Dagomba People

Dagomba People

The Dagomba are an ethnic group of Northern Ghana and they number about 619,000. They inhabit the Northern Region of Ghana in the sparse savanna region below the sahelian belt, known as the Sudan. They speak the Dagbani language which belongs to the More-Dagbani sub-group of Gur languages. There are around 800,000 speakers of the Dagbani language. The Dagomba are historically related to the Mossi. The More/Mossi now have their homeland in present day Burkina Faso. The homeland of the Dagomba is called Dagbon and covers about 20,000 km2 in area.

Na Gbewa is regarded as the founder of Dagbon. Dagomba are one of the ethnic groups with a sophisticated oral tradition woven around drums and other musical instruments. Thus most of its history, until quite recently, has been passed down via oral tradition with drummers as professional griots. According to oral tradition, the political history of Dagbon has its genesis in the lifestory of a legend called Tohazie (translated as Red Hunter.).

Dagomba culture is heavily influenced by Islam, brought to the region by Soninke (known as Wangara by Ghanaians) traders between the 12th to 15th centuries. Inheritance is patrilineal. Important festivals include the Damba, Bugum (fire festival) and the Islamic Eid Festivals. The main settlement of Dagombas is Tamale, which also serves as the Northern Regional capital.

The Mossi and Dagomba states are among the great West African medieval empires. Beginning in the 12th century, they eventually ruled the lands of the entire northern Volta basin, which today includes all of northern Ghana and Burkina Faso. During their second northern expansion, the Mossi invasion reached eastern Maasina and Lake Debo in ca.l4OO, Benka in ca. 1433 and Walata in 1477-83 (These empires were in present-day Mali). According to Dr. Illiasu (1971) in his work "The Origins of the Mossi-Dagomba states", the second period of the Mossi-Dagomba success came to an end with the restoration of Imperial Songhai power towards the close of the 15th century. Although the Mossi-Dagomba states have the same grandfather (Na Gbewa) the Dagomba are traditionally regarded as "senior" to the Mossi states of Ouagadougou, Yatonga, and Fada N'Grumah.