Salaga

Salaga grew in the nineteenth century as the southern terminus of trans-Saharan routes reaching down from Hausaland and beyond, a market where kola nuts, cloth, salt and captives were exchanged, and it was for a period one of the largest trading centres in the West African interior. Sites in and around the town record that history directly: the old slave market ground, wells said to have been used to wash captives before sale, and a cemetery. Local heritage organisations have marked and interpreted them, and visitors from the diaspora come as part of routes linking the northern trade with the coastal forts. The present town is a working market centre of the Savannah Region and the sites sit within it rather than in an enclosure.

History

The name comes from the Dagomba word salgi, "to get used to a place of abode". In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Salaga was a key market town, above all for the kola trade, and whoever held it controlled trade to the north and south; after a long series of wars with the Kong Empire late in the 18th century, the Ashanti turned their trade through Salaga towards the Hausa states. Called "the Timbuktu of the south" for its cosmopolitan people and varied trade, it was ruled by the Gonja kingdom and home to Hausa, Wangara, Dagomba, Gurma and other peoples (Wikipedia, Salaga).

The main sights

• The old market ground - the site of the nineteenth-century trading square.
• The wells - the water points associated with the trade.
• The cemetery - the burial ground linked to the period.
• The working market - the present-day town market around the sites.

When to go

November to March in the dry season; the roads east of Tamale are difficult in the rains. Mornings are cooler. Local guides should be arranged in town rather than assumed.

What to expect

The sites are dispersed within a working town and need a local guide to find and understand. Interpretation and signage are limited. Facilities and accommodation in Salaga are basic. Roads in the region are rough.

Nearby

Tamale lies north; the Volta lake is east.

Key facts