The Ewe people are an ethnic group in the western part of the African continent

The Ewe people are an ethnic group in the western part of the African continent. They are peoples living in southeastern Ghana, southern Benin, and the southern half of Togo who speak various dialects of Ewe, a language of the Kwa branch of the Niger-Congo family. Ewe languages are in relation to the Fon, Gen, Phera, and the Aja group of Benin. Some archaeological evidence suggests that they can be traced back to the 13th century, to Oyo, Nigeria. Other oral and archaeological traditions suggest that a series of migrations started in the 11th century and that the present Ewe settled in Ghana in the early 17th century. It is also said that the Ewe people might have spent time in Egypt, South Sudan and Ethiopia.

When the British, Belgian, French, German and Portugese colonies created borders in the 19 th century, the Ewe people were divided; the Ewe speaking people of West Africa inhabit the areas between the river Volta in modern Ghana and the river Mono on the western borders of the Ancient Kingdom of Benin. This has meant that the Ewe People, like many other ethnic groups in Africa, have developed different dialects amongst themselves, and are ruled by different governments. One of their most famous and exciting stories is their escape from Notsie and the tyranny of King Agokoli; after the Ewe people were divided, this story was even used by Ewe tribe to argue that the Ewe are one people with one common language.

The Ewe thus migrated from Ketu also called ‘Amedzofe’, a Yoruba town in modern Benin. The Yoruba founded Ketu by the fourteenth century. While some lived at Tado in present-day Togo from where they later dispersed in various directions, some returned east to settle at Allada from where they founded the Aja kingdom of Allada, Whydah, Popo and Jakin, and later the Fon kingdom of Dahomey in the early eighteenth century. On leaving Ketu, the people split into two big divisions. One of these went south and in turn, divided into two. One of these sub-divisions went to found a settlement on the eastern side of River Mono and called it Tado, according to accounts. Historians are divided on the movement pattern as some put the line of migration as being Ketu-Tado-Notsie or Oyo-Ketu-Notsie, or Oyo-Ketu-Tado-Notsie.

Most Ewe are farmers, corn (maize) and yams being their staple foods. Sea fishing is a full-time occupation in some coastal areas. Spinning, weaving, pottery making, and blacksmithing, as well as trading, are all important. The Ewe people are a patrilineal people who live in towns, cities and villages that contain lineages. Each lineage is headed by the male elder. The male ancestors of Ewe are revered, and traditionally, families can trace male ancestors. The land owned by an Ewe family is considered an ancestral gift, and they do not sell this gift in any way.

Ewe religion is organized around a creator god, Mawu (called Nana Buluku by the Fon of Benin), and numerous lesser gods. The worship of the latter pervades daily life, for their assistance is sought in subsistence activities, commerce, and war. Belief in the supernatural powers of ancestral spirits to aid or harm their descendants enforces patterns of social behaviour and feelings of solidarity among lineage members. In modern times many Ewe have become Muslims and Christians.

Visit Ivory & Diaspora