Ewe people of Ghana and Togo separated by colonisation

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It is not a secret that the boundary lines of African countries as we see them today are artificial. They were drawn at the Berlin conference by the Europeans without any African leader present.

Ewe people are one of the groups of people separated into different countries because of colonization.

The majority of Ewe speaking people of West Africa inhabit the areas between the River Volta in Ghana and the River Mono on the western borders of the Ancient Kingdom of Benin (Dahomey).

The largest population of Ewe people is in Ghana and the second largest population in Togo Ewe people are not only in Ghana and Togo but assuming we put our focus on Ghana and Togo the population of ewe nation is approximately 9.1 million people.

With this population, the Ewe nation will occupy position 97 out of about 193 countries in the world on the world countries by population list.

That means the population of ewe nation is bigger than the likes of Sierra Leone, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark and Norway, and even Togo. They speak the Ewe language which belongs to the Gbe family of languages.

 

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They are related to other speakers of Gbe languages such as the Fon, Gen, Phla Phera, and the Aja people of Togo and Benin. Ewe traditional religion is belief is around a creator or deity.

A prominent one is Mawu as well as 600 other deities. The Ewe is more traditionally inclined in terms of religion and belief. Many village celebrations and ceremonies take place in honor of one or more deities.

Christianity arrived in the Ewe nation through colonial merchants and missionaries. The majority of Ewe people practice Christianity. The Ewe in the coastal areas depends on their fishing trade as a major means of livelihood, while the Ewe in Inland is mainly crop and livestock farmers.

The Ewe are essentially a patrilineal people. They believe that the throne should be reserved to an heir according to succession; hence, the founder of a community becomes the chief and is usually succeeded by his paternal relatives.

In modern-day, some chiefs are elected by consensus and get advice from elders. There are a number of guidelines regarding the behavior of chiefs.

They are expected to keep their heads covered in public, and are not to be seen drinking. Ewe people see the chief as the communicator between the everyday world and the world of the ancestors.