Bono Manso

Bono Manso was the capital of Bonoman, one of the earliest Akan states. Standing near the meeting of forest and savanna, it was a political and religious center as well as a place of commerce. Gold from the forest country helped sustain connections with merchants from the north; salt, cloth and brass were among the goods exchanged for gold and kola. Its position drew Muslim Jula traders and other merchants into the Bono country.

Founded around the eleventh century, the town had become a substantial center by the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it was among the largest settlements in the region. Bonoman's prosperity attracted the expanding kingdom of Asante, which conquered it in 1722–23 under Opoku Ware I. The Bono capital was later moved to Techiman. Artisans taken to Kumasi contributed skills in goldworking, brassworking and weaving to the Asante capital, while settlement at the old capital continued after the conquest.