Culture of the Asante Empire

The Asante Empire was governed by an elected monarch with its political power centralised. The entire government was a federation. By the 19th century, the Empire had a total population of 3 million.^[1] The Asante society was matrilineal as most families were extended and were headed by a male elder who was assisted by a female elder. Asante twi was the most common and official language. At its peak from the 18th–19th centuries, the Empire extended from the Komoé River (Ivory Coast) in the West to the Togo Mountains in the East.^[2]

The king and the aristocracy were the highest social class in the Asante society. Commoners were below the aristocracy with slaves forming the lowest social order. The Asante celebrated various ceremonies which were compulsory for communal participation. Festivals served as a means of promoting unity, remembering the ancestors and for thanksgiving. There was the belief in a single supreme being who created the universe with a decentralized system of smaller gods below this supreme being. People of all classes believed in witchcraft and magic. The Asante medical system was largely herbal similar to the Traditional African medicine of other pre-colonial African societies.