Anlo-Ewe Culture
HISTORY
The Ewe people were originally part of the Yoruba tribe of Nigeria. In the early 1300's war within Nigeria forced much of the population to flee to Benin. In 1450 settlers also moved to Togo. Both of these countries border Ghana on the Western Coast of Africa. During the triangle trade more than 3 million Ewe people were taken from Ghana, Togo, and Benin. Ghana was the jump-off point for most slave ships coming to North America as well as the Caribbean. Slave fortresses can still be seen on the coast. The picture below shows Elmina Castle one of twenty castles built on the 'Gold Coast' of Ghana. this was originally built by the Portuguese in order to export gold, gems, and other precious materials but was soon transformed into a slave trade hub. The dungeons were used as storage spot for slaves under the worst conditions. Africans were packed so tightly into this small spaces they could barely move. Without air or food they were tortured and then placed onto slave ships in the same manner if they made it out of the dungeons alive. It is important to remember that millions of
Africans
were held captive in fortresses along the coast such as Elmina Castle. Human
beings from Ghana, Togo, Congo, Kenya,
Uganda and many other African countries were taken from their home and families
and sold as cargo. In order to understand any aspect of African culture I think
that it's important to know this period of their history. The slaves of the past
were the ancestors of the current population of Ewe.
During the late 1800's Ghana was controlled by the British, from the years 1850-1885. In 1884 Britain and Germany decided that they would spilt rule of this land they claimed as their own. So from 1884-1885 Germany had partial control of the Ewe area. This was a total relinquishment of the rights of the Ewe people. They were forced to fly the German flag and then taxed for the "privilege" of flying it.