The forest and coast from the Cestos to the Cavally and across it into the Ivory Coast round Guiglo, Duékoué and Toulépleu.
All speak Kru languages, a separate primary branch of the Niger-Congo family, which suggests they have lived in this forest a very long time; but no source describes them before the European trade, and their own traditions put the move of Kru towns to the coast late (the eighteenth century by Connelly's reckoning). Their later polities were small commonwealths of towns under elders. On 1 January 1200 the inhabitants of this forest are probably Kru speakers; where they lived within it is not known.
Who holds it
- Title
- Elders of each town, with a priest-president who kept the town's symbols (as known in the nineteenth century)
- Since
- Not known
- Confidence
- low
Customs
Towns of patrilineal lineages; elders; later the famous Kru seafaring (eighteenth century and after).
Assemblies
Town elders.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Linguistic evidence and nineteenth-century accounts.
On the map: Drawn from the later Kru-speaking lands.
Sources and studies
- Kru people (Wikipedia, citing Connelly 1856, G. Brooks, J. Gunn)
- 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.