When the Portuguese arrived Nzema land in the late 15th and early 16th century, the children of Axim who first saw them.appear with their boat ran back home to report them as strange objects.
The whites left bottles of wine which the elders took home and drank. The whites did same later and the children who earlier saw the wine decided to taste it this time around since nothing happened to their elders who took the earlier shots.
In a narration given by the oldest person at Axim, 98-hear-old Francis Nokoe, he said the young men got drunk and slept off at the coast.
The whites came to take them to Elmina, where they had built a castle and resided. He says the community thought the children were missing until they were returned one day.
When the entire community met with them, the children told their story which revealed that the strange objects they reported earlier was the white men coming with their boats.
Unfortunately, none of the children that were taken or any of the members of the community understood the language of the Portuguese.
According to Mr. Nokoe, any question that the Portuguese asked the indigenes, they responded with “ɛxim”? which in Nzema mean, do you know me?
The Portuguese therefore referred to the indigines as the ‘Axim’ people, from the question, ɛxim, which means do you know me?
The nonagenarian has been narrating the history to Captain Smart on the Onua People’s Assembly Thursday, September 7, 2023, in the video below:
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