The forest hinterland of Cape Mount and the St Paul river, with the coast round the Mesurado (later Monrovia).
The Gola speak a language of the Mel group, kin to Kissi, Temne and Bullom, and are generally taken to be among the oldest peoples of western Liberia; the De, a small Kru-speaking people, held the coast at the Mesurado in later times. The Vai, Mande speakers who came south to trade in salt and kola and mixed with the Gola, were settled at Cape Mount by the mid-fifteenth century (the Portuguese Gallinas) and are not shown here in 1200. The Poro (men's) and Sande (women's) initiation societies, which in later times governed much of this coast across ethnic lines, were central to Gola life; their age is not known.
On 1 January 1200 the ground is held by Gola and De communities under their elders.
Who holds it
- Title
- Lineage heads and the elders of the Poro and Sande societies
- Since
- Not known
- Confidence
- low
How things stand that morning
Independent communities.
Customs
Matrilineal and patrilineal lineages; the Poro and Sande societies as schools, courts and regulators of land and war (as known from later centuries); farming of rice and yams; fishing and salt on the coast.
Assemblies
Elders and the heads of the Poro and Sande lodges, as in later times.
Where the sources disagree
- The Gola straddle the Sierra Leone border; the Sierra Leone side belongs to the next researcher (sen).
Evidence: Linguistic classification and later ethnography; no dated archaeology or written source for 1200.
On the map: Drawn from the later Gola, De and Vai lands; the Vai coast is given to the older peoples for 1200.
Sources and studies
- Gola people (Wikipedia, citing W. L. d'Azevedo 1962)
- Vai people (Wikipedia, citing Y. Person 1971, A. Massing 1985, Dunn and Holsoe 1985)
- Y. Person, Ethnic movements and acculturation in Upper Guinea since the fifteenth century, African Historical Studies 4 (1971); from the researcher's knowledge
- Researcher's general knowledge of the ethnography and linguistic geography of Ghana and Togo (present-day distributions), used only to place peoples whose 1200 seats are not recorded
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.