Salaga

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title: "Salaga" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["populated-places-in-the-savannah-region-(ghana)", "wangara-trade-towns"] topic_path: "general/populated-places-in-the-savannah-region-ghana" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salaga" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

FieldValue
official_nameSalaga
native_name
settlement_typeTown
image_skylineSalaga Slave Tree - panoramio.jpg
image_captionSalaga slave tree
dot_x
pushpin_mapGhana
pushpin_label_positionbottom
pushpin_map_captionLocation of Salaga in Savannah Region, Ghana
subdivision_typeCountry
subdivision_nameGhana
subdivision_type1Region
subdivision_name1Savannah Region
subdivision_type2District
subdivision_name2East Gonja District
leader_title1
established_title
established_title2
established_title3
unit_prefImperial
area_total_km2
area_land_km2
population_as_of2012
population_total25,472
population_blank1_titleEthnicities
population_blank2_titleReligions
timezoneGMT
timezone_DSTGMT
coordinates
elevation_footnotes
postal_code_type
::

::callout[type=note]

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Salaga is a town and is the capital of East Gonja district, a district in the Savannah Region of north Ghana. Salaga had a 2012 settlement population of 25,472 people. Salaga was the largest slave market in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Etymology

The name Salaga comes from the Dagomba word "salgi" which means "To get used to a place of abode".

History

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Pg105_Salaga.jpg" caption="Map of Salaga, 1892"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Salaga-1892.jpg" caption="View of Salaga, with the minaret of the old mosque on the right, northern Ghana in 1892"] ::

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Salaga served as a key market town, particularly for the busy regional kola trade, and controlling Salaga gave a monopoly over trade to the north and south. Situated in the southernmost reaches of the Sahel, Salaga was referred to as "the Timbuktu of the south" for its cosmopolitan population and varied trade. Gonja, a powerful warrior kingdom, ruled Salaga and several other towns. However, being a cosmopolitan town, Salaga was inhabited by Hausas, Wangaras, Dagombas, Gurmas, and other groups from the region as well as the indigenous Gonja.

Salaga was central to the emergence of the Zabarima (emirate) as a power in the area that is now northern Ghana, when the scholar Alfa Hano and the warrior Gazari migrated here from their former homes south-east of Niamey in the 1860s.

The Salaga market served as a transit point through the northern Sahel and the southernmost coast of the 'Sahel', as well as through the Dagomba towns of Kpabia and Yendi. This gave rise to the transport of cattle and groundnuts from Yendi via the Salaga market. It also was the transit point through which kola was transported from modern day Ghana to northern Nigeria. During the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, Salaga also served as an important market from where slaves were transported to the coast for export. In Salaga, there is a pond named "Wonkan bawa," which is a Huasa phrase that means "the bathing spot of slaves." There is also a young Baobab tree in the area that was formerly the Slave Market. This is why a market in Jamestown is called the "Salaga Market": slaves originally shipped from the Salaga slave market were sold there.

In 1892, civil war broke out in Salaga, resulting in a mass exodus of mostly Zongo peoples out of the area.

Education

The town is served by Salaga Senior High School, established in 1976. The school is a mixed day and boarding school offering programmes in agriculture, business, home economics, visual arts, general arts and general science.

Notable people

References

References

  1. "World Gazetteer online". World-gazetteer.com.
  3. [http://eastgonja.ghanadistricts.gov.gh/?arrow=dnf&_=82&r=6&rlv=towns East Gonja district]
  4. "MP redeems campaign pledge in donating brand new motorcycles - MyJoyOnline.com".
  5. "Salaga Slave Market; A potential tourist site".
  6. [https://books.google.com/books?id=YrIjNMu5_vsC&dq=Salaga+slave+market&pg=PA84 Salaga slave market]. books.google.com.
  7. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25653233 copied Wilks, Ivor. "'He Was With Them': Malam Abu On The Zaberma Of The Middle Volta Basin." Sudanic Africa 4 (1993): 213-22.]
  8. The Evolution of War: A Study of Its Role in Early Societies By Maurice R. Davie
  9. "Salaga {{!}} About Ghana".
  10. "Salaga Senior High".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

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