West Africa in Africa Origin

Based on work done so far on the population of Côte d'Ivoire, we believe that the history of Atties, as we would like to address it, extends over the whole pre-colonial period, especially from the eleventh century to the early twentieth century.

The hard period

The choice of the eleventh century is made, as a starting point of our study, to recognize the conception of specialists who situate the beginnings of great migrations at this period.

The beginning of the twentieth century closed our scientific approach because of the presence of white settlers in Côte d'Ivoire, which marks another era in the history of the country, that of the era of "modernism". During this period, we seek to expose the origins and settlement of Attiés before addressing the characteristics of this people.

Mental

Such a historical study is based on human geography, sociology, ethnology, musicology and linguistics. It requires the mobilization of sources. For this period we are studying, written sources exist only at the beginning of the 20th century with the arrival of writing in this part of the African world.

These sources fall into two categories: written sources that contain administrative documents, and oral testimony. The administrative documents concern reports of circle commanders (quarterly reports of the commander of the circle of Agneby in 1914) found in the national archives of Côte d'Ivoire.

As for the oral sources, a testimony was collected on a tape before our arrival on the spot, Sunday, May 05, 2013 in Asseudji; another is from the article by PAULME Denise, entitled "First approach of the Atiés" in Cahier d'Etudes Africaines, 1966 (testimony of Assiorié). All the others were collected by interview.

In the historical accounts of the peoples of Côte d'Ivoire, a great deal of confusion appears as to the establishment of the history of the origins of Attiés. Faced with this difficulty, because of the lack of reliable written sources, some people think that they came from the neighborhoods of the lagoons and are the result of ethnic mixing. However, others believe that their origin is not from this country.

Written sources

This first chapter, due to the ambiguity and controversy presented by some stories, comes to highlight the origins of the group and the process of its establishment.

Given the lack of written sources, the search for the location of the lands of the ancestors leads us to study the legends in order to confront them with the said of the European travelers and the works of the historians. Considering the three big zones of the country of the Attiés (see below, p.30), several legendary texts will be spread out to balance the veracity of the facts.

In fact, there will be texts from Attiés du Sud (Alépé region) from the center (Adzopé region) and from the north (Akoupé region). "For what I know about the origins of Attiés, it is that the name Akyé has for root "kyé", an ashanti word which means "bridge".

The center

When the conflict broke out in the Ashanti kingdom, the very curious Akye would want to stay to fight against their Ashantis brothers while the other groups fled. They had to fight gold cutlasses, and finally took the blade of this object. This blade is today in the village of Asseudji. All that the Atties brought with them is in this village of Asseudji.

Dans les récits historiques des peuples de Côte d’Ivoire, toute une confusion apparait quant à l’établissement de l’histoire des origines des Attiés. Devant cette difficulté, à cause du manque de sources écrites fiables, d’aucuns pensent qu’ils sont venus des voisinages des lagunes et sont le résultat d’un brassage ethnique. Cependant, d’autres estiment que leur origine n’est pas de ce pays.

Ce premier chapitre, du fait de l’équivoque et de la polémique que présentent certains récits, vient appoint mettre en relief les provenances du groupe et le processus de sa mise en place.

The Akyé actually come from Ghana for what I know, before leaving Ghana, the Akyé had thought to take the power whose insignia is a cutlass. Their obsession led them to a conflict. They had to fight the cutlass and, finally, they seized his blade to go to Asseudji. This blade is still in this village.

This blade

The Akeys lived in harmony with Asseudji; but shortly after, another conflict separated them before the departure of the others, the chief organized a ceremony which consists of eating a medicine in order to avoid the harmful consequences of the war on the souls. Written testimonies with Assiorié, village of the canton Attobrou .

"In the beginning, the Attias were in a village named Bandama-Kumasi among the Ashantis under the English government. Incapable of always answering the swearword of which the Ashantis overwhelm them, because it is a question of answering the latter for a large sum of money, then the Atties consider themselves sent back. At the moment of separation from the Ashanti, the Atties struggled without worry for a royal chair with the Ashantis. Furious, they had to spare themselves. But, arriving a little further, they met a large river (Comoé). What to do to cross it? And they lined the shore. Fortunately, a clairvoyant found the possible means of passport: the crossing requires a human sacrifice, but who would dare to offer his son in the name of the mass?

Ashantis

The leader of the band was trying luck by grabbing his child, but the mother of the unfortunate child was against it. Finally, the sister of the leader named Ako-cho ceded his son who is the nephew of the leader (named Bua Sika) of the band. The sacrifice being made, the water leaving the passage, the band crossed the river safe and sound. It is from this day until today that the goods which were to be returned to the son to his nephew, no sacrifice, and consequently, a point of passage, were granted.

"The Akyé come from the country Achènè (Ashantis) that you call today Ghana. There they coexisted with the Ashenes; they are both brothers because they belong to the same family: Ashanti kortorkor, Akyé kortorkor, Bané Abakon.

The throne

Now, let's talk about the break between these two brothers. It was the problem of succession to the throne of the kingdom that caused the conflict between them. They fought the "gbor", a cutlass with a gold neck (badge of power). Finally the Akyé fled with the blade of this cutlass leaving the handle to Ashènè. While they fled, they arrived at the banks of the Comoé River.

Now, at that time, there was no bridge on this river. How to do ? How to cross it? It is the answer to this obsession which made that among the Akyé, the nephew inherited from his uncle (brother of his mother) since the sacrifice of a child (nephew of the chief) allowed the Akyé to pass on the other bank of the River. The Ashenes pursuing them, arrived at the river's edge and saw them on the other bank. Astonished, they wondered how the enemies were able to cross the great river.

« Les Akyé viennent effectivement du Ghana pour ce que je connais, avant de quitter le Ghana, les Akyé avaient pensé à prendre le pouvoir dont l’insigne est un coutelas. Leur obsession les a conduits à un conflit. Ils ont dû lutter le coutelas et, finalement, ils se sont emparé de sa lame pour se rendre à Asseudji. Cette lame se trouve encore dans ce village. Les Akyé vivaient en harmonie à Asseudji ; mais peu après, un autre conflit les séparait avant le départ des autres, le chef organisa une cérémonie qui consiste à manger un médicament afin d’éviter les conséquences néfastes de la guerre sur les âmes ».