Sunyani, town, west-central Ghana. It is surrounded by the forested Southern Ashanti Uplands.

The site was a camping place for elephant hunters in the late 19th century. The British set up a district headquarters there in 1924, and, with construction of the road to Kumasi, Sunyani became commercially important as a clearinghouse for cocoa, kola nuts, and staple foods (plantains, yams, and corn [maize]). There is a sports arena in Coronation Park. The town has an airport. Pop. (2000) 61,992; (2010) 74,240.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy McKenna.
Quick Facts
Date:
c. 1450 - 1723
Related Topics:
mining
gold
Related Places:
Akan states
Ghana

Bono, Akan state of western Africa from the 15th to the 18th century, located between the forests of Guinea and the savannas of the Sudan in what is now Brong-Ahafo region in the Republic of Ghana.

Bono was probably founded about 1450, and its rise was undoubtedly connected with the developing gold trade of Bighu, a Malian Muslim or Dyula commercial centre 40 miles (64 km) to the northwest. From there Muslim traders went to Bono soon after its foundation, and many members of the royal household were later converted to Islam.

The kings of Bono are said to have played a major role in the gold-mining industry; both Obunumankoma (flourished c. 1450–75) and ʿAlī Kwame (flourished c. 1550–60) are thought to have introduced new mining techniques from the western Sudan to the Akan fields, and Owusu Aduam (flourished c. 1650) is reported to have completely reorganized the industry. From the Akan fields the gold passed through the entrepôts of the western Sudan along the trade routes of the Sahara to the terminal ports of North Africa and from there to Europe and elsewhere.

Bono engaged in wars with Jakpa of Gonja and was finally subjugated in 1722–23 by Opoku Ware of the Asante empire.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy McKenna.