Chronologies of the Yaa-Naas of Dagbon

The sources of these dated chronologies of Yaa-Naas’ reigns are:  Brigitta Benzing, Die Geschichte und das Herrschaftssystem der Dagomba (Meisenheim am Glan:  Verlag Anton Hain, 1971); and Phyllis Ferguson, ­Islamization in Dagbon:  A Study of the Alfanema of Yendi (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Cambridge, 1972).  The chronologies employ approximate dates based on “distributive” systems that work by assuming an average length of reign (15 years) and also by projecting backwards from “fixed” dates based on comparative historical data. The estimates of average reign are possibly low, and the earlier dates could possibly be pushed back a bit further, based on chronologies of the founding of the Tenkodogo Mossi.  A summary of the Mossi data can be found in Elliott P. Skinner, The Mossi of the Upper Volta: The Political Development of a Sudanese People (Stanford:  Stanford University Press, 1964), pp. 7-8, and pp. 205-06 notes 13-14.  Neither Benzing nor Ferguson lists chiefs before Ʒipopora. Asterisks indicate “fixed” points in Ferguson's chronology.