Banda Ahenkro

Banda Ahenkro is the chief town of a group of Nafana communities in the wooded country of Banda. Its earlier name, Serminakuu, is said to have referred to clumps of grass. Local tradition connects the name Banda with warriors allied to Asante: many were Muslims who prayed through the night, and their wakefulness gave rise to a name explained as “they did not sleep.” The wider Banda region had long-standing connections with the trade routes that joined the forest edge to lands farther north.