, who was in the area in 1784: 'This country ... is

452




generally covered with sterile sand in which shoes sink with every step'. (Isert 1793:68). Soil analyses of the area confirm Isert's observations:

The soils [in Ghana] mapped as Regosols are those developed on the coastal sand dunes on either side of the Volta estuary . . .The littoral soils consist of a few feet of yellowish, incoherent coarse sand, sometimes made greying by humus-staining near the surface, going down into yellowish coarse sand containing shell fragments ... In the tertiary deposits, [there exists] a foot or so of greyish, humus-stained incoherent medium sands grading down into several feet of pale grey or white sand. (Brammer 1962:119)

Between the coastal settlements of Vuti and Tegbi are also a series of

depressions-generally described as the remnants of dried-up lagoons [Dotse 1969:82]-which are sandwiched between the sandy beach and another wider stretch of sand which gradually blends into the clayey alluvial soils, also known as sodium vleisols, bordering the Keta lagoon on the north side of this strip of land. These soils-the same as those found in the depressions, but much more saline-have been described as 'black or dark grey clays, sticky when wet, and hard and blocky when dry.' (Brammer 1962:119).

During the early period with which this article is concerned, only the depressions appear to have been planted with food crops, for the cultivation of the highly saline lagoon-side sodium vleisols and the draughty, barren regosols was impossible, given

Fig. I Ahla territory

.*-****Contemporary Anlo boundary N

-- Early Anlo boundary

0 Km 10 (Poitical boundaries approximate)

(Political boundaries approximate)

453




the then current cultivation techniques. The depressions soils were mixed with fish, vegetable materials and household waste in order to increase their fertility; the addition of sand to the soils to increase percolation may or may not have been practised at this time. Animal wastes were not used as they are today and crops were harvested only once a year. Farm plots remained under cultivation for as long as they continued to produce healthy yields and then they were fallowed for approximately seven years.7 The total land area that was under food crop cultivation was only about 161/2 to 17 square miles. Unfortunately, no data exist that could be used to estimate the late 17th and early 18th century A931 population and the total number of people that this agricultural system could support. Dzobi Adzinku and Bok: Seke Axovi-elders of the Bate and Lafe clans respectively, who are considered to be quite knowledgeable about Anl1 traditions-do indicate, however, that because the farm lands were threatened by floods during the periods of heavy rainfall, the Alb, on occasion, had to acquire additional food from the areas north of the Keta lagoon.8

Reconstruction of the Anlb social system prior to clan formation using contemporary literary sources is virtually impossible, for such reference works do not exist. Therefore, the following characterization of this earlier system is based on more recent anthropological studies. In following this course I am assuming that few changes have occurred in the patrilineal segmentary lineage organization that exists today, except for the addition of the clans. According to G. K. Nukunya, the smallest AD3l social unit is the nuclear family, afe-a term that also applies to the physical structure in which this group lives. The afe consists of a man, his wife or wives, and unmarried children. '[The] extended family . . . with married sons and their families

[sharing the same compound and] under the authority of their father ... does not exist.' (Nukunya 1969:133, 134). The next largest social unit is the family cluster: a residential unit composed of'. .. full and half brothers and sometimes parallel first cousins . . .' The houses are established as the male members of a household marry and build their own houses next to the original afe. This family cluster may also include the houses of those who are two or three generations removed from the owner of the original afe. The eldest member of this group-let us say, the father of the 'full and half brothers'-is responsible for the settlement of minor disputes within the cluster and would receive material compensation for such services. He would also have access to the labour of some of the junior members of the cluster. As Nukunya notes:

Though a man is expected to establish his own compound after he is married, he remains at the beck and call of his father, and is master only in his own compound. After his son's marriage, a father gives part of his own land or the uncleared bush adjoining it, to his son for his own use, but at sowing, hoeing or weeding times, the father still has a claim on the son's labour. In fact his demands take precedence over the son's own needs. Thus the establishment of a separate household by the son does not in itself establish his independence of his father. Indeed, he builds his compound at a place chosen for him by the father, usually not far from his own compound so that the son can be of help to him whenever he needs him. A further index of his authority is the fact that the son cannot start building his new home until the father has ritually laid out the groundwork for it. The relationship between a man and his father's brother ... is similar . . .[except that, although the latter] can ask for [the nephew's] help in the performance of various tasks, he has not a direct demand on his brother's son's labour as on his own son's. (Nukunya 1969:39).

The lineage -in Ag1b, known as the afedo-is a residential, exogamous unit composed

454



LAND AND CLAN IN ANLO 455

of two groups: 'close relations', that is, the family cluster and more distant relatives who may trace their genealogical ties to a particular household through six generations. Members of this social unit have property in common and share in the observance of rites around the lineage ancestor's stool, zikpui, and gods, trowo. The oldest man in the lineage, barring disabilities or senility, is the leader of this group and as such oversees the distribution of lineage property, adjudicates intra-lineage disputes, and has access to material goods over and above that of the other lineage members. He receives drinks for settling disputes and has the opportunity to take advantage of his position-which according to Nukunya is known to happen-to claim the 'lion's share' of a sacrificial offering made by the elder on behalf of the lineage.9 (Nukunya 1969:26). As an older member of the society, he is also, no dount, a family cluster head and is involved in the duties and privileges accorded this position as well.

THE RISE OF AKWAMU AND THE IMPACT OF ANLO

During the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the lower Gold Coast experienced considerable demographic dislocations and a major realignment in the existing political boundaries of the states in the area. The polities directly involved in these events included Akwamu, Ladoku and Accra. In the early 17th century, the last mentioned polity appears to have been the most politically and economically dominant power on the lower Gold Coast. Included within its political boundaries was the immediate Accra area-the communities just south of the Akuapem scarp and the coastal towns between Senya Bereku and Ningo-the province of Ladoku, stretching on the coast from Ningo to a few miles west of the Volta River, the state of Akwamu in the Atewa Hills with its capital of Nyanaoase on the northern border of Accra, and Latebi, the Guan-speaking polity located in the Akuapem Hills.'? Accra's economic control of the area derived from its ability to maintain a middle-man position in the trade between the Europeans on the coast, who were offering for exchange manufactured goods, and the traders from the interior, who had gold, slaves and ivory. (Kea 1974:171-2) The success of this particular economic policy was greatly facilitated by the Akwamu who were employed by the Accra to confine the inland traders to the

Fig. 2 Akwamu and its eastern neighbours

',- -AGOTIME * Ess Godjin/Godj6me <- _' '- * Esse Zogbedzi/Nadj6

_/ '-"

' ) ? Gati

/" / ~EWE

> /

/ -1' .jLGlidji AKWAMU Afao

N& iNH

"

I\' 'AGAVE Keta

Nyanaoase* [ LADOKU

ACCRA ?/ AGONA lb-Lashibi 0 Km 50

0 Little Accra

A- (Political boundaries approximate)




Accra-Abonse market, located north of that polity's capital, Great Accra. This action hindered these traders' access to the Europeans on the coast. (Kea 1974:168)

East of the Accra-dominated coastal area, on both sides of the Volta River, were the independent Eoe-speaking Agave communities, collectively known to the 17th century Dutch traders as the 'Crophyse'. (Wilks, 1957:106, 113) Further to the east on the coast lay the 'Coto' district, as it was known to the early 17th century European travellers. This area, whose name was derived from the major trading town in the area, Keta, included the politically separate communities of A31), Keta and Aflao; the latter, often confused with Keta, was known to the Europeans as Verhou. (Barbot 1732:321) North of this part of the coast was the Krepi district, settled by Eye, Guan and various smaller groups speaking languages of the Togo Remnant cluster.

In the second decade of the 17th century, the economic position of Accra began to be eroded as the Akwamu took a more active role in the economic administration of the areas through which the trade passed by directly controlling the flow of goods to the coast. By 1646, Akwamu-which had previously paid tribute to Accra (Kea 1974:167)-was receiving payments in gold from Accra to allow merchants at Latebi to come to their markets; and when, in this same year, the paths remained closed and the Accra attacked Latebi to force them open, Akwamu responded with a complete blockade of all the paths to Accra controlled by that state. This ability of Akwamu to control the economic activities in the areas north of Accra and the lower Gold Coast-which included Latebi and the Akuapem scarp polities identified by the Europeans as 'Bunu', 'Equea', Akrade and Kamana, to the east of Latebi-is regarded as the first period in the Akwamu expansion of its political boundaries. (Kea 1974:169; Wilks 1957:102-6). By the 1670s, Akwamu had also brought into its sphere of influence the Agave and Agona, to the east and west of Accra, respectively. 'Thus . . .Accra . .. [and its dependent territory, Ladoku] had become an enclave within lands allied to or dominated by [its former subject territory] Akwamu'. (Kea 1974:187; Wilks 1957:117, 113)

The second Akwamu expansionary phase was more military in character. In 1677, Akwamu, under the leadership of the Akwamuhene Ansa Sasraku, launched a major offensive against Accra with the aid of the Agave, Agona and Gomoa. The capital, Great Accra, fell in the same year and the king, Okai Koi, was captured with his eldest son. Both were beheaded. A younger son, Ofori, escaped and established a new capital on the coast at Apreg, or Little Accra, under the protective guns of the Danes at Fort Christiansborg. The Akwamu offensive was then suspended for two years after their attack on the new capital was repulsed by the Accras and the Danes. In 1678 and 1679, Ansa Sasraku sent some of his forces east of Accra to Ladoku; the latter was defeated and brought under Akwamu control in 1679. In that same year, the Danes withdrew from Christiansborg, leaving the fort to the more neutral Portuguese; the Akwamus renewed their attack, defeating the Accras and reducing the area to a province in the Akwamu state. Ofori escaped again, however, and later fled across the Volta in 1680- 81.(Wilks 1957:106-11)

The demographic impact of these expansionary wars was considerable. When the Ladoku province was attacked in 1679 and brought under Akwamu rule, many of the inhabitants in the subjugated area-which included the present traditional areas of Ada, Kpone, Osudoku, Ningo, Prampram or Gbugbla, and Shai-fled across the Volta and settled among the peoples on the upper Slave Coast and in the Krepi district.

456




(Wilks 1957:112) The capital of the AgbI area, Agblga, is known to have received some of these Adangbe immigrants. J. D. Amenyah, a local authority on Ada traditions, states that in Aglbga 'is a clan called Dzeviawo which is [a] branch of Adangmebiawe clan of Ada. They [the Dzevi's] name their children [in] the same [manner] as the general Adangmes [in order to distinguish themselves] from the original Ewe element [among whom] they lived or settled . .. Dze in Adangme means left or break-away, and viawo is a Ewe word which means children, but more correctly, peoples'." The Dzevi traditions of origin substantiate this information. They note that Tay Tsrui, father of the founder of the Dzevi clan, Aduadui, came from Prampram as did the clan god, Nyigbla, and the clan names.'2 In 1788, Biprn noted that the people living in the coastal community of Aflao, east of Anlbga, were also

... one of the remnants of the old [group of] Adampe [Adangbe] negroes ... In the war of 1679, early all Adampe, Schay [Shai] and Ningo, Prampram, Tessy [Teshi] and Lay negroes fled and divided themselves into three parties, namely: the Schay negroes who went further inland where they are still called the Great and Little Schay, Tettetu or all Adampe country; next, the Lay negroes who settled on a high mountain around twenty [Danish] miles from the sea, which at present is called Augo [Agu] and consists of nineteen towns on the mountain as well as a town in the valley; and finally, the rest of the Adampe at Lathe, who were formerly settled here at Aflahu [Aflao] which then was called Verhou . . . (Biprn 1788:224)

R. G. S. Sprigge has identified a number of communities which correspond to Biprn's description of those found in the Krepi district and settled by the first group of Adangbe from the Shai traditional area in Ghana. They include the four villages of Ess6 Zogbedji, Ess6 Nadje, Ess6 Godj6me and Ess6 Godjin in the eastern central section of Togo, all of which speak the Adangbe dialect of Eae. According to their traditions, the towns were founded by the inhabitants' ancestors who came from Dodowa, the Shai capital. (Sprigge 1969:96) Traditions concerning the last mentioned Togo village of Godjin exist in Dodowa as well; a war is said to have forced the Shai high priest and general, Sodse, to cross the Volta River with his people to resettle in Godse, which was known as Shai-Godse or Segodse [Esse Godjin].'3 (Azu 1929:68; Saxton 1925:28) In addition, both the inhabitants of the four Togo villages and those in the Shai traditional area have the same name for their communities: Shai is pronounced /se/ as is Esse, the prefix to the place names of Godjme, Godjin, Zogbedji and Nadje. (Sprigge 1969:96-8)

There is no evidence to support Biprn's claim that a second group of Adangbe- speakers settled in Agu and Tettetu, in southwest and southeast Togo, respectively.

ach traditions do exist, however, among the peoples of another mountainous area, approximately 18 miles southwest of Agu, called Ag)time;'4 the inhabitants of the Ese- speaking community of Gati and Gafe as well as the Akposso-speaking town of Gati have similar traditions of origin.'5 (Sprigge 1969:100-3) Biprn's observation about the third set of immigrants settling in Aflao was confirmed by Bowdich in 1819 when he noted that the language of the town was 'a mixture of Adampe and Kerrapey [Eye]'. (Bowdich 1819:221-2) The 1682 and 1688 Akwamu punitive expeditions against Ladoku and Agave again forced many of the inhabitants across the river. Those who did not return to their original homeland probably associated themselves with the Adangbe-speaking propulations in the coastal towns of Agl1ga and Aflao, mentioned above.16

457




The Akwamu conquest of Accra in 1680-81 produced further demographic changes. When Bosman visited Keta in 1698, he noted that'. . . their language is mostly that of Accra, with a small adulteration: (Bosman 1705:331) Barbot also remarked that the Keta 'inhabitants are generally pretty civil to strangers as well as their king, tho' some pretend they were formerly of a more savage and hottish temper than most of the Blacks are'. (Barbot 1732:321) Both accounts indicate that the Accras formed a noticeable if not politically influential group in the town. They may have come as refugees after the 1680-81 war.

Another group of Accras is known to have passed through An1o after the Akwamu conquest of their territory, but they did not settle in the area. Instead, these people, among whom was the ex-Accra king, Ofori, established themselves in Little Popo, east of Aflao. They developed a new state with its capital at Glidji, north of the coastal lagoons, and thereafter began to expand the boundaries of their new territory, asserting their position as a new politico-military force on the upper Slave Coast. They attempted to conquer the Eoe, Adangbe and Ga-speaking inhabitants of Aflao and Keta; according to Bosman, the warfare continued inconclusively for several years as

the Aquamboe who would keep them both on foot, take care that neither [the Ketas nor Popos] be destroyed, by sending assistance of forces to the weakest side ... Aquamboe was governed by two chiefs . .. Those of Popo had a strong supporter of the Old [called Basua] and they of Coto, of the young king [known as Ado]; thus each side was continually furnished with Aquamboean props. (Bosman 1705:329)

By 1700, Little Popo's military campaigns were having a more substantial politico- military as well as demographic impact on the upper Slave Coast. Under the leadership of Ofori's brother, the Little Popos launched another offensive in this year against Keta and Aflao; the two were brought under Popo rule. Many of the Adangbe- speaking inhabitants in the last mentioned town fled to and resettled in Agotime,'7 while those in Keta are said to have been driven out of their country, probably to A913. (Biprn 1788:224)

In 1702, Akwamu again marched against Ladoku and pushed these people across the Volta. The Akwamus did not, however, limit their activities to Ladoku as they had in previous military operations. Rather they crossed the river, passed through ABlIga c. 10 April 1702, reinstated some of the Eoe and Ga-speaking Ketas who had been in the

Ag?l area since 1700, and brought under Akwamu administrative control those areas on the coast from Ag13 up to Whydah.'8 (Wilks 1957:124-5) This particular campaign by the Akwamus in Ladoku is remembered by the Agol as the Akz or Shai war, at which time the founder of the Vifeme clan, Amega Le, and his followers came to Arl ~ga. According to Vifeme traditions of origin, Amega Le travelled to many places before coming to the AD1b capital with his followers; he is said to have resided at various times in the Legon area north of Accra, in Kpone and Lay [Lekp jgunz] on the coast east of Accra, and in Kpong, on the Volta River roughly 45 miles from the estuary. After his arrival in AgDlga, he and his followers established themselves in a section of the town which later was named Lashibi.19 If one assumes that the towns mentioned in this account of Le's journey are the original residences of those who were later to form the Dzevi clan, the founding members of this hlJ included immigrants from the Adangbe-speaking towns of Kpone, Lay and Kpong, and the Ga-speaking area of Legon.20 The existence of a deserted settlement near Sakumo Fio lagoon, east of

458




Teshi, known as Lashibi suggests that the inhabitants of this town may have also been driven to Aglaga in 1702 and that it was they who lent the name of their old town to the new residence [Dakubu 1973:145] Other Ga-speaking peoples who were pushed by the Popos from Keta to Abl in 1700 and who remained after members of this group were reinstated in Keta by the Akwamus in 1702, may have also formed part of the Vifeme clan.

In 1707, during the reign of Akwamuhene Akwono, his troops marched into the Krepi district via Ladoku; by 1708, the Ho and Kpando districts had been conquered. Thereafter a new campaign was launched against Kwawu. After a series of battles which extended over two years, Akwamu defeated Kwawu in 1710, completing its final series of expansionary wars. While these last military operations were not associated with any demographic dislocations affecting Anlo or the other polities on the upper Slave Coast, they marked the culmination of the realignment of Akwamu's political boundaries. The peoples in the Akuapem Hills and the Agaves had been brought under control in the mid-17th century; Accra was conquered in a series of battles between 1677 and 1681; Akwamu's southwest Fante neighbour, Agona, shared the same fate in 1688 and 1689; while Ladoku was defeated in 1679. Between 1702 and 1710, the upper Slave Coast-from Anlo up to Whydah-Krepi and Kwawu were also incorporated into the expanded state boundaries.2'

THE EMERGENCE OF THE ANLO CLAN SYSTEM

While Akwamu military activities in the late 17th and early 18th centuries were having a major impact on the upper Slave Coast, important changes in the structure of

Aglo society were taking place as well: the lineages living in the early Agl area were being grouped by district into a new, larger social unit known as the hl, clan, headed by an elected clan leader; unifying totems, taboos and genealogies linking the lineages to a common clan ancestor or ancestors were established; clan gods-perhaps the most prestigious among the lineages that composed the hl--became the object of worship by all its members.22

The events prompting the formation of this new social unit appear to have been closely connected to the demographic changes in the lower Volta area. It was noted above that the total land area of early Aglo was approximately 94 square miles; three- quarters of this consisted of swamps, creeks and low-lying, salt-laden, clayey soils that could support little cultivation. The areas suitable for farming, less than 20 square miles, were planted under a system of shifting cultivation that yielded one crop per year. This method necessitated that each household have land in sufficient quantity to allow portions to be fallowed while the remainder provided the food requirements of the household. In early A gl, even these lands were subject to periodic flooding-a situation that often forced the Aglc to obtain food from the northern side of the lagoon. Given this scarcity of arable land resources and the increase in population resulting from the undetermined numbers of refugees entering the area in three successive waves between 1679 and 1688, it is possible that the Anb clan system was created in an attempt to guarantee the earlier occupants and their future generations enough land for their subsistence. For when this new social unit was formed, almost all the lands-previously occupied by whoever chose to claim them-were divided among the various clans, and hlJ members were given exclusive use-rights to them. This occurred

459




between 1679, when the ancestors of the Dzevi began to move into the A9go area, and 1702, when those who were later to become to Vifeme clan settled in A31bga. This hypothesis is supported by the traditions. In the late 17th century before the clan system was developed, good agricultural land is known to have been available.23 When the ancestors of the Dzevis came to ADlI in 1679, however, they were given a tract of land on the east side of Aplbga, facing the Keta lagoon, that consisted of those areas useless for the maintenance of a household, for the soils could not support food crops given the then current cultivation techniques. The area also had no creeks or rivers that could be claimed by these people as their own and used for fishing.24 Groups that moved into the early AgbI area after the lands were divided-for example, the Vifeme-were given access to more productive areas, but only for temporary use. The last mentioned group was required to pay tolls to the landing clan-the Klevi-by sponsoring an annual festival to which the Klevi were especially invited to share in the proceeds of the harvest.25 The importance attached to property being made available to future generations is also reflected in the strong preference for intra-clan marriage-a union that would keep one of the most important possessions of the group, land, in the clan. (Ward 1955:4; Nukunya 1969:74, 76) According to Nukunya (1969:74), intra- clan marriage in the Agl) communities of Woe and Alakple accounted for 28.7 and 37.8% of all marriages in the respective towns. These statistics were collected in 1962 and 1963; ADl) residents indicate that the number of such marriages was even greater prior to the increased movement of peoples outside their home areas (Wyllie 1969:405)26

The impact of the emergence of the clans on the Anlo social system seems to have been limited, since the hla was created essentially as a structure above the pre-existing segmentary lineage organization. The new social unit simply unified through the totems, taboos and gods, a number of lineages that continued to grow and segment. The clan head was also a lineage elder and therefore performed the same tasks associated with the elders who were not clan leaders: both adjudicated disputes; administration of lineage lands was the duty of the head of this particular social unit; similarly, clan lands were managed by the clan head.27 The latter did have additional access to material goods over and above that accorded the persons of authority in the smaller social units of the family cluster or lineage; if a certain stream or creek was fished only in the rainy season and remained unclaimed by a lineage, clan and non-clan members alike would be charged tolls by the clan leader.28 Essentially, however, the basic structure of the Agbl-Eoe social formation remained intact.

The argument may be briefly summarized. I began by noting the unacceptability of the traditional A1Jl explanation concerning the origins of their clan system-that this social grouping developed through the expansion of the patrilineal segmentary lineage organization. Another explanation has been offered. During the late 17th and early 18th centuries, an undetermined number of refugees moved into the area increasing the number of persons living in early A1i . Current cultivation techniques did not permit a concomitant intensification or expansion in agricultural production, however. In response to the threat of arable land scarcities, the clan system emerged as a structure above the pre-existing social organization to regulate access to all cultivatable lands in the early A?lI area. When the Ag1) expanded across the Keta lagoon between 1730 and 1742, the once localized clans dispersed, giving rise to the present situation where clan members may be found throughout the towns, villages and hamlets of

460




contemporary AgIb. Because this newly acquired territory, claimed by individual

lineages, was abundant, there was no need to control access to the entire area through the division of the lands among the clans. Instead, property remained vested in the

lineages, and all clan affairs, concerned primarily with the administration of common

property and religious rites established prior to the expansion, continued to revolve around the settlements and lands that consitituted the early A1 b area.

NOTES

This paper was delivered at the University of Minnesota 1980 Winter Symposium: Grassroots Involvement in Africa, and is part of a larger study on the historical development of the economy, society and external relations of Aglb in the eighteenth century.

2 See footnote no. 9. See for example, Greene, Field Notes, Nos. 10, 14, 20, and 32.

4For more information on the migration of these clan ancestors to Agl3, see pp. 457-459. Greene, Field Notes, Nos. 10 and 40.

6 Kludze states the northern Eoe family cluster is called dzotiyu and the lineage is called saa. Note that clans do exist among the T3Jgu, located on the Volta River, to the northwest of A9l1 . See Fiawoo [1974b].

7 Greene, Field Notes, No. 50. 8 Greene, Field Notes, Nos. 35, 45 and 50. 9 Nukunya [1969:26] states that the afedo consisted of 8-10 generations, but interviews conducted by

the author indicate that this is not the case. Rather, the afedo contains approximately six generations and it is the Ag13 hl--which Nukunya says has an indefinite depth-which contains, at this time, 8-10 generations. See Greene, Field Notes, Nos. 5, 7 and 20. Fiawoo [1959:19] supports the author on this point. 10 For more information on the political history of Accra and its relationships to its dependent territories, see Quaye [1972]. Note that Kea [1974:170] and Wilks [1957:101] associate 'Latebi' with the present traditional area of Larte. Barbot [1932:319] identified another polity east of Lay known as 'Soko'-having the coastal communities of 'Angulan', 'Baya', and 'Aqualla'-which was considered by some to be part of Ladoku.

" Amenyah Archives, 31 June 1956, letter from J. D. Amenyah to Ivor G. Wilks, Tamale. Amenyah, born in 1894 or 1895, was a member of the Adjowu house of the Kabiawe-Chu royal clan of Ada and was a senior counsellor to the Ada paramount chief.

12 Greene, Field Notes, No. 21. See also Spieth (1911:50) and Reindorf(1895:31). 13 See also ADM 11/1714, Shai Memorandum and Amenyah Archives, 20 October 1950, letter from J.

D. Amenyah, Big Ada, to Ivor G. Wilks, Tamale. Amenyah indicates-as does Sprigge (1969:112)-that the Ga-speaking peoples who were part of Ladoku also migrated to Segodje.

14 Greene, Field Notes, No. 35; Committee of Enquiry (Volta Region) 16th Sitting, 1 November 1973, 3.

15 See also Gayibor (1975:285-8); Committee of Enquiry (Volta Region) 16th Sitting, 1 November 1973, 3.

16 Rawlinson Manuscripts (C 746). Ralph Hassel, Accra to Cape Coast, 14 March 1682 and 22 May 1682; Wilks (1957:116). In 1692, Lay was again destroyed but there are no reports of an immigration across the Volta. See Van Dantzig (1978:52-3).

17 The inhabitants of Agmtime who live in Nyitoe-Zoupke, Afegame and Kpetoe now speak the Adangbe dialect of E8e and call themselves the Le, as do those in the Adangbe town of Lekpn:)guna in the traditional area ofNingo. (Sprigge 1969:91-5).

18 See also Bosman (1705:330); VgK 120-3 February 1703, P. Werdrup, Whydah; VgK 121-2 August 1705, Erich Ljgaard, Knud Rost, Christiansborg; VgK 884-25, 26 and 28 February 1702, Christiansborg; 14, 25 March 1702, Christiansborg; 10 April 1702, Christiansborg. Kea (1974:256) claims, contrary to Wilks (1957:124-5), that Whydah was an ally of Akwamu, but the former was a subordinate partner in the relationship. See also Akinjogbin (1967:34) and Amenumey (1975:182).

19 Greene, Field Notes, Nos. 8, 9 and 15. 20 Sprigge (1969:87) notes that although the town of Kpone is now Ga-speaking, during the period

under examination it was populated by Adangbes. 21 VgK 121-23 February 1708, Erich Ljgaard, Christiansborg; 1 September 1707, Erich Ljgaard,

Christiansborg; 18 September 1707; Erich Ljgaard, Christiansborg; VgK 120-14 May 1704, P. Werdrup, Christiansborg; VgK 884-14 April 1702, Christiansborg; 24 June 1702, Christiansborg. Wilks (1957:116-7, 129-30).

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462 LAND AND CLAN IN ANLO

2 The ancestors of those who are thought to have been the very first to explore and settle on the coastal sand bar-the Lafe and Bate-as well as the founding ancestors of the Tovi, Bame and Klevi clans who are said to have been the descendants of these first settlers, are associated with this coastal area and they have their clan land there. The Amlade and Adzovia-associated with the sparsely populated areas in the low- lying swampy land north and east of A lbga-have their clan land in this area. The Bame and Bate also have land in these low-lying areas as do the Like. See Greene, Field Notes, Nos. 11, 15, 16, 18, 32, 34, 44 and 45. Anlo Traditional Council, Minute Book No. 2, 13-15: Anlo Paramount Stool Property Dispute, 15 August 196; Nukunya (1973:70-1); Nukunya (1969:22). Numerous sources contain a listing of the clan gods, totems and taboos. Some of the published sources include D. Westermann (1935:142-9), Nukunya (1969:193-6), Fiawoo (1959:54-5).

23 Unused arable lands included the Bate property around the ponds of Blolui and Tale on the west side of the depressions. Greene, Field Notes, Nos. 44 and 45.

24 Some of the lands in this area were used for grazing cattle and for growing cotton. Van Dantzig (1978:200, 234).

25 Greene, Field Notes, No. 16. 26 According to Nukunya's informants, 'it was [because of the] collective responsibility of the clans for

the conduct of its members that it was found necessary to make strangers answerable for the conduct of their fellow strangers by grouping them into a clan of their own'. [Nukunya 1969:23) The clan 'of their own' refers specifically to the Blu clan which, at present, is considered to be the only stranger clan in AUl3. This, of course, ignores the non-EAe origins of the Dzevi and Vifmeme clans, and Nukunya does not offer his informants' views as an explanation of the historical origin of the AU1 clan system. Nevertheless, it is possible that this concern to make strangers answerable for the behavior of their fellows formed one of the factors prompting clan formation among the Al>-Ewe. Additional evidence is needed, however, before the author feels this can be incorporated with assurance into the theory of ADl I clan formation discussed in the text. For example, one must determine if, in fact, the collective responsibility of the hlh for its members was a feature of the clan system during the period under review. One must also determine if the need to hold strangers responsible for the actions of their fellow strangers was an important factor in prompting the formation of the clan, given the traditions cited by Bok) Seke Axovi in Greene, Field Notes, No. 37, that the lineage-to which strangers often attached themselves-served this same purpose in early A1i).

27 Greene, Field Notes, No. 5. 28 Greene, Field Notes, Nos. 1 and 5; Anlo Traditional Council, Minute Book No. 2, 13-15: Anlo

Paramount Stool Property Dispute, 50-8, containing therein the judgment on suit no. 40/1922: Fia Togbui Sri II as head of the Adjovia tribe of Quittah .. . [vs.] Nuvenu Klomanyi and Hadj Sakpaku of Quittah, Supreme Court of the Gold Coast Colony, Eastern Province, 4 June 1922.

REFERENCES

ADM 1 1/1714, Shai Memorandum. National Archives of Ghana. Akinjogbin, I. A. 1967 Dahomey and its neighbours, 1708-1818. Cambridge: University Press Amenumey, D. E. K. 1975 'New myths in the history of Ghana: Anlo and the Asante Empire',

Universitas 4(2): 181-6. Amenyah Archives. Centre for Research Libraries, Chicago, Illinois. Anloga Traditinal Council, Minute Book No. 2, Anloga, Ghana. Azu, E. 1929. Adangbe historical andproverbial songs. Accra: Government Printing Office. Barbot, J. 1732. A description of the coasts of North and South Guinea. Paris. Biprn, A. R. 1788. 'Biprns Beretning 1788 om de Danske Forter og Negrerier', Nogle Bidrag til

Kundskab om den Danske Straekning paa Guinea Kysten in Thaarups Archiv for Politik, Statistik og Huusholdingsvideskaber 1798-1798, III. Copenhagen, 193-230.

Bosman, W. 1705. A new and accurate description of the Guinea Coast. 4th edition, London: Frank Cass, 1967.

Bowdich, T. E. 1819. Mission from Cape Coast to Ashantee. London: John Murray. Brammer, H. 1962. 'Soils', in J. Wills (ed.) Agriculture and land use in Ghana. London: Oxford

University Press for The Ghana Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Committee of Enquiry (Volta Region), Preceedings of the Committee Appointed by Executive

Instrument (E.I. 31). Dakubu, M. E. K. 1973. Ga-English Dictionary. Legon: Insititue of African Studies,

University of Ghana. Dotse, J. M. 1969. Agricultural geography of the Keta District. M.A. thesis, University of

Ghana, Legon.




Fiawoo, D. K. 1959. The influence of contemporary social change on the magico-religious concepts and organization fo the Southern Ewe-speaking peoples of Ghana. PhD. dissertation, University of Edinburgh.

--- 1974a. 'Ewe lineage and kinship: sub-ethnic group variations', in C. Oppong (ed.) Legon family research papers, No. 1: Domestic rights and duties in Southern Ghana. Legon: Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana.

--- 1974b. 'Clan endogamy and patrilateral parallel cousin marriage in Tongu, Ghana', in C. Oppong (ed.) Legon family research papers, No. 1: Domestic rights and duties in Southern Ghana. Legon: Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana.

Gayibor, T. N. 1975. Migration, Societe, Civilisation: Les Ewe du Sud-Togo. Theses de Doctorat de 3eme Cycle (Histoire). University de Paris, Pantheon-Sorbonne. Tome 1 et 2.

Greene, S. E. Field Notes (will be on deposit at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois): 1. Interview with T. S. A. Togobo, elder of the Adzovia clan, 12 June 1978. 5. --, 20 June 1978. 7. Interview with Boko Seke Azovi, elder of the Lafe clan, 2 August 1978. 8. Interview with T. S. A. Togobo, elder of the Adzovia clan, 2 August 1978. 9. --, 3 August 1978. 10. Interview with Boko Seke Axovi, elder of the Lafe clan, 6 August 1978. 11. Interview with T. S. A. Togobo, elder of the Adzovia clan, 7 August 1978. 14. Interview with Trygod Yao Zodanu, elder of the Amlade clan, 11 August 1978. 15. Interview with Fia Le, II, elder of the Wifeme clan, 15 August 1978. 16. --, 16 August 1978. 18. Interview with Boko Seke Axovi, elder of the Lafe clan, 29 August 1978. 20. Interview with Alex Afatsao Awadzi, elder of the Like clan, 30 August 1978. 21. Interview with T. S. A. Togobo, elder of the Adzovia clan, 31 August 1978. 32. Interview with Togbui Sefoga, elder of the Dzevi clan, 30 September 1978. 34. Interview with Alex Afatsao Awadzi, elder of the Like clan, 3 October 1978. 35. Interview with Boko Seke Axovi, elder of the Lafe clan, 4 October 1978. 37. --, 9 October 1978. 40. Interview with Atsu Klogo and Togbui Avege II, elders of the Tsiame, 17 October 1978. 44. Interview with Dzobi Adzinku, elder of the Bate clan, 6 November 1978. 45. --, 8 November 1978. 50. Interview with Boko Seke Axovi, elder of the Lafe clan, 12 March 1978.

Isert, P. E. 1793 Voyages en Guin&e et dans les lies Caraibes in Amerique. Paris: Maraden. Kea, R. 1974. Trade, state formation and warfare on the Gold Coast, 1600-1826. PhD.

dissertation, University of London. Kludze, A. K. P. 1973. Restatement of African law: Ewe law of property. London: Sweet and

Maxwell. Manoukian, M. 1952. The Ewe-speaking people of Togoland and the Gold Coast (Ethnographic

Survey of Africa), London: International African Institute. Nukunya, G. K. 1969. Kingship and marriage among the Anlo Ewe. London: Athlone Press. -- 1973. 'Land tenure, inheritance and social structure among the Anlo', Universitas

3(1):64-12. Quaye, I. 1972. The Ga and their neighbours, 1600-1742. PhD. Dissertation, University of

Ghana. Rawlinson Manuscripts (C. 746), Correspondence between Cape Coast Castle and Outforst

including Doxcove. Oxford: Bodleian Library. Saxton, S. W. 1925. 'Historical survey of the Shai People', Gold Coast Review 1(1): 127-45. Spieth, J. 1911. Die Religion der Eweer in Sud- Togo. Gotting: Vandenhoeck and Rupert. Sprigge, R. G. S. 1969 'Eweland's Adangbe: an enquiry into an oral tradition', Transactions of

the Historical Society of Ghana (10):88-127. Steward, J. 1963. Theory of culture change. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Van Dantzig, A. 1978. The Dutch and the Guinea Coast. Accra: Ghana Academy of Arts and

Sciences. Vestindisk-guineisk Kompagni (VgK) 120- Breve og Dokumenter fra Guinea, 884- Dag-

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Journaler fprt paa Christiansborg (1698-1705). Rigsarkivet, Copenhagen. Ward, B. 1955. 'An example of a "mixed" system of descent and inheritance', Man 55(2):3-5. Westermann, D. 1935. 'Die Glidyi-Ewe in Togo', in Mitteilungen des Seminars fur Orientalishe

Sprachen an der Universitdt Berlin, XXXVIII. Wilks, I. 1957. 'The rise of the Akwamu Empire, 1650-1719', Transactions of the Historical

Society of Ghana, 3(pt.2):99-136. - 1978. 'Land, labour, capital and the forest kingdom of Asante: a model of early change',

in J. Friedman and M. J. Rowlands (eds.) The evolution of social systems. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.

Wyllie, R. 1969. 'Migrant Anlo fishing companies and socio-political change: a comparative study, Africa 39(4):396-410.

Resume

Terres et clans chez les AI I

Cet article a trait aux origines historiques du systeme de clans Alb-Ewe. Si l'on en croit un ensemble de traditions AUlI relatives aux origines du clan, cette unite sociale se serait developpee a la suite d'un accroissement naturel du nombre des lignages segmentaires patrilineaires rattaches a un ancetre donne. Ii apparait cependant que cette perspective n'est guere satisfaisante et l'on examine une autre explication mentionnee dans les traditions. La seconde version, analysee a la lumiere d'une documentation europeenne, indique que la formation de clans a eu lieu vers la fin du 17eme siecle et le debut du 18eme. L'auteur utilise ces indications comme point de depart afin d'analyser les evenements qui auraient declenche le processus de formation de clans chez les Agb-Ewe au cours de cette periode. On montre qu'a la fin du 17eme siecle et au debut du 18tme, un nombre indetermine de refugies pientra dans la zone, grossissant ainsi la population de l'epoque en pays Anlo. Les techniques culturales alors en usage ne permirent pas cependant de realiser une intensification ou une expansion correspondante de la production agricole. Devant la menace possible d'une penurie de terres arables, le systeme de clans fut elabore, prevalant alors sur l'organisation sociale deja en place et reglementant l'acces a toutes les terres cultivables de la zone AIjb de l'epoque. L'organisation sociale dans son ensemble ne subit que quelques transformations mineures et lorsque les Ag31 prolongerent leur expansion de l'autre c6ot de la lagune de Keta (cette vaste etendue d'eau au nord de la cote Albo) entre 1730 et 1742, les clans (localises a l'origine) se disperserent: on aboutit ainsi a la situation presente oii l'on trouve des membres de clans dans les villes, les villages et les hameaux du pays AUjI actuel.



land, lineage and clan in early anlo

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