Town · West Africa: the Sudan and Guinea · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Birim gold

Alluvial gold of the Birim and its tributaries, later the wealth of Akyem.

Not shown to be worked for trade in 1200; the earthwork settlements of the Birim valley were living there. A gold-bearing district, not a town.

Who holds it

Title
Not known
Since
Not known
Confidence
low

Lord in 1200

No lord known.

How things stand that morning

Gold in the rivers; working for trade not shown in 1200.

Walls and castle

See summary.

Trade and crafts

Alluvial gold (later).

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Geology and later workings.

Sources and studies

  1. G. Chouin and C. DeCorse, Prelude to the Atlantic trade: new perspectives on southern Ghana's pre-Atlantic history (800-1500), Journal of African History 51 (2010), abstract and summary as read on the publisher's page
  2. I. Wilks, Wangara, Akan and Portuguese in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Journal of African History 23 (1982); T. F. Garrard, Akan Weights and the Gold Trade (1980); from the researcher's knowledge

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.