Ashanti Confederacy

A shrunken Ashanti Confederacy in 1896

The Ashanti Kingdom or Ashanti Confederacy was a powerful nation in West Africa from the late 1500s to 1902. Today, the central part of its territory is one of ten administrative regions in Ghana. At its height, it emcompassed what is today southern and central Ghana and the eastern part of the Ivory Coast. There is no relation to the singer Ashanti.

People

The Ashanti (also Asante) are a major ethnic group from Africa who speak a dialect of Akan. Prior to European colonisation, the Ashanti Confederacy was a major state, particularly during the period from 1570 to 1900. Ashanti wealth was based on the region's substantial gold deposits, which were mined to create intricate works of art and also for trade.

Ashanti was one of the African states able to offer serious resistance to the European invaders. Britain fought four wars against the Ashanti kings between 1826 and 1896 (the Anglo-Ashanti Wars), one of which was notable as the first conflict in which the Maxim gun was used. In 1900, the British finally subdued the kingdom and incorporated it as a protectorate as part of the Gold Coast colony in 1902. A much-loved figure in Ashanti history is Yaa Asantewaa, a leader of the resistance against British colonialism in 1900.

Under successive kings (called "Asantehenes") the kingdom also participated in the African slave trade. The Ashanti would sometimes capture people of surrounding regions, often as war prisoners, and sell them to European slavers. This trade ceased in the early-to-middle 19th century, the Ashanti confederacy had already banned slave trading from 1827 onwards.

Part of the territory occupied by the Kingdom of Ashanti is part of what is now Ghana. The hereditary Ashanti crown continues to be honoured by the Ashanti people, alongside the authority of the state.

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 fetish Priest, or sage, 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') allegiance was sworn to the Golden Stool and to Osei Tutu as the Asantehene, the newly founded Ashanti union went to war with Denkyira, defeating them in the process.

The Golden Stool is sacred to the Ashanti, it is believed that the Golden Stool contains the 'Sunsum' — spirit or soul of the Ashanti people. Just as man cannot not 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.

In 1900 an attempt by the British Gold Coast governor-general, Frederick Hodgson, to capture the Golden Stool, led to an uprising, spearheaded by Yaa Asantewaa, which took several months to put down.

Geography

The confederacy was one of a series of kingdoms along the coast including Dahomey, Benin, and Yoruba. All of these states were based on trade, especially gold, ivory, and slaves, which were sold to first Portuguese and later Dutch and British traders. The region also had dense populations and large agricultural surpluses, allowing the creation of substantial urban centres.

History

Origins (1400s-1600's)

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. http://acona-usacanada.org/asantehistory1.html Akan political organization centred on various clans, each headed by a paramount chief or Amanhene. http://www.ashanti.com.au/pb/wp_5e360041.html One of these clans, the Oyoko, settled Ghana's sub-tropical forest region, establishing a centre at Kumasi. http://www.ashanti.com.au/pb/wp_8078438f.html 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.http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-5197.html This was done in part by military assault, but largely by uniting them against the Denkyira, who had previously dominated the region.

Osei Tutu and his successors oversaw a policy of political and cultural unification and the union had reached its full extent by 1750. It remained an alliance of several large towns which acknowledged the sovereignty of the ruler of Kumasi, known as the Asantehene.

The new home of the Ashanti was rich in river-gold and kola nuts, and they were soon trading with the Songhay Empire, the Hausa states and by 1482 with the Portuguese at the coastal fort Sao Jorge da Mina, later Elmina.

Government

The Asantehene, the ruler of the Ashanti, was crowned on the sacred Golden Stool, the Sika 'dwa that came to symbolise their power.

The Asantehene was the sole person allowed to sentence people to death and was the leader of the Ashanti in wartime. In times of conflict each member of the confederacy would have to send troops to the Asantehene's army. Each member of the confederacy was also obliged to send annual tribute to Kumasi.

All other governing powers were left to the members of the confederacy. Each of these were ruled by a governing council made up of the powerful men of the community.

European Colonisation

The history of the confederacy was one of slow centralisation. In the early nineteenth century the Asantehene used the annual tribute to set up a permanent standing army armed with rifles, which allowed much closer control of the confederacy. Despite still being called a confederacy it was one of the most centralised states in sub-Saharan Africa.

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. In 1807 disputes with the Fante led to the Ashanti-Fante War, in which the Ashanti were victorious under Asantehene Osei Bonsu ("Osei the whale"). In the 1811 Ga-Fante War the Ashanti were less successful, but still captured a British fort. In 1814 the Ashanti launched an invasion of the Gold Coast, with mixed results, they were able to defeat some of the Fante tribes along the coast.

In 1821, the British Crown took over control of the coastal trading posts from the Africa Company. In 1823, Asantehene Osei Tutu Kwame died, and was replaced by Osei Yaw Akoto. After this, the Ashanti led an attack on the British coastal outposts. The Ashanti fought against a force comprised of Africans and British led by Sir Charles McCarthy in January 1824. The Ashanti won the battle, in which McCarthy was killed.

In 1826 the Ashanti fought against the British and the British's coastal tribal allies. The Ashanti lost the campaign. In 1831, a treaty by the two sides led to thirty years of peace. The Ashanti borders were acknowledged by the British, but the Ashanti were forced to acknowledge British control of most of the coast. The decided border was the Pra river.

The Ashanti crossed the Pra in 1853 and 1854 during skirmishes with tribes that were British allies. In 1863 a large Ashanti delegation crossed the Pra in pursuit of a fugitive, Kwesi Gyani. The British governor panicked and requested troops from England to invade the Ashanti Confederacy, but the request was refused. The British sent West Indian troops to protect the British territory, but due to sickness caused by the wet season, they were withdrawn months later.

In 1874 the British took the offensive and invaded the Ashanti homeland. A column led by Sir Garnet Wolseley, which comprised 2500 British troops as well as several thousand West Indian and African troops sacked Kumasi, which they then burned. The British formally declared the coastal regions to be the Gold Coast colony.

In 1891, the Ashanti turned down an unofficial offer to become a British protectorate. From 1894 to 1895, the Asanti negotiated with England about becoming a British protectorate, and accepting a British Resident in Kumasi, who would be consulted on major decisions made by the Kumasi. In December of 1895, Sir Francis Scott left Cape Coast with an expedition force. It arrived in Kumasi in January 1896. The Asantehene directed the Ashanti to not resist. Shortly thereafter, Governor William Maxwell arrived in Kumasi as well. Asantehene Agyeman Prempeh was deposed and arrested. A British Resident was permanently placed in the city, and soon after a British fort.

The Ashanti kingdom, cut off from traditional trade routes slowly fell apart. In March 1900, the governor of the Gold Coast, Sir Frederick Hodgson, travelled to Kumasi and demanded the Ashanti's Golden Stool. This caused the Ashanti to rise up, and soon Hodgson fled to the local fort and found himself under siege. Eventually, the fort was relieved and by September, the Ashanti had been put down. Sporadic fighting by Ashanti partisans continued for a number of years as the Asantehene was forced into exile.

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, but limited to purely ceremonial functions.

Upon independence the Gold Coast became known as Ghana. The hereditary Ashanti crown continues to be honoured by the Ashanti people alongside the authority of the state.

References

External links

*Ashanti Kingdom in Detail Profiles history and other aspects of the kingdom.
*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

Ashanti Confederacy: Encyclopedia BETA

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