Asante people

The Ashanti, or Asante, are a major ethnic group in Ghana. The Ashanti speak Twi, an Akan language similar to Fante. For the Ashanti (Asante) Confederacy see Asanteman.

Ashanti

Ashanti Flag
Regions with significant populations
central Ghana
Languages
Twi
Religion
Christianity, Traditional
Related ethnic groups
Akan, Fante

Prior to European colonization, the Ashanti people developed a large and influential empire in West Africa. The Ashanti later developed the powerful Ashanti Confederacy and became the dominant presence in the region.

Origins

The Ashanti, Adansi, Akyem, Assin, and Denkyira peoples of Ghana, like the Baule of Ivory Coast, are subgroups of the West African Akan nation said to have migrated from the vicinity of the north-western Niger River after the fall of the Ghana Empire in the 1200s. Evidence of this is seen in royal courts of the Akan Kings reflected by that of the Ashanti kings whose processions and ceremonies show remnants of ancient Ghana ceremonies. Ethnolinguists have substantiated the migration by tracing word usage and speech patterns along West Africa. Thus, although the Ghana Empire was geographically different from present-day Ghana, some of its people, specifically the Akan, moved to what is today Ghana, hence the namesake. In fact the North African Almoravid dynasty gold coin was renown throughout the Medieval world as being the purest gold, since West African gold was 92% pure at the time it is mined, higher than old Egyptian gold ore, which started at 85%, and later refined to 95% gold. Evidence of Ashanti connection to the Islamic world is the Ashanti word for money, sikka, the same as the Arabic word for minting money. Akan political organization centred on various clans, each headed by a paramount chief or Amanhene. One of these clans, the Oyoko, settled Ghana’s sub-tropical forest region, establishing a centre at Kumasi. During the mid-1600s, under Chief Oti Akenten, the Oyoko started consolidating other Ashanti clans into a loose confederation that occurred without destroying the authority of each paramount chief over his clan. This was done in part by military assault, but largely by uniting them against the Denkyira, who had previously dominated the region.

Geography

File:Gold coast 1896.jpg

Map of the Ashanti Region within Ghana

The Ashantis settled in the central part of present-day Ghana, about three hundred kilometres from the coast. The territory is densely forested and contains rich soil and mineral wealth, notably gold. The Ashanti Region is now an administrative state within Ghana and is where a majority of Ashantis reside. Kumasi, the capital of the current Ashanti region, was also the historic capital of the Ashanti Kingdom. Currently, the Ashanti region of Ghana has a population of 3,612,950, making it Ghana's most populous region.

History

Ashanti Kingdom

The Ashantis went from being a tributary state, to a confederation of states, and ultimately a centralized hierarchical kingdom. Beginning as a tributary state of Denkyira, the foremost Akan power during the 16th century, the Ashanti Kingdom or Asante grew out of a confederation of Akan-speaking states led by Osei Tutu, the first Asantehene. Osei Tutu, military leader and head of the Oyoko clan, founded the Ashanti kingdom in the 1670s. He obtained the support of other clan chiefs and using Kumasi as the central base, subdued surrounding Akan states. He challenged and eventually defeated Denkyira in 1701.

Realizing the weakness of a loose confederation of Akan states, Osei Tutu strengthened centralization of the surrounding Akan groups and expanded the powers judiciary system within the centralized government. Thus, this loose confederation of small city-states grew into a kingdom or empire looking to expand its borders. Newly conquered areas had the option of joining the empire or becoming tributary states. Opoku Ware I, Osei Tutu's successor, extended the borders, embracing much of present day Ghana's territory.

The Golden Stool

Synonymous with the Ashanti is the legend of the 'Golden Stool' (sika 'dwa), the legend actually tells of the birth of the Ashanti kingdom itself. In the seventeenth century, in order for the Ashanti to win their independence from Denkyira, then another powerful Akan state, a meeting of all the clan heads of each of the Ashanti settlements was called. In this meeting, the Golden Stool was commanded down from the heavens by Okomfo Anokye, the Priest, or sage advisor, to the very first Asantehene (Ashanti king), Osei Tutu I. The Golden Stool floated down from the heavens straight into the lap of Osei Tutu I. Okomfo Anokye declared the stool to be the symbol of the new Ashanti union ('Asanteman'), and allegiance was sworn to the Golden Stool and to Osei Tutu as the Asantehene. The newly founded Ashanti union went to war with Denkyira and defeated it.

The Golden Stool is sacred to the Ashanti, as it is believed that the Golden Stool contains the 'Sunsum' — spirit or soul of the Ashanti people. Just as man cannot live without a soul, so the Ashanti would cease to exist if the Golden Stool were to be taken from them. The Golden Stool is not just sacred; it is a symbol of nationhood, a symbol that binds or unifies all Ashanti.

Mythology

The Ashanti people of Ghana in West Africa are known for their colorful folktales and mythology. The most important god in the pantheon of the Ashanti of is Nyame (also Nyankopon), the omniscient, omnipotent sky god. His wife is Asase Yaa and they have two children, Bia and Tano. Asase Yaa is an earth goddess of fertility. The Ashanti believe lower gods, more akin to spirits, assist humans on earth. Onyame was traditionally supposed to be aloof and away from the Earth. As Ashanti's adopted Christianity, their word for God is Onyame.

Anansi the Spider is a folk hero who plays no role in Ashanti mythology. He is, however, prominent in Ashanti folktales where he is depicted as a trickster.

European colonization

The Ashanti strongly resisted attempts by Europeans, mainly the British, to subjugate them. The Ashanti aligned themselves with the Dutch to limit British influence in the region. But Britain still annexed neighbouring areas, including the Fante.

Ashanti was one of the few African states able to offer serious resistance to European colonizers. Between 1823 and 1896, Britain fought four wars against the Ashanti kings (the Anglo-Ashanti Wars). In 1900, the British finally defeated the kingdom and renamed it the Gold Coast colony.

War of the Golden Stool

War of the Golden Stool
Date March 1900 – September 1900 Location Ashanti, modern day Ghana Result British victory Ashanti subsumed into Crown Colony, The sanctity of the Golden Stool
Belligerents
Great Britain	Ashanti Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Frederick Mitchell Hodgson Major James Willcocks	Yaa Asantewaa
Casualties and losses
estimated to be a little more than 1,000	2,002 casualties

The War of the Golden Stool, also known as the Third Ashanti Expedition, the Yaa Asantewaa War or variations thereof, was the final war in a series of conflicts between the British Imperial government of the Gold Coast (later Ghana) and the Ashanti Kingdom, a powerful semi-autonomous African state which fractiously co-existed with the British and their vassal coastal tribes. The war began in 1900 due to a poorly-advised attempt by the then governor of the Gold Coast, Sir Frederick Mitchell Hodgson to assert his authority over the Ashanti, whose capital Kumasi had been annexed by the British in 1895, and subsequently grew to become a significant West African colonial conflict which saw the Ashanti powerbase destroyed and several thousand soldiers on both sides killed.

Pre-war situation

Relations between British colonial authorities and the Ashanti had been steadily deteriorating since the demise of the slave trade over a hundred years before. Both the Ashanti and the British had profited from it and its loss provoked resentment amongst both sides when eventually culminated in skirmishes in 1814 and the first war in 1824, when an outnumbered British force was led into the forests and wiped out. During the next 75 years, relations continually deteriorated, culminating in a full-scale war in 1874 in which Kumasi was burnt to the ground and the Ashanti defeated in the field. In 1895, following raids by Ashanti slavers and cattle thieves on groups under British protection coupled with nearby French and German colonial expansion into West Africa, an expedition advanced on Kumasi and arrested the Ashanti king, Prempeh I and thirty senior advisors who were exiled to the Seychelles. Following this Kumasi was added to the British territory of the Gold Coast and a British administration office set up in the city.

Five years later, very little had actually changed in Kumasi, the Ashanti still ruling themselves with little reference to their supposed overlords. Much like the thrones of European monarchs, Ashanti rulers were venerated by the wooden stools on which they sat when they heard plaintiffs and at the heart of the entire Ashanti religious and feudal power structure was the Golden Stool, a gold-plated stool of the Ashanti gods, which was according to legend given to the first Ashanti king three hundred years before. This stool was not just a symbol of the power of the person who possessed it, it was the direct embodiment of the Ashanti gods and sacred ancestors, and as such had never been sat upon. The British authorities in Accra knew well how powerful possession of the stool might be in the control of the Ashanti and Sir Frederick Hodgson decided to take it for himself in the name of Queen Victoria in order to demonstrate his strength and ability to other West African nations who might oppose him.

The "Golden Stool" speech

Thus Hodgson advanced towards Kumasi with a small force of British soldiers and local levies, arriving on the 25 March 1900. Hodgson, as representative of a powerful nation himself, was accorded traditional honours upon entering the city and after ascending a platform, he made a speech to the assembled Ashanti leaders. The speech, or the closest surviving account which comes through an African translator, reportedly read:

Your King Prempeh I is in exile and will not return to Ashanti. His power and authority will be taken over by the Representative of the Queen of Britain. The terms of the 1874 Peace Treaty of Formena which required you to pay the costs of the 1874 war have not been forgotten. You have to pay with interest the sum of £160,000 a year. Then there is the matter of the Golden Stool of Ashanti. The Queen is entitled to the stool; she must receive it.

Where is the Golden Stool? I am the representative of the Paramount Power. Why have you relegated me to this ordinary chair? Why did you not take to opportunity of my coming to Kumasi to bring the Golden Stool for me to sit upon? However you may be quite sure that though the Government has not received the Golden Stool at his hands it will rule over you with the same impartiality and fairness as if you had produced it.

Not knowing the reverence felt for the stool, Hodgson clearly had no inkling of the storm his words would produce: The suggestion that he should seat himself upon their sacred stool was far too much for the listening crowd and as other Ashanti rulers read from prepared speeches, the queen mother of the Ejisu dominion within the Ashanti kingdom, Yaa Asantewaa, was collecting men to form a force with which to attack the British and retrieve their exiled king. The enraged populace produced a large number of volunteers and as Hodgson's deputy Captain Cecil Armitage searched for the stool in nearby brush his force was surrounded and ambushed, only a sudden rainstorm allowed the survivors to retreat to the British offices in Kumasi. The offices were then fortified into a small stockade which housed 18 Europeans, dozens of mixed race colonial administrators and 500 Nigerian Hausas who possessed six small field guns and four Maxim Guns. The Ashanti, aware that they were unprepared for a storm of the fort settled into a long siege, only making one assault on the position on the 29 April which was a bloody failure. The remaining time they sniped at the defenders, cut the telegraph wire, blockaded food supplies and attacked relief columns, one arriving in May which turned out to consist of 250 sick men and no extra food.

As supplies ran low and disease took its toll on the defenders, another rescue party of 700 arrived in June. Recognising that it was necessary to escape from the trap and to preserve the remaining food for the wounded and sick, some of the more healthy men were evacuated along with Hodgson, his wife and over a hundred of the Hausas. 15,000 Ashanti warriors were summoned to attack the escapees, who gained a lead on the long road back to the Crown Colony and avoided the main body of the enemy. Days later the survivors, having lost at least 40 of their number on the road arrived in the colony proper and took ship for Accra, receiving all available medical attention.

The rescue column

As Hodgson arrived at the coast, a rescue force of 1,000 men corralled from British units and police forces stationed across West Africa under the veteran Major James Willcocks had set out from Accra. On the march Willcocks' men had been repulsed from several well-defended forts belonging to groups allied with the Ashanti, most notably the stockade at Kokofu where he had suffered heavy casualties. During the march he was faced with constant trials of skirmishing with an enemy in his own element and maintaining his supply route in the face of effective guerilla opposition. In early July, his force arrived at Bekwai and prepared for the final assault on Kumasi, which began on the morning of the 14 July 1900. Using a force lead by Yoroba warriors from Nigeria serving in the Frontier Force, Willcocks drove in four heavily guarded stockades, finally relieving the fort on the evening of the fifteenth, when the inhabitants were just two days from surrender.

In September, after spending the summer recuperating and tending to the sick and wounded in captured Kumasi, Willcocks sent out flying columns to the neighbouring regions which had supported the uprising. His troops defeated an Ashanti force in a skirmish at Abooso on the 30 September and also succeeded in destroying the fort and town at Kokofu where he had been defeated before, using Nigerian levies to hunt Ashanti fugitives into the forests once the defenders fled after a stiff engagement. Following the storm of the town, Captain Charles John Melliss was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery in the attack, the only such award of the campaign although a number of other officers received the Distinguished Service Order.

Aftermath

Following this mopping up campaign, the Ashanti were defeated and the war over. The following year thirty tribal chieftains including the Ashanti leader Yaa Asantewaa were arrested and deported to the Seychelles, not being allowed to return for twenty five years by which time many, including Asantewaa, had died. The Ashanti Kingdom was subsumed into the colony of the Gold Coast and given a British administration and a garrison of British levies in Kumasi, who demonstrated their colonial rule by ceremonially firing a cannon once a day until 1935. The fort remains as the city's biggest military museum and contains many relics of the Anglo-Ashanti Wars. The city also retains a war memorial and several large colonial residences although it, with the rest of the Gold Coast, became part of Ghana in 1957.

The British never did find the Golden Stool; it was hidden deep in the forests for the duration of the war although efforts made to recover it lasted until 1920, when the colonial authorities were persuaded to give up the search. Unfortunately, shortly after this it was accidentally uncovered by some African labourers who stole the golden ornaments which adorned the stool, rendering it powerless in the eyes of the Ashanti people. The labourers were sentenced to death by an Ashanti court, but were eventually exiled by a British one instead. The war cost the British and their allies 1,007 fatal casualties, most from malaria and other tropical diseases rather than the result of battle. Ashanti casualties have never been calculated but must have been in the several thousands.

The Ashanti kingdom, cut off from traditional trade routes, slowly fell apart.

Independence

Relations improved, however, and in 1926 the Asantehene was given ceremonial control over Kumasi. In 1935 the full role of leader of the Ashanti people was restored.

Modern Ashantis

In modern Ghana, there is no ethnic group or tribe which comprise a majority of the population. While the entire Akan population make a plurality 49% of the population, Ashantis, Fante's and other Akans make up that percentage. However, it is estimated that Ashanti's are 14% of Ghana's population followed by the Ewe, Fante, and Ga. This along with their history makes them very influential both poltically and economically. The current president John Kufuor is an Ashanti was elected in part with their support. Ashantis are also largely Protestant Christian unlike the largely Muslim Northern Ghana. Mostly Protestant, the major denominations represented are Methodist and Anglican although Pentacostal is growing in popularity.

While tribal and ethnic identity are important for Ashanti's and other Ghanaians, they do not define a person nor carry as much weight as they did hundreds of years ago. Being an Ashanti now is mostly a point of reference and a linguistic tie more than a strongly cohesive tribe. In other words, typically Ashantis and Ghanaians in general do not place extreme emphasis on tribe and are more nationalistic.

See also

• Empire of Ashanti
• Ghana
• West Africa
• Fante Confederacy
• Rulers of the Akan state of Asante
• Opoku Ware I
• Slavery
• Denkyira

Literature

• Robert B. Edgerton, 1995, The Fall of the Asante Empire. The Hundred-Year War for Africa's Gold Coast. New York, ISBN 0-02-908926-3
• N. Kyeremateng, K. Nkansa, 1996, The Akans of Ghana: their history & culture, Accra, Sebewie Publishers
• Alan Lloyd, 1964, The Drums of Kumasi, Panther, London
• Ernest E. Obeng, 1986, Ancient Ashanti Chieftaincy, Ghana Publishing Corporation, ISBN 9964-1-0329-8
• A. Quarcoo, The Language of Adinkra Symbols
• Kevin Shillington, 1995 (1989), History of Africa, St. Martin's Press, New York
• D. Warren, The Akan of Ghana

References

http://www.archimedes.free-online.co.uk/ghana.htm

External links

• Ashanti People and History Profiles history and other aspects of the Ashanti.
• Ashanti Page at the Ethnographic Atlas, maintained at Centre for Social Anthropology and Computing, University of Kent, Canterbury
• Ashanti Kingdom at the Wonders of the African World, at PBS
• Ashanti Culture contains a selected list of Internet sources on the topic, especially sites that serve as comprehensive lists or gateways
• Africa Guide contains information about the culture of the Ashanti

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