Kandia was one of the original Gonja divisions, in principle entitled to the Yagbonwura paramountcy; tradition assigns it to Osuman, a son of Ndewura Jakpa. It covered much of the present Wa area; Massing records that the Kandia and Kong divisions 'became extinct at the end of the 19th century', and its territory later passed to Wa.
Kandia was one of the original Gonja gates but lost its place in the succession by the end of the nineteenth century.