The Akyin-Enyim

The Fantes were said to have found the forest uninhabitable and migrated from Tekyiman to their present day settlement. Again an uncorroborated account explains that, they were led by three war like chiefs “Osun” (Elephant), “Oburumankuma” (Whale) and “Odapagan” (Eagle). According to tradition, Obrumankoma and Odapagya died on this exodus and were embalmed and carried along. Oson led the people to the place that became Mankessim in 1252. History has it that the Fante's chief fetish, Komfo Amona, planted a spear in the ground when they reached the location of the settlement. The spear was called the Akyin-Enyim, meaning "in front of god". The place became the meeting place for the Fante elders and the head fetish priest when discussing important

Though, subsistence and largely rural as it was, the people of the Gold Coast engaged in various economic activities depending on their geographical location. The inhabitants of the coastal towns obtained their living by fishing and making of canoes. In the other parts of the country, plantation work was the general occupation, and in the early days rice was grown particularly in Axim and carried to other parts of the country. Others gave their attention to the cultivation of corn, yams, potatoes, plantain and bananas and the preparation of palm oil. The northern savannah also produced livestock and poultry. The people of the Gold Coast were also engaged in manual arts such as the manufacture of wooden and earthen cups, matting, brass or copper, ointment boxes and ornaments of gold and silver. During this period, their implements of war and agriculture were made out of hard stones. According to Seth Kudzo Gadzepko, many of the artifacts of the first farmer- settlers in Ghana were found in abundance in the Brong Ahafo region of modern day Ghana. The material remains he claims were stone arrow-heads, weathered pottery-shreds, grinding stones, daub, stone blocks and teeth of cattle and goat.7 It terms of trade, it must be emphasized that, the Gold Coast had long been involved in both internal and external trade before the arrival of Europeans in the fifteenth