Begho

Begho, also known historically as Nsoko or Insoco, was a city located in the Bono state of Ghana, located just south of its successor community, Hani. Begho was established as a trading entrepôt and cosmopolitan centre linking merchants from across West Africa and North Africa. Operating from the northern forest savanna transition zone, just like Bono Manso, it seized new economic opportunities and cross-cultural interactions through expansion as a commercial hub. Before the Europeans arrival in 1471, Begho was initially contacted by Muslim merchants who spoke Mande from the Mali empire. Outside the town limits, these merchants frequently founded permanent outlying settlements.

By the 17th centuries, the Europeans who fostered key interests in gold and silver trading, harboured displeasures towards the Juula with an attempt to put them out of trade. Begho’s progress was attributed to the proximity of Akan goldfields from which gold reached Djene and Timbuktu as well as other areas.