The Dagaaba
The Dagaaba live in the northwestern part of Ghana within the Guinea Savannah belt and have inhabited their present homeland for over three hundred years. A few of them are also located in the south western part of Burkina Faso and northeastern Ivory Coast. They are the largest tribe in the Upper West Region of Ghana located within latitude 9°35' N - 11°00' N and 1°25' W - 2°50'W in a number of small autonomous chiefdoms. The Dagaaba reside predominantly in Lawra, Nadowli, Jirapa, Nandom,
Lambussie, Kaleo, Bole, Birifu, Tugu, Daffiama, Wechiau and Hamile. They belong to the Mole-Dagbani ethnic group and speak Dagaare as their language. Traditionally and to a large extent today, the Dagaaba are farmers who cultivate grains (maize, millet, sorghum and legumes) and depend on cereals as staples, they also rear livestock and grow yams where the soil and the climate conditions permit this. Majority of Dagaaba either espouse Catholicism or abide by the traditional religious practices that centre around the cult of the ancestors and the minor deities. Some Dagaaba communities, particularly those around the Jirapa, Lawra and Nandom areas are predominantly Catholic.
The Dagaaba are known for playing the traditional musical instrument, the gyil, also known as xylophone used in playing indigenous and folkloric songs and also renowned for using cowries in the modern times to transact business alongside money.The Dagaaba, Mossi, Dagomba, Kusasi, Farefare, Mamprusi and others are directly descendants from a common ancestor ethnolinguistic group, the Mabia. The dominant thesis has it that the Dagaaba rebelled against the autocratic rule of Dagbon, under the legendary Na Nyanse and subsequently migrated away from Dagbon.