Introduction / History The Ngan tribe lives in the M'bahiakro district of Cote d'Ivoire. Various people groups who live nearby include the Baule to the south and west, the Akan to the east, and the
Introduction / History The Ngan tribe lives in the M'bahiakro district of Cote d'Ivoire. Various people groups who live nearby include the Baule to the south and west, the Akan to the east, and the Senufo to the north and northwest. Before the Europeans colonized Africa, the Ngan maintained trade relations with these and other local ethnic groups. The Ngan speak Bena, a Southern Mande language, also spoken by groups living further west in Cote d'Ivoire. Many Ngan also are fluent in the Baule and Jula languages.
Unlike many groups in West Africa, the Ngan are a peace-loving people with a history of resisting war. Even in recent times, when threatened by Islamic powers or the French administration, the Ngan have fled, seeking refuge in the forests or other havens. The Ngan abstain from fighting because they believe a person who kills another human being must engage in many lengthy rituals of atonement or else he too will be killed.
What are their lives like? Although the Ngan are traditionally hunters, gatherers, and farmers, they have entered into the realm of commercial agriculture in the last several decades. This change is due in part to the influences brought by the Europeans during colonization. Though the kola nut was once the sole cash crop, the Ngan now also profit from growing coffee, rice, cotton, and cocoa. However, most Ngan grow only enough to feed themselves. The women continue to gather wild fruits, vegetables, and medicinal leaves from the forests, and the men still hunt to supplement the crops.
Each Ngan village is ruled by a male chief who is assisted by a female chief. Individual houses inside the villages were once large and round with thatched roofs, housing an entire extended family. Today, however, due to modernization by the national government, most traditional houses have been replaced with smaller, rectangular buildings with tin roofs. Instead of an extended family living under one roof, families live as neighbors, still retaining the Ngan family struct