Transgressing to the Gold Coast

Migration from Niger to the Gold Coast has a long history, and so by the time the Hauka first visited Niger, the trails to the Gold Coast were well worn. Migrants followed long-established slave routes. Early migrants like Alpha Hano and Gaziri, the nineteenth-century leaders of a band of Zarma mercenaries, traveled on horseback to Dagbon in the north central region of the Gold Coast. From there they went north to Gurunsi lands which they plundered for more than 40 years. ¹ The great majority of migrants, as discussed earlier, travelled from Niger to the Gold Coast during the colonial period. In the early years, most of them walked from Niamey to Kumasi or Accra. As time passed many more traveled at least part of the way on trucks and trains. No matter the route or the means of transportation, the Gold Coast was the Mecca for literally hundreds of thousands of migrants seeking some escape from the economic and social privations of French colonial rule in Niger and Mali.