About Nzema
The Nzema
The Nzema People were not at their present location. The Oral Tradition states that the people who are now referred to as NZEMAS were with the ASHANTI and other Ethnic Groups in a vast Desert then known as the SAHARA DESERT in the Northern part of Africa. The Nzemas and the others lived peacefully together on the Desert.
The oral tradition has it that, in 2000 B.C, some misfortunes started to happen in the desert; a typical example was lack of rains which hitherto was not a problem to them and that made it very difficult for them to get even water to drink, not to mention food and that affected the people greatly. As a result, some of the ethnic groups began to relocate to the Savanna Plains so that they might get access to enough food and water. On the Savanna Plains, the ethnic groups got separated and founded three Empires. The very first to be founded was the Ghana Empire. The next was the Mali Empire and the Songhai Empire was the third or the last one. The Nzemas lived peacefully with the other groups for a fairly long time. In later years, some ARABS who also were looking for some fertile lands for the livestock mounted their camels and horses to attack the people including the Nzemas. Because the people (including the Nzemas) were not using camels and horses the Arabs overpowered them.
Because of the frequent disturbances by the Arabs the people left the Savanna Plains to settle in the Forest Zone to have their peace of mind. They left for the forest zone because the camels and horses being used by the Arabs were not as good in the forest as was on the Plains. The Nzemas amongst the other ethnic groups went on foot to settle further in the deep forest till they arrived in TECHIMAN in the BRONG STATE. They settled and founded another Empire by name BONO EMPIRE. The people were still troubled by several conflicts and some continue to rush to a land not occupied by any other group of people. Those who managed to settle at the current Nzema area were those who came to be known as Nzemas.
The oral tradition indicated that the one who became the first Nzema Chief was known as NANA KEMA KPANYINLI. By that period the Nzemas were not referred to as Nzemas, they were just a group of people. The oral tradition continued to have it that on their way from Techiman in the Brong State, they were moving together with the AHANTA, ANYINLI, EVALOE, AJOMORO and the GWIRA. As said earlier, the Nzemas were not known as such as Nzemas when they began their journey from Techiman (to be explain further).
It is said that the number of the people who began the journey from Techiman kept dwindling in the course of the journey from Techiman. The oral tradition indicated that one of the travelers, after seeing the dwindling nature of the group day after day asked from a colleague: “But the number of our group which started the journey from Techiman kept reducing day after day, what was the reason?” One of the people in the group gave an answer as, ‘Menze-ma.” The origin of the “Menze-ma” was an Anyinli language, meaning “Menze” in Nzema (I do not know). That answer from that person became the name of the group, NZEMA till date.