The Fante shrine of 'Nananom Mpow' and the Atlantic slave trade in southern Ghana

African historiography has long acknowledged that the impacts of the trans-Atlantic slave trade on African communities reached far beyond the loss of life and freedom that occurred in innumerable acts of enslavement. Recent studies have shown how the violent and unstable conditions of the slave trade affected virtually all aspects of African life, from the types of crops people grew and ate to forms of social organization and methods of religious practice.1 In spite of this important research trend, the social and cultural changes that transformed the population of southern Ghana (formerly the Gold Coast) during the era of the Atlantic slave trade remain unexplored. Considering the abundance of eighteenthcentury documentation available for this region of West Africa and the fact that over one million enslaved Africans disembarked for the Americas from this stretch of coast, the time is ripe for an examination of this aspect of southern Ghana's history. Coastal societies in what is today Ghana's Central Region developed new, shared institutions under the umbrella of a coalition-style government during the era of the slave trade, creating the basis for what has since evolved into Fante ethnicity and culture. An analysis of the social and cultural history of the coast in that period is therefore essential to understanding the history of the Fante, one of Ghana's main ethno-linguistic groups.2 As with all African societies, political power among the precolonial Fante was inextricably tied to religious power.3 During the course of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the sacred grove known as Nananom Mpow shaped regional and trans-Atlantic events and processes by guiding the principal political and military leaders in Fanteland. It was particularly active in determining the timing and extent of warfare in southern Ghana during the era of the slave trade. Over the course of the eighteenth century, the real and perceived roles of Nananom Mpow in protecting Fanteland from Asante invasion reinforced the ways in which coastal peoples faced the struggles and opportunities of the slave trade era as one community united in their fate. Nananom Mpow was therefore one of the most significant elements of historical change in southern Ghana in the eighteenth century and a crucial component of Fante history in the period immediately preceding British occupation of the Gold Coast. Eighteenth-century accounts of southern Ghana written by European observers focus on the ever-changing mosaic of chiefs and merchants who controlled the flow of trade through the coastal region. Occasionally, however, these records mention a powerful shrine in the hinterland, where religious leaders spoke on behalf of ancestral and supernatural powers. Europeans who resided on the Gold Coast for extended periods (multiple years) learned that this shrine and its priests had a profound influence on political and economic developments in the region. The sources available for the study of Nananom Mpow are limited to documents created by Europeans visiting the Ghana coast, oral traditions recorded in the past century, ethnographic studies, and archaeology. Taken together, these sources demonstrate that spiritual beliefs and practices associated with the shrine of Nananom Mpow guided coastal peoples' strategies for defense, survival, and political change during the era of the Atlantic slave trade. Origins of Nananom Mpow Every self-professed Fante is familiar with the name "Nananom Mpow." Literally meaning "The Grove of the Ancestors,"4 Nananom Mpow is known by Fantes as the sacred site where the three founding fathers of Fanteland- Oburumankoma, Odapagyan, and Osonare buried. The large stones and dense thicket of trees that mark the burial place are still preserved near the village of Obidan, which is located southeast of the Mankessim junction on the Accra-Cape Coast road that stretches across southern Ghana.5 Although Mankessim is a bustling market center on a major thoroughfare, the sacred grove of Nananom Mpow is rarely visited today. …