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Ashanti Empire

Not to be confused with Ashanti Region.

Ashanti Empire
Asanteman (Asante Twi)
Map of the Ashanti Empire
Map of the Ashanti Empire
StatusState union with Ghana
CapitalKumasi
Common languagesAshanti (Twi) (official)
Religion
Initially Akan religion, later also Christianity
GovernmentMonarchy
• 1670–1717 (first)
Osei Tutu
• 1888–1896 (13th)
Prempeh I
• 1931–1957 (last)
Prempeh II
• 1999–present (Ashanti region absolute monarchy national state within Ghana)
Osei Tutu II
LegislatureAsante Kotoko (Council of Kumasi)[1] and the Asantemanhyiamu (National Assembly)
History 
• Established
1701
• Independence from Denkyira
1701
• Annexed to form British Ashanti Crown Colony
1901[2]
• Self-rule within British colony
1935
• State union as Ashanti Region with Ghana
1957
Present
Area
[3][4]259,000 km2 (100,000 sq mi)
Population
• [3]
3,000,000
Currency
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Denkyira
Bonoman
Ashanti Crown Colony
Ghana
Today part ofGhana
Ivory Coast
Togo

The Asante Empire (Asante Twi: Asanteman), today commonly called the Ashanti Empire, was an Akan state that lasted from 1701 to 1901, in what is now modern-day Ghana.[6] It expanded from the Ashanti Region to include most of Ghana and also parts of Ivory Coast and Togo.[7][8] Due to the empire's military prowess, wealth, architecture, sophisticated hierarchy and culture, the Ashanti Empire has been extensively studied and has more historic records written by European, primarily British, authors than any other indigenous culture of sub-Saharan Africa.[9][10]

Starting in the late 17th century, the Ashanti king Osei Tutu (c. 1695 – 1717) and his adviser Okomfo Anokye established the Ashanti Kingdom, with the Golden Stool of Asante as a sole unifying symbol.[6][11] Osei Tutu oversaw a massive Ashanti territorial expansion, building up the army by introducing new organisation and turning a disciplined royal and paramilitary army into an effective fighting machine.[9] In 1701, teamed up with many kingdoms, the Ashanti army conquered Denkyira, giving the Ashanti access to the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean coastal trade with Europeans, notably the Dutch.[9] After this, the economy of the Ashanti Empire would flourish with gold mines. The economy of the Ashanti Empire was mainly based on the trade of gold and agricultural exports[12] as well as slave trading, craft work and trade with markets further north.[5]After the development of the economy, the Ashanti would begin expansion in modern day ghana. They fought against many kingdoms after conquering the Denkyira, conquering Accra and most of eastern ivory coast. Most of these conquests were under the reign of Opoku Ware Katakyie. This led to a Golden Age in the Ashanti Empires’ history between 1720-1825. The nation had the strongest army in the region and it was a force to be reckoned with. While in its golden age, it began to trade slaves with the dutch and other european nations who had influence in the region. This contributed to the wealth and power of the Ashanti Empire. Many historians claim that the Ashanti Empire became very powerful because in the Sahel, the gold trade between the Saheli Empires and far-northern nations became irrelevant. So the Ashanti Empire re-opened that trade (in the Gold Coast) which gave them an abundance of wealth and power.

In the early 19th century the Ashanti Empire fought several wars with neighboring kingdoms and lesser organized groups such as the Fante. The Ashanti held their own against the British in the first two of the five Anglo-Ashanti Wars, killing British army general Sir Charles MacCarthy and keeping his skull as a gold-rimmed drinking cup in 1824. British forces later burnt and sacked the Ashanti capital of Kumasi. This led to a decline of the kingdom through the years of 1825-1901. Many civil wars were started over the issue of war and in the War of the Golden Stool, the British defeated the Ashanti Empire and finally became apart of the Gold Coast colony. Today, the Ashanti Kingdom survives as a constitutionally protected, sub-national traditional state[13] in union with the Republic of Ghana. The current king of the Ashanti Kingdom is Otumfuo Osei Tutu II Asantehene. The Ashanti Kingdom is the home to Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana's only natural lake. The state's current economic revenue is derived mainly from trading in gold bars, cocoa, kola nuts and agriculture.[14]

  1. ^ Edgerton, Robert B. Fall of the Asante Empire: The Hundred Year War for Africa's Gold Coast. Free Press, 1995.
  2. ^ Ashanti Order in Council 1901.
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Obeng, J. Pashington page 20 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Iliffe, John (1995). Africans: The History of a Continent. Cambridge University Press. p. 143. ISBN 9780521484220.
  5. ^ a b Arhin, Kwame (1990). "Trade, Accumulation and the State in Asante in the Nineteenth Century". Africa: Journal of the International African Institute. 60 (4): 524–537. doi:10.2307/1160206. JSTOR 1160206. S2CID 145522016.
  6. ^ a b "Osei Tutu | king of Asante empire". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  7. ^ Davidson, Basil (29 October 2014). West Africa before the Colonial Era: A History to 1850. Routledge. p. 174. ISBN 978-1-317-88265-7.
  8. ^ Isichei, Elizabeth (1997). A History of African Societies to 1870. Cambridge University Press. p. 346. ISBN 9780521455992.
  9. ^ a b c Collins and Burns (2007), p. 140.
  10. ^ McCaskie (2003), p. 2.
  11. ^ "Asante Kingdom". Irie Magazine. 31 October 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  12. ^ Green, Toby (31 January 2019). A fistful of shells : West Africa from the rise of the slave trade to the age of revolution (Kindle-Version ed.). London: Penguin Books Ltd. pp. 108, 247. ISBN 978-0-241-00328-2.
  13. ^ Roeder, Philip (2007). Where Nation-States Come From: Institutional Change in the Age of Nationalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press. p. 281. ISBN 978-0691134673.
  14. ^ Collins and Burns (2007), p. 139.

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