Prempeh I

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Prempeh I
Asantehene of Asanteman; Kumasehene of Kumasi

King of the Kingdom of Ashanti
Reign	26 March 1888 – 12 May 1931
Coronation	26 March 1888
Predecessor	Owusu Sekyere II
Successor	Prempeh II

Full name
Otumfuo Nana Prempeh I
House	House of Beretuo Dynasty
Mother	Queen Ashantehemaa Yaa Akyaa
Born	(1870-12-18)18 December 1870 Kumasi, Kingdom of Ashanti
Died	12 May 1931(1931-05-12) (aged 60)

Prempeh I (Otumfuo Nana Prempeh I, 18 December 1870 – 12 May 1931) is the thirteenth King ruler of the Asante state of the Kingdom of Ashanti and the Asante Oyoko Abohyen Dynasty.^[1] King Asantehene Prempeh I ruled from March 26, 1888 until his death in 1931, and fought an Ashanti war against Britain in 1893.^[2]

Biography

Early life and family

King Asantehene Prempeh I original throne name was Prince Kwaku Dua III Asamu of the Kingdom of Ashanti and Prempeh I's mother Queen Ashantehemaa Yaa Akyaa queen mother of the Kingdom of Ashanti from 1880 to 1917, had through strategic political marriages built the military power to secure the Golden Stool for her son Prince Prempeh.^[3]

Throne and as King of the Kingdom of Ashanti

Ascension to the Throne

In 1888 Prince Prempeh ascended to throne, enthroned 16-year-old King Asantehene Prempeh I of the Kingdom of Ashanti, as king of the Kingdom of Ashanti King Asantehene Prempeh I assumed the throne name Kwaku Dua III as King Asantehene Prempeh I's kingship was beset by difficulties from the very onset of his reign. King Asantehene Prempeh I of the Kingdom of Ashanti began the defending of Asante from Britain and when Prempeh I was asked by Britain to accept a protectorate over his state Kingdom of Ashanti, King Asantehene Prempeh I rejected it and stated in his reply that Britain had misjudged the situation.^[3]

King Asantehene Prempeh I began an active campaign of the Asante sovereignty. The British offered to take the Kingdom of Ashanti under their protection, but King Asantehene Prempeh I of the Kingdom of Ashanti refused each request.^[3]

In 1900, a request that the Ashanti people turn over the "golden stool"–the very symbol of Ashanti absolute monarchy governance to the Ashanti people.^[4] The Kingdom of Ashanti faced no resistance, the Ashanti army did not surrender and was therefore able to fight the War of the Golden Stool or Yaa Asantewaa war in 1900-01. Entering warfare with Britain, in this war the capital Kumasi was briefly occupied until the Kingdom Ashanti independence on 31 January 1935.^[3]

Prempeh I would spend time in his villa on Mahe from repatriation, the largest of the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean, the Prempeh I villa was formerly a huge plantation, covered with coconut trees, mango, breadfruit and orange trees as well as a two-story villa. Prempeh I villa, and 16 new wooden houses with sandy floors and roofed with corrugated iron-sheets were built in Seychelles and allocated for the various Asante nobles. Prempeh made an effort to educate himself in English and to make certain that the children received education.^[3]

The King Asantehene Prempeh I stance stated, "My Kingdom of Ashanti will never commit itself to any such policy of protection; Ashanti people and the Kingdom of Ashanti must remain a independent sovereign state as of old, and at the same time be friends with all white men".^[3]

King Asantehene Prempeh's throne is now displayed in the Royal Signals Museum at Blandford. Upon King Asantehene Prempeh I death on 12 May 1931 and buried in Kumasi, was succeeded in throne by his heir apparent Prempeh II of the Kingdom of Ashanti.^[3]

Enforced Exile from Asante kingdom

Exile to Sierra-Leone

Exile to Seychelles

Return from Exile

References

↑ Nana Prempeh I (1870-1931)
↑ Robin Hallett, Africa Since 1875: A Modern History (University of Michigan Press: Ann Arbor, 1974) p. 281.
↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Robin Hallett, Africa Since 1875: A Modern History, p 28.
↑ Robin Hallett, Africa Since 1875: A Modern History, p. 281.

Walter Hansen (in German):Der Wolf, der nie schläft-Das abenteuerliche Leben des Lord Baden-Powell, published by Herder Freiburg-Basel-Vienna, 1985, p. 162 (Gruß, Pfiff und System der kleinen Gruppe) and p. 124, p. 126/27 (Die Krobos:Geheimbund an der Goldküste).
Topics in West African History, by A. Adu Boahen, Jacob F. Ade Ajayi, and Michael Tidy. Addison-Wesley, 1987.
African Glory, by J. C. Degraft-Johnson. Black Classic Press, 1986
The Downfall of Prempeh: A diary of life with the native levy in Ashanti 1895-96, by Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell Baden-Powell of Gilwell
Smithsonian Magazine

External links

v t e Rulers of the Ashanti Empire and Ashanti people

Kwaamanhene of the Kwaaman State (1570-1640)	Twum Kobia Amamfi Oti Akenten

Kumasehene of the Kumaseman State (1640-1701)	Oti Akenten Obiri Yeboa Osei Kofi Tutu I

Asantehene of the Kingdom of Ashanti (1701-1902)	Osei Kofi Tutu I Amaniampon (regent) Opoku Ware I Kusi Oboadum Safo Kantanka (regent) Osei Kwadwo Okoawia Atakora Kwame (regent) Osei Kwame Panyin Opoku Fofie Osei Bonsu Osei Yaw Akoto Kwaku Dua I Panyin Kofi Karikari Kwabena Dwomo (regent) Mensa Bonsu Civil War period (1883-1888) Kwaku Dua II Owusu Kofi (Interim Council Chairman) Akyampon Panyin (Interim Council Chairman) Owusu Sekyere II (regent) Prempeh I

Asantehene under British rule (1902-1957)	Prempeh I Osei Tutu Agyeman Prempeh II

Asantehene of the Ashanti Kingdom in the Republic of Ghana (1957-present)	Osei Tutu Agyeman Prempeh II Opoku Ware II Nana Osei Bonsu II (regent) Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II

Persondata
Name	Prempeh 01
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	18 December 1870
Place of birth	Kumasi, Kingdom of Ashanti
Date of death	May 12, 1931
Place of death

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