Editing Dyula people (section)

===Penetration into southern forest regions===
The development of ''Dyula'' trade in Ghana and the adjacent Ivory Coast had important political consequences and sometimes military implications as well. The ''dyula'' spearheaded Mande penetration of the forested zones in the south by establishing caravan routes and trading posts at strategic locations throughout the region en route to cola-producing areas. By the start of the sixteenth century, ''dyula'' merchants were trading as far south as the coast of modern Ghana.

On the forest's northern fringes, new states emerged, such as [[Bono Kingdom|Bono]] and Banda. As the economic value of gold and kola became appreciated, forests south of these states which had hitherto been little inhabited because of limited agricultural potential became more thickly populated, and the same principles of political and military mobilization began being applied there. Village communities became tributaries of ruling groups, with some members becoming the clients and slaves needed to support royal households, armies, and trading enterprises. Sometimes these political changes were not to the advantage of the ''Dyula'', who employed Mande warriors to guard their caravans and if necessary could call in larger contingents from the Sudanic kingdoms. In the seventeenth century, tensions between the Muslims and the local pagans in Begho erupted into a destructive war which eventually led to the total abandonment of the Banda capital. The local people eventually settled in a number of towns further east, while the dyula withdrew to the west to the further side of the Banda hills where they established the new trading center of [[Bonduku]].<ref>J. D. Fage, William Tordoff, [https://books.google.com/books?id=KR0oRd5GMGkC&dq=dyula+gonja&pg=PA96 ''A History of Africa''] 4th Edition, Taylor & Francis, Inc., December 2001</ref>