Guen/Guin-Mina | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Mina woman and child fromAgoué (1900) | |
| Total population | |
| Over 150,000 (1996)[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Togo | 25,937 (2010)[2] |
 Benin | 11,686 (2013)[3] |
| Languages | |
| Waci,[4][5]Gen,[6]French | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity andtraditional religions (Tchamba Vodun[7]) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Ga people,Mina people (the Americas) | |
TheGen-Mina people (French:Guin-Mina), commonly referred to simply asMina, are a closely linked West African ethnic group who inhabit parts of coastalTogo andBenin. Gen-Mina is a collective ethnic identity of two distinct peoples: theGen [fr] and the Mina. The Gen-Mina primarily live in theTogolese cantons ofAného andGlidji, which they founded in the 17th century, but communities are also present inAgbodrafo andAgoué.
There is evidence that some groups ofMina in the Americas, a distinct group ofenslaved Africans and their descendants inNorth andSouth America, share ancestry with the Gen-Mina.
The term Gen-Mina[a] combines theethnonyms for both distinct people groups: the Gen and the Mina. The term Gen (French:Guin) developed from Ga.[8][9] While Ga designates theGa people from theAccra region, Gen refers to the Ga people who migrated toGlidji from there.[10] The term Mina refers to theAné people of Togo and Benin due to their origin inElmina inGhana.[11] Aside from Mina, the Ané also go by Fanti and Adjigo.[12][13]
The Gen-Mina people are referred to by many names. The Gen-Mina are sometimes called Popo.[14] The1960,1970, and2010 Togo censuses haveMina,Guen, andAnecho as synonyms for a single ethnic group,[2] whereasMina appears without synonyms in the1979,1992,2002, and2013 Benin censuses.[3][b] A 2021 Togolese article states that some people disprove of the collective ethnonym Gen-Mina (French:Guin-Mina) and prefer Gen (French:Guin) for referring to the residents of Glidji and Aného.[13]
Mina began as an ethnic term for the indigenous people of Elmina.[11] As for the Gen-Mina people, Mina initially only referred to the Ané people, who migrated from Elmina, but was sometimes used for the Gen as well.[15]
A French source from 1728 referred to residents ofLittle Popo, which sometimes referred to modern-dayAného and theGlidji Kingdom, as Minas (French:Minois).[9] Starting in the 1860s, French Roman Catholic missionaryFrancesco Borghero and others used the term Mina to refer to the various peoples of the westernSlave Coast.[16] The French referred to the residents ofAgbodrafo, Aného and Glidji, andAgoué as Mina throughout colonial rule of the region and into the modern-day. Despite the broad usage of Mina in French, it is locally understood that Mina should only be used for the residents of Aného and other nearby settlements who ultimately originated from Elmina. According to an Aného local in 2000, the term Mina is used as an ethnonym only by French-speaking scholars, while the people themselves use Gen in their own language.[16][c]
There are conflicting records for the arrivals of the Ga and the Ané people in southern Togo. While some sources claim that the Ané arrived shortly after the Ga established Glidji,[d] contemporary European sources suggest that Aného was founded prior to Glidji. A contemporary source from the 1650s notes Aného as "a settlement of canoemen fromElmina",[17] whereas Glidji is known to have been founded sometime between 1683 and 1687.[18] German OrientalistSilke Strickrod [Wikidata] and British AfricanistRobin Law suggest that this discrepancy arose as a way for Glidji's rulers to legitimize their authority over the historically subordinate rulers of Aného.[19][9]
The region containing Aného and Glidi was initially inhabited by other peoples, such as thePeda [fr],[20] theHula [fr],[21] theAja, and theOuatchi [fr].[22]
The Ané people belong to the Adjigo clan.[23] There are several stories for their arrival at Aného. The first record of Aného[e] is as "a settlement of canoemen from Elmina" in a contemporary record from the 1650s.[17] A contemporary European source from the 1870s tells that the Ané of the Gold Coast established Aneho, which is today aquarter within the canton of Aného, after being blown off course by a storm. Another from the 1880s states that "Anecho" was established by people fromElmina as a resting place for trade voyages between Elmina andLagos. These sources refer to the Ané as Minas, Anés, and Fanti, and mention that the Ané settlement was established near an original Hula settlement.[25] The 1934History of Petit-Popo and the Guin Kingdom (Histoire de Petit-Popo et du Royaume Guin) byAgbanon II, theking of Glidji, tells that the Ané immigrated from Elmina under the leadership ofQuam Desu[f] and established Aného after Glidji already existed.[26] American historianGwendolyn Midlo Hall links the "Mina of Little Popo" (the Ané of Aného) toa group named Mina who were displaced by Akwamu conquests in the late 1600s after first settling along theVolta river basin in the late 1500s.[27]
According to European sources, Ga people migrated en-masse from theAccra kingdom after the1677 Akwamu conquest and later attacks on coastal settlements between 1680 and 1681 and formed several coastal settlements to the east.[28] They were eventually joined byOfori, the presumed king of the displacedAccra kingdom afterOkai Koi was killed, when he establishedGlidji in the Little Popo region sometime between 1683 and 1687.[18] According to a local history written by Agbanon II, the Ga people migrated from theAccra kingdom under the guidance of members of the nobility including the two princes,Foli Bebe andFoli Hemadzro, after the suicide of their kingOkai Koi in 1677 and the eventualAkwamu conquest of Accra.[29][9] The Ga established a permanent settlement in 1680 atGlidji, which would later become the capital of theGlidji kingdom.[6][9]
The first detailed description of Aného and Glidji were done byJohn Carter, the chieffactor for theRoyal African Company atOuidah,[18] in 1687 and jointly referred to the settlements asLittle Popo. Carter explicitly distinguished between the different peoples occupying either settlement and noted that Glidji was occupied by the "displaced king of Accra", whereas Aného was entirely "Mina". Until at least the 1740s, European sources referred to the Gen and Ané as Accras, reflecting the Gen's dominance over the Ané. Beginning in the 1720s, the people of Aného and Glidji began to also be referred to as Mina by the French.[9]
In the first half of the 19th century, emigrations from Aného established Mina communities inAgbodrafo, Togo andAgoué, Benin.[30]
While the Ga of Glidji initially spoke theGa andAdangme languages, and sometimesFante, and the Ané of Aného spoke Fante, they eventuallylinguistically assimilated into speakingGbe languages due to being surrounded by its speakers.[31] Ga was still spoken in Glidji until the late-19th century and Fante was spoken by some Anés until at least the mid-19th century.[32][33] Marriages between maleGa-language-speaking settlers of Glidji and female speakers of differentGbe languages likeAdja andPhla who were native to the region contributed to the development of theGen language.[6] The Gen language, also referred to as Ge, the Aneho dialect of Ewe, or Mina[g], was recognized as a distinct language around the late 1800s to early 1900s.[35]
Other sources say that the Ga and the Ané adopted theWaci language, with the Ga speaking the "Ouatchi Evegbé dialect" and adding Ga words to it and the Ané adopting the "Ouatchi" dialect.[4][5][36] Waci forms adialect continuum with Gen.[37] A 1990linguistic map of southern Togo and Benin lists Gen as spoken in Aného, Agoue, andTogoville, near Agbodrafo.[38]
Some Gen-Mina also speakFrench, the official language ofTogo andBenin.[39]
As of the late 20th century, many Mina people reside in coastal Togo and Benin fromLomé toOuidah,[14] notably the cities of Aného,[14] Agbodrafo,[14] andAgoué.[40] While as of 1996 they are primarilysubsistence farmers who growmaize,millet,cassava, andplantains, they also make up an important part of the "political, commercial, and administrative elite of Togo and Benin".[41][14]
One source describes the Gen-Mina as a major ethnic group in Togo and Benin.[14]
Population estimates for the Gen-Mina people vary. In 1976, the population of the Ga and the Ané, the Mina, numbered around 75,000.[42] In 1996, the population of the Mina was over 150,000 with over 60,000 of those people being Ané.[14][36] According toIPUMS-International, the 2010 Togo Census recorded 25,937Mina,Guen, andAnecho people and the 2013 Benin Census recorded 11,686Mina people.[2][3]
Epé-Ekpé, an annual festival celebrated in September, marks thelunar new year for the Mina.[43][44] The four day long event has music and dance, and culminates inkpesoso, the revelation of the sacred stone.[45] The color of the stone is said to determine the future of Glidji in the coming year.[44]
The festival is said to have first been celebrated in the late seventeenth century.[44]
Some Mina practiceTchamba Vodun, a variety ofVodún that emphasizes the experiences of the enslaved and slaving ancestors of those who practice it.[46]
The Gen people are related to theGa people of Ghana.[10]
.jpg)
Mina was used as an ethonym for certain groups of enslaved Africans and their descendants in the Americas, notably inColombia,Brazil,Louisiana in the United States,Cuba, andHaiti. Despite sharing the same name, its unclear how many Mina in the Americas were related to the modern-day Mina in Togo and Benin due to the broad usage of the term Mina.[47] In addition to referring to the modern-day people, Mina could indicate a direct origin from Elmina,[48] theCosta da Mina in general,[48] or West Africa or even just the entirety of Africa as was the case in certain parts of Brazil.[49]
There is some evidence that certain enslavedMina in the Americas were Mina from Aného and Glidji. In Cuba, the 1909Cabildo Minas Popó Costa de Oro and the 1794–1812Cabildo Mina Guagui may have been populated by Gen-Mina people. Law theorized thatGuagui may be a distortion ofGenyi, the indigenous name for the Glidji kingdom.[50]Antonio Cofi Mina, a leader amongst theLouisiana Mina, bore both the name Mina and Cofi[h].Kofi is anAkan day name which is giving to boys born on Fridays and may indicate his origin from an Akan family from theSlave Coast, a historical region which contains Aného and Glidji.[51][52]
Media related toMina people at Wikimedia Commons