Colonial Labor Policy and North–South Migration in Ghana

Abstract

Abstract Although European contact with Ghana dates back to the second half of the fifteenth century (1471), it was in the closing decades of the nineteenth century that the northern part of the country had its first European visitor. This was M. J. Bonnat, a French trader, in 1876. Until then, much of European activity was limited to the southern part of the country. As the next century began following this historic visit, the present geographical location of modern Ghana was formerly declared and recognized as a British colony (January 1, 1902). Unlike the South of the Gold Coast, the North was not seen to have any natural resources to bolster the colonial economy. For the entire colonial period, therefore, the most significant benefit to be derived from the North by the colonial government was human labor. This had serious implications for north–south migration in the country. It necessitated the movement of people southwards to satisfy colonial labor needs. The early decades of the twentieth century marked a system of forced migration of only males from the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast to the south (from about 1906 to 1927). Segregation of families, exposure to the vagaries of the weather, disease and death were some of the immediate consequences resulting from the forced migration. For the rest of the colonial period, migration southwards became increasingly voluntary and women were gradually drawn into the migration process. To what extent has this early form of migration affected contemporary outmigration patterns and development in Northern Ghana? This article examines the dynamics that were involved in the forced labor recruitment and the impact arising out of this.