Mole Dagomba tribes are located in the northern region of Ghana and in the central and southern parts of Burkina Faso. The mole Dagombas are made up of four major groups. These are the Mamprusis, Dagombas, Nanumbas and Mossis who trace their lineage to one ancestor Naa Gbewa. But there are other sub mole Dagomba states founded by other sons of Kpognambo; Nyeligili founded the chieftainship of Nangodi and Namzisheli founded the chieftainship of Tongo.
ROOT OF ABORIGINAL DAGBAMBAS
According to Tamakloe who is one of the earliest writers of Dagbon, in his book (a brief history of the Dagbamba people), before Naa Nyaɣsi and his father Naa Sitobu came to Dagbon there were already aborigines settling in this area. These aborigines called Dagbamba, according to Tamakloe’s book, originated from the time of Prophet Noah’s race, the people of Ad in the Arabian lands. The son of Uz, the son of Aram, son of Shem, son of Noah settled at a place called Hadramaut in Arabia, but in time these people fell off the path of righteousness to the path of idolatry, so God sent a prophet to them, Heber, to bring them onto the right path but these people rejected him. God then sent a hot choking wind to punish these people. Those who believed in Heber were saved and these people were so big and tall (giants). These people wandered towards the east and west settling in inhabited countries till they arrived in the country we call Dagbon and their offspring were called Dagbambas.
The name Dagbon was coined out from the cow skins the Ad priest sat on. Dagbambas called skin Gbon. This cow skins were referred to as the “Ada Gbon” which have been corrupted to Dagbon, this theory is according to Tamakloe. He added that when these Dagbambas (Dagban sabla) arrived in Dagbon they first settled in Gunayili and Yogo. After some years some of them moved to Nanumba and Adele in the northern part of the Volta region of Ghana. Further studies have shown that the aboriginal Dagombas first settled at Baɣli at community near Karaga. These migrants came and met a man called Namogu who was integrated into the aboriginal Dagbamba society by marriage. The inter-marriage brought about the different group of aboriginal Dagbamba such as Gbandari, Nanmoglinsi, Langori, and Kpariba. After some years, they started to spread to areas like Nambrugu and to other parts of old Dagbon such as Salaa, Gunayili, Yogo and Adele. For this reason, the Baɣli Tindana is the head of Tindamba in the three sister states. For this reason the Baɣli chieftaincy titled is also the most senior title over Yaa Naa, Mamprugu Nayiri and Bimbilla Naa’s kingship titles that is why they appellate him as Namazaa Kpema, Namazaa Biya meaning Baɣli chieftaincy title is senior and the junior of all the three sister states of Naa Gbewa. The junior aspect of Baɣli chieftaincies is to indicate the limited land and sub chieftaincies titles he command as compare to the Yaa Naa, Mamprugu Nayiri and Bimbilla Naa who have many titles and large area of land to command.
Source: Anonymous