Placer and shallow-pit gold along the Black Volta and its tributaries round Gaoua, Loropéni and Bouna, washed in the dry season in later times.
The walls of Loropéni are thought to have guarded this gold trade from about the eleventh century, but the evidence is circumstantial. Whether this gold reached Jenne in 1200 is not shown. 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 and the ground; trade not shown in 1200.
Walls and castle
See summary.
Trade and crafts
Gold (later attested).
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Later workings and the inference from Loropéni.
Sources and studies
- Ruins of Loropéni (Wikipedia; UNESCO World Heritage listing of 2009)
- 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.