Bolgatanga (it means "Stone City", "bolga" in Gurune means stone) is the capital of the Ghanaian Upper East Region the most northeastern province of the country. The city, which had a population of 70,000 according to the Bradt Guide of 2003, originated as a marketplace on the south side of the Trans Sahara trade routes that have guaranteed vibrant trade over the centuries — and cultural influence of the Saharanadjacent parts of SubSaharan Africa by the ArabMuslim cultures of North Africa and the Middle East.

Bolgatanga is half Islamic, half Christian. There is a large and wellvisited cathedral (the Sacred Heart Cathedral, center of the diocese of BolgatangaNavrongo, but there are also many mosques in the city. The market is still today the largest and most varied in the region. Traders often travel for days, from the distant surroundings (including from Burkina Faso, which is about 40 kilometers north of Bolgatanga), to be able to sell their goods on market days (every three days).

Tamale is the largest city in northern Ghana, with a population of about 200,000, but Bolgatanga is also growing. Characteristic of this type of cities is the large surface area and the highly dispersed location of the houses. Only in the centre is some highrise to be found, but this too is rarely higher than a floor or three. The number of internet cafes, fast food restaurants and other "Western" businesses has been increasing faster and faster in recent years.

Yet essentially Bolgatanga remains a simple provincial capital, an enlarged version of the other villages in the region. The city is the centre of Gurense land, the region where the Gurensilive , a people called the Frafraby the British, after the word (farafara) with which the Gurensi welcomed the colonizer. Gurenseland has five paramount chiefs, which are chiefs who formally have no one above them (not even the Ghanaian president) and are the superiors of the "ordinary" chiefs from the surrounding villages. This traditional leader mainly performs administrative duties and has some judicial functions. Of course, the region also has a representative of the government, and elects its own MPs for the national representation, but the administration in Gurenseland is still largely based on traditional structures. Thus, there is a chief for the administrative and judicial duties and a land priest (tindaana) for religious matters which also often overlap with administrative and legal issues. Those who do not adhere to a traditional religion, but are Muslim or Christian, can partly withdraw from this hierarchy.