The African diaspora has become a focus of research by Africanists over the past two or so decades. Scholars have tended to equate the trading diaspora in Africa with voluntary migration. However, like the external diaspora, the diaspora in Africa resulted from forced migration as well. Ethnic groups such as the Hausa were involved in both voluntary and forced migration to modern Ghana. In all cases, these diasporic communities—the Yarse, Dyula, Fulani, and Hausa—kept ties with their homelands through extensive networks.

The spread of Islam and Hausa culture has been attributed largely to the religiously inspired political conquests of the nineteenth century. The contribution of the mercantile activities of the Hausa, Yarse, Dyula, and other communities has also been recognized. However, there is a paucity of material in the extant literature on the totality of the diasporic experience of these groups in their host societies.

In this context, the present chapter addresses the role of the members of the Hausa diaspora in the history of the Gold Coast (Ghana) in two distinct phases—as traders and as soldiers. The chapter focuses on the voluntary and forced Hausa migration to, and activities in, the Volta basin in general and “Greater Asante” in particular. It posits that at the height of the Asante kola trade, the Hausa were a vital link in the desert-side trading venture between the Sokoto Caliphate, Asante, and the Volta-Afram basin.