Bono state was an Akan state which existed from the early middle ages to the 18th century in what is now the Brong-Ahafo or Bono-Ahafo region of Ghana. The two names, Brong and Bono are used interchangeably. Its capital was Bono Manso (Bono-Mansu), an ancient market town the role of which in the Trans-Saharan trade was instrumental in the formation of Bono state. The state collapsed in the early 18th century. Upon the taking of Bono Manso by the Ashanti Confederacy in 1723, many residents of Bono Manso fled to Takyiman (or Tekyiman, Techiman, Takijiman). In 1740 the Bono-Tekyiman state, comprising roughly the same territory as the former Bono state, was founded more or less under Ashanti sovereignty.

Bibliography

• Effah-Gyamfi, Kwaku (1979) Traditional history of the Bono State Legon: Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana.
• Effah-Gyamfi, Kwaku (1985) Bono Manso: an archaeological investigation into early Akan urbanism (African occasional papers, no. 2) Calgary: Dept. of Archaeology, University of Calgary Press. ISBN 0-919813-27-5
• Meyerowitz, E.L.R. (1949) 'Bono-Mansu, the earliest centre of civilisation in the Gold Coast', Proceedings of the III International West African Conference, 118–120.