Social change in eighteenth-century Anlo: the role of technology, markets and military conflict

Abstract

Opening ParagraphTechnological change among the Anlo-Ewe of southeastern Ghana is a subject that has received little attention from scholars, but it is a theme which figures prominently in Anlo oral tradition. Of the technologies mentioned, those associated with lacustrine fishing and salt making are discussed in the greatest detail. Traditional accounts of the fishing industry, for example, agree that when the Ewe-speaking Anlo first settled in their present area (located on the Atlantic coast immediately east and south of the Volta River and Keta Lagoon system) the Anlo were not familiar with the use of boats. As a consequence they employed fishing techniques that restricted such activities to the more shallow sections of the Keta Lagoon. The first boat that was developed (the agowu, made by hollowing out the trunk of the fan palm [Borassus aethiopium]) was said to have been inefficient because it capsized easily (Greene, 1981b: no. 29). A more stable vessel, still in use today and known as the lewu, was introduced, according to the traditions, by Amega Le.