Lake Bosumtwi
Encyclopedia
Lake Bosumtwi situated within an ancient meteorite
impact crater
, is approximately 8 km across and the only natural lake in Ghana
. It is situated about 30 km south-east of Kumasi
and is a popular recreational area. There are about 30 villages near the lake, with a combined population of about 70,000 people.
The Ashanti consider Bosumtwi a sacred lake. According to traditional belief, the soul
s of the dead come here to bid farewell to the god Twi. Because of this, it is considered permissible to fish in the lake only from wooden plank
s.
period).
The crater has been partly eroded, and is situated in dense rainforest
, making it difficult to study and confirm its origin by meteorite impact. Shock features such as shatter cone
s are largely overgrown by vegetation or covered by the lake. However, drilling of the crater's central uplift beneath the lake floor has recently provided an abundance of shocked materials for scientific study. Tektite
s, believed to be from this impact, are found in the neighbouring country of Ivory Coast, and related microtektites have been found in deep sea sediments west of the African continent.
Periods of heavy rainfall filled the crater with water, causing the lake level to rise above the lowest points of the rim
. Such periods are evidenced from fossils of fish
found on hilltops. Water even flowed from the basin through an overflow channel. However, there were also times when the water level was so low that the rainforest entered the basin rendering the lake only a small pond
. Such a period, according to legend and now proved by paleoclimate records, lasted until about 300 years ago (Shanahan et al. 2009). Lake Bosumtwi can be used to argue that the drought over sub-Saharan Africa and the Sahel during the late 1970s orgininated from that of natural variability forced by a multidecadal oscillation in the thermohaline circulation, which in turn modulates sea surface temperature in the north Atlantic. This evidence shows the drought occurred via natural origins instead of anthropogenic forcing. It has been shown that historical droughts in this region were four times drier than that of the late 1970s drought.
was chasing an injured antelope
through the rainforest. Suddenly, the animal disappeared in a small pond. It was as if this body of water wanted to save the animal's life. The hunter never got the antelope, though he settled close to the water and started catching fish. This place he named “Bosomtwe”, meaning “antelope god”. This story suggests that at that time the lake level was very low. The large dead trees standing offshore in the lake also evidence this, for they are over 300 years old.
The following centuries saw several wars about the lake as both the Ashanti and the Akim
clashed, each claiming the area. The Ashanti prevailed.
Each village in the lake area has its own shrine
or fetish grove. With the arrival of Christianity
, some of people gave up former beliefs, though many continue to seek traditional help in bad times or against diseases.
The Abrodwum Stone is held to be the spiritual centre of the lake. Here, when there is such poor fishing it is considered a bad omen, the lake people sacrifice
a cow. This act is celebrated in the presence of his majesty, the Ashanti king, the Asantehene himself. In the ceremony, the cow's innards are given to the stone and the rest is thrown into the lake. The crowd rushes into the water with cutlass
es and axes
to take their share of the meat. This is an event very much worth seeing. However, as such an omen depends on various factors, it is hardly predictable.
There is a traditional taboo
against touching the water with iron
and modern boats are not considered appropriate. The padua, a wooden plank requiring considerable skill to maneuver, is the legitimate method.
There are current environmental concerns, including overfishing
and inadequate farming methods.
The growing population increased demand for fish. Excessive fishing led to steadily decreasing catches, forcing increased reliance on agriculture. As more and more of the hills are converted into farmland, exposing the surface to the heavy rainfalls, soil erosion becomes an ever greater problem.
In addition there is the changing lake level. Many villages have been submerged several times forcing the people to move up the slopes or outside the basin. That is the origin of such double names as Pipie No.1 and Pipie No.2 (see map on http://people.freenet.de/bosomtwe).
The lake is a popular resort
area with local people for swimming, fishing
and boat trips
.
The lakeside village of Amakom has a small hospital with a doctor residing on premise, called Lake Bosumtwi Methodist Clinic, providing emergency services by boat and 4x4 ambulance.
Meteorite
A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives impact with the Earth's surface. Meteorites can be big or small. Most meteorites derive from small astronomical objects called meteoroids, but they are also sometimes produced by impacts of asteroids...
impact crater
Impact crater
In the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with a larger body...
, is approximately 8 km across and the only natural lake in Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
. It is situated about 30 km south-east of Kumasi
Kumasi
Kumasi is a city in southern central Ghana's Ashanti region. It is located near Lake Bosomtwe, in the Rain Forest Region about northwest of Accra. Kumasi is approximately north of the Equator and north of the Gulf of Guinea...
and is a popular recreational area. There are about 30 villages near the lake, with a combined population of about 70,000 people.
The Ashanti consider Bosumtwi a sacred lake. According to traditional belief, the soul
Soul
A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...
s of the dead come here to bid farewell to the god Twi. Because of this, it is considered permissible to fish in the lake only from wooden plank
Plank
Plank may refer to:*Plank *Plank , an isometric exercise for the abdominal muscles*The Plank , a British comedy film with no dialogue*The Plank , a remake of the 1967 film...
s.
Impact crater
The Lake Bosumtwi impact crater is 10.5 km in diameter, slightly larger than the present lake, and is estimated to be 1.07 million years old (PleistocenePleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
period).
The crater has been partly eroded, and is situated in dense rainforest
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
, making it difficult to study and confirm its origin by meteorite impact. Shock features such as shatter cone
Shatter cone
Shatter cones are rare geological features that are only known to form in the bedrock beneath meteorite impact craters or underground nuclear explosions...
s are largely overgrown by vegetation or covered by the lake. However, drilling of the crater's central uplift beneath the lake floor has recently provided an abundance of shocked materials for scientific study. Tektite
Tektite
Tektites are natural glass rocks up to a few centimeters in size, which most scientists argue were formed by the impact of large meteorites on Earth's surface. Tektites are typically black or olive-green, and their shape varies from rounded to irregular.Tektites are among the "driest" rocks, with...
s, believed to be from this impact, are found in the neighbouring country of Ivory Coast, and related microtektites have been found in deep sea sediments west of the African continent.
Climate history
Before the asteroid hit, there was a lush rainforest filled with animals. The crater from the asteroid's impact filled with rainwater, so now there is a lake.Periods of heavy rainfall filled the crater with water, causing the lake level to rise above the lowest points of the rim
Rim (craters)
The rim of a crater is the part that extends above the height of the local surface, usually in a circular or elliptical pattern. In a more specific sense, the rim may refer to the circular or elliptical edge that represents the uppermost tip of this raised portion...
. Such periods are evidenced from fossils of fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
found on hilltops. Water even flowed from the basin through an overflow channel. However, there were also times when the water level was so low that the rainforest entered the basin rendering the lake only a small pond
Pond
A pond is a body of standing water, either natural or man-made, that is usually smaller than a lake. A wide variety of man-made bodies of water are classified as ponds, including water gardens, water features and koi ponds; all designed for aesthetic ornamentation as landscape or architectural...
. Such a period, according to legend and now proved by paleoclimate records, lasted until about 300 years ago (Shanahan et al. 2009). Lake Bosumtwi can be used to argue that the drought over sub-Saharan Africa and the Sahel during the late 1970s orgininated from that of natural variability forced by a multidecadal oscillation in the thermohaline circulation, which in turn modulates sea surface temperature in the north Atlantic. This evidence shows the drought occurred via natural origins instead of anthropogenic forcing. It has been shown that historical droughts in this region were four times drier than that of the late 1970s drought.
Human history
The legends say that in 1648 an Ashanti hunter named Akora Bompe from the city of AsamanAsaman
Asaman is a town in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The town is known for the Konadu Yiadom Secondary School. The school is a second cycle institution....
was chasing an injured antelope
Antelope
Antelope is a term referring to many even-toed ungulate species indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelopes comprise a miscellaneous group within the family Bovidae, encompassing those old-world species that are neither cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, nor goats...
through the rainforest. Suddenly, the animal disappeared in a small pond. It was as if this body of water wanted to save the animal's life. The hunter never got the antelope, though he settled close to the water and started catching fish. This place he named “Bosomtwe”, meaning “antelope god”. This story suggests that at that time the lake level was very low. The large dead trees standing offshore in the lake also evidence this, for they are over 300 years old.
The following centuries saw several wars about the lake as both the Ashanti and the Akim
Akim
An akim is the head of a local government in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.- Kazakhstan :In Kazakhstan, an akim is the head of an akimat, a municipal, district, or provincial government , and serves as the Presidential representative.Akims of provinces and cities are appointed to the post by the...
clashed, each claiming the area. The Ashanti prevailed.
Each village in the lake area has its own shrine
Shrine
A shrine is a holy or sacred place, which is dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon or similar figure of awe and respect, at which they are venerated or worshipped. Shrines often contain idols, relics, or other such objects associated with the figure being venerated....
or fetish grove. With the arrival of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, some of people gave up former beliefs, though many continue to seek traditional help in bad times or against diseases.
The Abrodwum Stone is held to be the spiritual centre of the lake. Here, when there is such poor fishing it is considered a bad omen, the lake people sacrifice
Sacrifice
Sacrifice is the offering of food, objects or the lives of animals or people to God or the gods as an act of propitiation or worship.While sacrifice often implies ritual killing, the term offering can be used for bloodless sacrifices of cereal food or artifacts...
a cow. This act is celebrated in the presence of his majesty, the Ashanti king, the Asantehene himself. In the ceremony, the cow's innards are given to the stone and the rest is thrown into the lake. The crowd rushes into the water with cutlass
Cutlass
A cutlass is a short, broad sabre or slashing sword, with a straight or slightly curved blade sharpened on the cutting edge, and a hilt often featuring a solid cupped or basket shaped guard...
es and axes
Axes
Axes may refer to:* Axes, woodworking hand tools* The plural of axis* Axes , a 2005 rock album by the British band Electrelane* X and Y axes, or X, Y, and Z axes, perpendicular lines used in the Cartesian coordinate system...
to take their share of the meat. This is an event very much worth seeing. However, as such an omen depends on various factors, it is hardly predictable.
There is a traditional taboo
Taboo
A taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...
against touching the water with iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
and modern boats are not considered appropriate. The padua, a wooden plank requiring considerable skill to maneuver, is the legitimate method.
There are current environmental concerns, including overfishing
Overfishing
Overfishing occurs when fishing activities reduce fish stocks below an acceptable level. This can occur in any body of water from a pond to the oceans....
and inadequate farming methods.
The growing population increased demand for fish. Excessive fishing led to steadily decreasing catches, forcing increased reliance on agriculture. As more and more of the hills are converted into farmland, exposing the surface to the heavy rainfalls, soil erosion becomes an ever greater problem.
In addition there is the changing lake level. Many villages have been submerged several times forcing the people to move up the slopes or outside the basin. That is the origin of such double names as Pipie No.1 and Pipie No.2 (see map on http://people.freenet.de/bosomtwe).
The lake is a popular resort
Resort
A resort is a place used for relaxation or recreation, attracting visitors for holidays or vacations. Resorts are places, towns or sometimes commercial establishment operated by a single company....
area with local people for swimming, fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
and boat trips
Boating
Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether powerboats, sailboats, or man-powered vessels , focused on the travel itself, as well as sports activities, such as fishing or water skiing...
.
The lakeside village of Amakom has a small hospital with a doctor residing on premise, called Lake Bosumtwi Methodist Clinic, providing emergency services by boat and 4x4 ambulance.