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| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Primarily native toKingdom of Dagbon northernGhana and southernBurkina Faso. Diaspora present in United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany etc. | |
 Burkina Faso | 3,500,000 |
 Ghana | 1,200,000 |
 Ivory Coast | 270,000 |
| Languages | |
| Gurunsi languages,Hausa language, English, French | |
| Religion | |
| Sunni Islam,Christianity,Animism | |
TheGurunsi, orGrunshi, are a set of related ethnic groups inhabiting northernGhana and south and centralBurkina Faso.
Oral traditions of the Gurunsi hold that they originated from the western Sudan passing through the Sahel. While it is unknown when the migration occurred, it is believed that the Gurunsi were present in their current location by 1100 AD. Following the 15th century, when theMossi states were established to the north, Mossi horsemen often raided Gurunsi areas for slaves, but the Gurunsi peoples were never fully subjugated, remaining independent.
According to doctor Salif Titamba Lankoande, inNoms de famille (Patronymes) au Burkina Faso, the name Gurunsi comes from theDjerma language ofNiger words “Guru-si”, which means “iron does not penetrate”. It is said that during the Djerma invasions of Gurunsi lands in the late 19th century, a Djerma jihadist leader by the name of Baba Ato Zato (better known by theHausa corruption of his name: Babatu) recruited a battalion of indigenous men for his army, who after having consumed traditional medicines, were said to be invulnerable to iron. They set up theZabarima Emirate within Gurunsiland, which makes up far northern Ghana and southern Burkina Faso.
The people who speak closely relatedGur languages and dialects and classed by theMossi under the umbrella term Gurunsi form an arc of village communities mostly organised as defensive strongholds from the Koudougou residency west and northwest of Ouagadougou in colonial times to the northeast of current day Ghana. Historically, these groups were subjects of the Mossi kingdoms. This area became in the late 1890s part of a three-way competition between the colonial forces of the French, the British, and the Germans, trying to subdue Djerma warlords and fight also the warlike local population who resisted fiercely to maintain its autonomy, while vying to occupy as much territory as possible at the expense of rival colonial powers. Each of the three claimed part of the territory occupied by the Gurunsi villages, but the competition between the colonial powers was not resolved until the last year of the 19th century. After establishing the protectorates ofYatenga (1895) andOuagadougou (1896), the French annexed Gurunsi lands in 1897. Eventually the Germans withdrew toTogoland (modern Ghana & Togo), and an 1898 Anglo-French agreement officially established the boundary with theGold Coast (now Ghana). This partition divided Gurunsi peoples among French and British administrative systems, facilitating the political and cultural divergence of sub-groups on each side of the boundary.
The term Gurunsi is used as a meta term to refer to a group of very loosely relate peoples. The ethnic groups classified as Gurunsi do not share a common language and have distinct cultural practices. Some of the largest Gurunsi ethnic groups are theFrafra,Nabt andTalensi in Ghana as well as theKo,Lyele,Nuna, andSisaala in Burkina Faso. The sub-groupsKassena andNankani inhabit both Ghana and Burkina Faso.
The Kassena people are known for their clay houses, which are built by the men. The women decorate the exteriors of the houses with geometric patterns.[1]
