Abstract
ABSTRACT Northern Ghana is characterized by dispersed settlement. The pattern derives basically from a system of fixed cultivation which is rare in tropical areas. The layout of a house reflects family structure; similarly, patterns of land holdings reflect stages in community evolution. Originally circular, home-farms are divided by inheritance into radial strips, diminishing in size over the generations. Settlement dispersal commences with domestic fission within agnatic lineages. Society is strongly patrilocal, and ancestor worship a powerful influence. Study of lineage affiliation indicates a spread of settlement from ancestral core areas, usually in defensible hilly areas. Because of high per capita cost of provision of services, there is a need to concentrate settlement, if any degree of modern development is to be achieved. Lack of a major cash crop to finance local development is one obstacle, but greater still are the social difficulties confronting any attempt to re-cast the settlement pattern.
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