Oral Tradition posits the Aja people migrated to Southern Benin between the 12th and 13th centuries from the Tado region along the Mono River. Accordingly, three brothers were said to have inhabited this region namely Kokpon, Do-Aklin and Te-Agdalin who further split the region then later occupied by the Aja people. Subsequently, Kokpon took the capital city of Great Ardra ruling over the Allada kingdom; Do-Aklin established Abomey later capital city of Dahomey Kingdom; and Te-Agdanlin founded by Little Ardra (Ajatche) further called Porto Novo by the Portuguese expatriates and the current capital city of Benin.
HISTORY OF THE AJA PEOPLE
The predominant name of Aja people is Gbaya and their ancestral home was situated at Gbotu, north-west of the Naka near Buma. During the period under review, precisely, during Zubeir’s period, the Aja people were ruled by Nur al Angara representative of Suleiman but their tribal leader Mereke spent most of his time with this warlord.
Following the Suleiman’s fall, the Aja shifted gradually northwards to Mbere, Angbaya, Mukpa together with the Banda and other tribes as a result of being pressured from the south by Rafai’s raids. They settled on Kumu and Mbangana rivers but were badly beaten by Sanusi forcing them to flee into Bahr el Ghazal.
Those Aja living in Abomey mingled with the local tribe, hence creating a new people known as the Fon, or "Dahomey" ethnic group. This group is now the largest in Benin. Source claims the Aja people were the rulers of Dahomey (Benin) until 1893, when the French conquered them. Currently, there are approximately 500,000 Ajas in an area straddling the border between Benin and Togo, 50 kilometres (30 miles) long and 30 km (20 mi) wide.
On the basis of sever land shortages in the densely populated Togolese-Beninois border region aforementioned, many Aja people started migrating in recent years, seeking arable land for sustainability. There are a significant number of Aja living throughout the coastal region of Benin and Togo, southern Nigeria and Gabon. The urban centers of Cotonou, Lomé, Lagos and Libreville all have significant Aja migrant populations.
The Aja, Fon, Ewe, Ga-Adangbe accounted for most of the people carried to the Americas from the Bight of Benin, Togo and Ghana in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade prior to the late eighteenth century (when Yoruba people became the more common captives from the region).
POPULATION
There are about 500,000 Aja people and they are wedged into an area thirty miles long and twenty miles wide.
Sixty-five thousand more Aja people live in Tahoun District of Togo. Another 35,000 lives in districts to the west. Four hundred thousand of the Aja live in Benin. These Aja in Togo do not have as productive of farms nor are they as densely populated as their Beninois brothers. Those who live along the banks of the Mono River are fishermen.
The square and rectangular mud huts are often thatched with grass, but about twenty percent have tin roofs. The huts are in a circle, but there are no walls connecting them as is normal in many parts of West Africa. The schools are mostly open air brush arbors.
LANGUAGE
The Aja speak a language known as Aja-Gbe, or simply 'Aja'; only 1-5% are literate in their native tongue. According to one source, voodoo originated with the Aja. There are three dialects: Tà góbé (in Togo only), Dògóbè (in Benin only), and Hwègbè (in both countries). Many are trilingual, also speaking French and Fongbe, the lingua-franca of southern Benin, while Ewe is spoken as a second language by those Aja living in Togo and Ghana.
Another source claims The Aja language is a crossbreed between Kresh and Banda.
THE SOCIO-CULTURAL IDENTITY AND SOCIAL ORGANISATION
The Aja, or Adja, is the result of numerous settlements in the Central Southern region of Togo, where the Alu, the Azanu or Za and the Aja-Ewe met and united.
Tado is therefore the ancestral site of the Aja community and, during the colonial period, remained an isolated city.
Tado is today a small city located in the South-East of Togo, 3 km from the border with Benin and 15 km from Tohoun, in practice it is a border village and a city forgotten by the Togolese authorities; unfortunately, this ancient ancestral city, rich in history, is in ruins.
Tado, however, is the place where, in September, a great festival celebrates the flourishing past of the city and of the powerful king Togbui Anyi, the founder of the kingdom.
At this celebration participate the sons and daughters of the Aja people of all social level, dispersed during the Diaspora following the fall of the kingdom, to go to Tado on this occasion is a sort of pilgrimage.
Because of the fall of the kingdom and the serious shortages of fertile land, in the Togolese-Beninese border region, many Aja emigrated, looking for arable land for subsistence agriculture or work, in urban centers.
The urban centers of Cotonou, Lomé, Lagos and Libreville all have a significant population of Aja migrants.
In terms of social organisation, language and traditions, the Aja people are very close to the Kresh on the one extreme and the Banda on the other. This gives credence to the idea of being a crossbreed between the two tribes. The tribe has been affected by raids, foreign domination and oppression that most of their social norms and customs have been lost or eroded. In this context there is need for further research into the social organisation of the Aja. It is therefore pertinent that Aja people reading this page to kindly consider contributing to the knowledge.
SOURCE:
https://www/africamissions.org/africa/ajarep.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aja_people