The Sefwi area of Ghana is located some 200 kilometres from the coast in the northern tip of the Western Region. With the exception of some sporadic gold-mining in the late 19th century, the transcontinental trade routes passed it by. It consists of three tradtional areas: Bekwai, Anhwiaso, and Wiawso. The last is the focus of this essay which is an attempt to recreate the pre-colonial political history on the basis of oral history, archival resources in Accra, Kumasi, and Sekondi, the accounts of early European travellers, and the documents of the traditional council of the kingdom (oman; plural aman). Most of the oral traditions were collected by the author between 1993 and 2000. Although the region was extremely sparsely populated and the kingdom did seem to enjoy autonomy, it was nominally under Ashanti control from the 17th to 19th century. As it had participated in the Ashante campaign against the British, it fell under British control from the late 19th century. Bibliogr. [ASC Leiden abstract]
