Zongo settlements

Zongo settlements are areas in West African towns populated mostly by settlers from Northern Sahel areas especially from Northern Nigeria.[1] A common feature of the Zongo community is their predominant use of Hausa language as their lingua franca. Zango which is wrongly spelt as Zongo itself as a word is derived from the Hausa language which literally means "a settlement of Hausa speaking traders".[2]

Ghana

Collectively referred to as Zongos, Zongo communities are found in all 10 Regions of Ghana with much denser populations in Greater Accra and Ashanti regions.[3] The earliest bustling Zongo communities in Ghana started in Salaga and by the first quarter of the 19th century similar communities were already established in Tamale, Yeji and Ejisu.[4][5] The largest and one of the oldest Zongos close to the coastal belt started in 1836 in Nima.[6]

In the present day, Zongo communities in Ghana are a microcosm of people from the lower and middle classes of tribes from both northern and southern Ghana, as well as immigrants from neighboring countries including Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Mali, Ivory Coast, Niger, etc.

The Hausa's from Northern Nigeria are the pioneer settlers of the Zongo. The early settlers constructed makeshift houses with the intention to work hard, raise some capital and return to their locality. As it has usually been with immigration, many adopted their new found place as their permanent home.[7]

See also

Benin

Zongo Communities are common in Benin with large settlements found in Parakou, Ganou and the port city of Cotonou.[8][9]

References
  1. Cecilia Sem Obeng (1 January 2002). Home was Uncomfortable; School was Hell:In general terms, the word is used to describe an area or settlement inhabited by different tribes who got themselves resident there as a result of trading activities.The settlement may be an entire town or a part of an urban settlement. For instance, Ghana has several Zongos located within several parts of her regions. A Confessionalist-ethnographic Account of Belief Systems and Socio-educational Crisis in the Schooling of Ghanaian Rural Girls. Nova Publishers. ISBN 978-1-59033-469-0.
  2. Müller, Louise (2013-01-01). Religion and Chieftaincy in Ghana: An Explanation of the Persistence of a Traditional Political Institution in West Africa. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 284. ISBN 9783643903600.
  3. Samwini, Nathan (2006-01-01). The Muslim Resurgence in Ghana Since 1950: Its Effects Upon Muslims and Muslim-Christian Relations. LIT Verlag Münster. ISBN 9783825889913.
  4. Studies, University of Ghana Institute of African (1970-01-01). Ashanti and the Northeast. Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana.
  5. Weiss, Holger (2008-01-01). Between Accommodation and Revivalism: Muslims, the State, and Society in Ghana from the Precolonial to the Postcolonial Era. Finnish Oriental Society. ISBN 9789519380711.
  6. Naylor, Rachel (2000-01-01). Ghana. Oxfam. p. 61. ISBN 9780855984311.
  7. https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Zongo-the-eleventh-region-281461
  8. Washington, Teresa N. (2016-11-29). The African World in Dialogue: An Appeal to Action!. Oya's Tornado. ISBN 9780991073085.
  9. Sargent, Carolyn Fishel (1989-01-01). Maternity, Medicine, and Power: Reproductive Decisions in Urban Benin. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520064843.
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