Kwahu
Among Kwahu lands, a significant migrant population works as traders, farm-hands, fisherfolk, and caretakers in the fertile waterfront 'melting pot' of Afram plains.
This resonates with the etymology of the Ba-wu-le (Baoulé) Akans of the Ivory Coast whose Warrior Queen Awura Poku had to sacrifice her baby in order to cross the Komoe river.
Other historians trace the name Kwahu to the dangers associated with making the mountainous terrain a habitat as it became known as a destination of no return: go at your own peril or "ko wu" in the Twi language.
This latter version is thought to have come either from their ancestral people in Mampong who did not support fragmentation or from enemies who perished in trying to take fighting to the Kwahu in the treacherous mountains.
The strategic location of Abene, along with a dreaded militia that guarded the route (led by Akwamu warriors) helped stave off attempts by colonial forces to capture the Omanhene.
Before their leaders seized the opportunities presented with the signing of the Bond of 1844, Kwahu was an integral part of the Asante Kingdom, attested by available maps of the period.
Asante would wage punitive and protracted wars against fellow Akans including Denkyira, Akwamu, Akyem, Fante, Assin, but never fought Kwahu.
Upon gaining his freedom later from the Asantehene, he sought permission to build a Christian Mission in Abetifi, thereby placing the town on the world map and opening the area to vocational and evangelical opportunities.
A Bernese country house built by Ramseyer, typical of the Swiss "Oberland" is well-kept and remains a symbol of early Christian Missionary Zeal.
[citation needed] The development of cocoa in south-eastern Ghana provided opportunities for enterprising Kwahu traders to sell there the imported goods obtained at the coast.
In the 1930s the spread of the cocoa disease, swollen shoot, in the hitherto prosperous south-east, finally turned Kwahu traders' attention to Accra.
Within the last few decades, Kwahus have advanced their portfolios and ventured into the acquisition of bigger assets in the manufacturing, hotel industries and command an enviable leadership position in the building materials and pharmaceutical sectors.
Temperatures may trail the normal readings for Accra and other cities of Ghana by up to 3 points at daytime and drop further at night, making the weather in Kwahu relatively cooler and more pleasant.
The Afram River collects the major drainage of the Plateau and makes an impressive 100 km journey from Sekyere in Ashanti through Kwahu as a tributary to join the Volta Lake.
Canoe fishing by is big business along the vast shoreline and beyond the smaller expanse of water stretch, the fertile grounds of the plains open into a huge agricultural paradise that is unquestionably one of Ghana's bread baskets.
The fallout with Frimpong Manso, Chief of Akyem (Oda) triggered a second wave of migration, believed to have resulted from the refusal of Kwahu to swear an oath of allegiance, making them de facto subjects, upon arrival at Hwidiem.
Unsuccessful incursions by the Oda Chief Atefa into Kwahu territory on the plateau would subsequently earn him the title "Okofrobour": one who takes the battle to the mountains.
There is a certain purity of pronunciation, call it crude, with little effort to polish sounds: Kwahu speakers would opt for "Kawa" (a ring) and not "Kaa", "Barima" (Man) instead of "Berma" and pronounce "Oforiwaa" not "Foowaa".
Typical of fellow Akans, Fufu is a must have main meal towards close of day, prepared from Cassava or another Carbohydrate Tuber called Cocoyam and pounded with Plantains.
