Salaga

Salaga is a city in the Northern Region of Ghana, 120 km southwest of the city of Tamale located, and the capital of East Gonja District.

In the 18th and 19th centuries was Salaga as an end or point of several trade routes from the north towards the coast one of the most important commercial cities of the northern modern Ghana. Salaga was tributary as part of the Dagomba Kingdom in 1744 the Aschantireich and one of the main " hubs " for slaves and cola. It also played a significant role in trade of Ashanti with the kingdoms of the Mossi and Gonja in the north. Due to its cosmopolitan population and its importance for trade Salaga was described at this time as " Timbuktu of the South".

How many other trading cities of the time was occupied the city of different ethnic groups with their own districts. Estimates of the total number of the population vary 20000-50000 people. The language of Hausa these groups served as a lingua franca ( lingua franca ). The Muslims were the religious majority, but many were hanging - often gkleichzeitig - also traditional beliefs to.

When the British in 1874, the Ashanti defeated, and the revolted Gonjabevölkerung the city and killed hundreds of Ashanti. Then we went with trading point Salaga down, especially since the slave trade was prohibited. 1892 also there was civil war in the region. 1897 besieged the British. End of the 19th century Salaga was disputed between the British and the Germans, who considered it for a time as Salaga area as a neutral buffer between their colonial empires. In 1900 Salaga was just a snap point for caravans ( Zongo ).

In the past Salagas as an important Sklavenhandelsort today still remembers the Wonkan bawa, the place were bathed on the slaves and a baobab tree at the point where previously housed the slave market.