Ashantiland

This article is about the homeland of the Ashanti nation and ethnic group. It is not to be confused with Kingdom of Ashanti or Ashanti Region.
Ashantiland
Asanteman  (Ashanti)
Kingdom of Ashanti
Asanteman
South Ghana
Flag Emblem
Location of  Ashantiland  (dark green)
Location of  Ashantiland  (dark green)
Ashantiland and its six regions.
Ashantiland and its six regions.
Status State union, with the Kingdom of Dagbon and Volta combining to form Ghana
Capital
and largest city		Kumasi
National language Ashanti (Twi)
Demonym Ashanti
Area
 •  Total 120,761 km2
46,626 sq mi
Population
 •  2014 estimate 11,700,000
 •  Density 1917/km2
4,965/sq mi
Time zone GMT (UTC+0)

Ashantiland (Ashanti: Asanteman), formerly known as the Ashanti Empire, is the homeland of the Ashanti people on the Gulf of Guinea. The territory, located in southern Ghana, is bounded by the Black Volta River to the north, Lake Volta to the east, the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and Ivory Coast to the west.

Ashantiland is a non-governmental cultural and linguistic area defined by the Ashanti traditions and language. The territory comprises six regions founded by the Ashanti people: the Ashanti Region, the Brong-Ahafo Region, the Central Region, the Eastern Region, the Greater Accra Region, and the Western Region.[1]

The Akan settlement of Bonoman (in what is now the Brong-Ahafo Region) was established as early as the 11th century[2] and is credited with the foundation of much of Ashantiland's culture and customs. In the 12th and 13th centuries, a gold boom brought wealth to the region.[3] Some people left Bonoman to create other states, based predominantly on gold, industrial minerals, mining, and the trading of cocoa and cash crops.[4][5][6][7] The resulting prosperity led to the rise of the Ashanti Empire under King Osei Kofi Tutu I.[8][9]

The current king is Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II,[10] who ascended to the throne on 26 April 1999.[10]

Etymology

"Ashantiland" is a translation of the Ashanti term Asanteman.[11] The word man, which forms the second element of the expression, has a meaning similar to "community", "nation", or "state".[11]

History

Bonoman (500–1400)

Main article: Bonoman

Bonoman, or Bono State, was a trading state created by the Ashanti people in the 11th century, following the establishment of a settlement in the 6th century. This state, located in what is now the Brong-Ahafo Region and eastern Ivory Coast,[12] is generally accepted as the origin of subgroups of the Akan people who migrated at various points in search of gold and created new settlements.[12] The gold trade, which started to boom in Bonoman as early as the 12th century, was the source of Ashanti power and wealth in the region, beginning in the Middle Ages.[12][13] Various aspects of Ashanti culture stem from Bonoman, including the swords (Akrafena) of the Ashanti nation, the Golden Stool, goldsmithing, blacksmithing, kente cloth, gold weighing, and the umbrella used by kings.[14]

All Ashanti offshoots—including the Denkyira (further divided into the Assin, Fante Confederacy, and Mankessim Kingdom), Akyem (divided into the Akwamu, Akuapem, and Kwahu), and Ahanta (divided into the Aowin, Sefwi, and Wassa)—originated in Bono State.[15]

Gyaaman and Denkyira (1400–1600)

Main articles: Gyaaman and Denkyira

Gyaaman (also spelled Jamang) was a medieval state founded by the Ashanti in 1450, mostly in what is now Brong-Ahafo. Denkyira was founded in 1620 in what are now the Central and Western regions.

During the 16th century, the Ashanti society experienced sudden changes, including population growth, because of the cultivation of New World plants such as cassava and maize and an increase in the gold trade between coastal and northern areas.[7]

Kingdom of Ashanti (1670–1902)

By the 17th century, a segment of the Ashanti people were living in a state called Kwaaman, north of Lake Bosomtwe.[7] The state's revenue was mainly derived from a trade in gold, kola nuts, and cocoa, and from clearing forested areas to plant yams.[7] The Ashanti built towns between the Pra and Ofin rivers.[7] They formed alliances for defense and paid tribute to Denkyira, one of the more powerful Ashanti settlement states at that time, along with Adansi and Akwamu.[7]

King Osei Kofi Tutu I (c. 1695–1717), with the help of Okomfo Anokye, unified what would become the Kingdom of Ashanti, with the Ashanti royal throne, the Golden Stool, as a symbol of the people's unity and spirit.[16] He engaged in a massive territorial expansion,[16] building an army based on that of the Akwamu settlement and turning a disciplined militia into an effective fighting machine.[16] In 1701, the kingdom conquered Denkyira, giving the Ashanti access to the coastal trade with Europe, especially the Dutch Republic.[16]

King Opoku Ware I (1720–1745) engaged in further expansion, adding more southern settlements to the growing empire.[16] He then turned north, adding Techiman, Banda, Gyaaman, and Gonja on the Black Volta.[16] In 1744 and 1745, he attacked the Kingdom of Dagbon, a northern state of the Dagomba people, gaining control of the important middle Niger trade routes.[16] King Kusi Obodom (1750–1764) solidified the newly won territories.[16]

Map of the Kingdom of Ashanti.

King Osei Kwadwo (1764–1777) imposed administrative reforms that allowed the empire to be governed effectively and to continue its military expansion.[16] King Osei Kwame Panyin (1777–1803), King Osei Tutu Kwame (1804–1807), and King Osei Bonsu (1807–1824) continued Ashanti territorial consolidation and expansion.[16] The empire grew to include all of present-day Ghana and large parts of the southeastern Ivory Coast.[16] Throughout the 19th century, the Ashanti remained powerful.[17] The empire was subjugated by the British Gold Coast in 1902, after the four Anglo-Ashanti wars and the War of the Golden Stool.[17]

Independence and unification (1935–1957)

King Osei Tutu II on a state visit at the National Museum of African Art.

Ashantiland regained its independence and sovereignty in 1935 under King Osei Tutu Agyeman Prempeh II. On 6 March 1957, it entered a state union following the decolonization of the Gold Coast by the United Kingdom, creating the six regions that exist today.[1] Under King Prempeh, Ashantiland joined with Volta (formerly British Togoland) and the Kingdom of Dagbon to form the current nation of Ghana.

Modern politics

Nana Akufo-Addo, the president of the New Patriotic Party.

The Ashanti are represented in Ghanaian politics primarily by the New Patriotic Party (NPP), which was founded in 1992 and has been the most dominant of the three political parties in Ashantiland since 2001. The other two are the Convention People's Party (CPP), founded in 1949 by Lenin Peace Prize recipient Kwame Nkrumah, and the Progressive People's Party (PPP), founded in 2011 by a businessman, Paa Kwesi Nduom.

In the first round of the NPP's delegate election in 2007, Nana Akufo-Addo won 48% of the vote. He secured a majority in the second round of voting, making him the party’s president until 7 August 2010.[18] He was then re-elected with the support of 79% of the party's delegates.[18]

Geography

Bird's-eye view of Kumasi in Ashanti

The largest region of Ashantiland is Brong-Ahafo, and the smallest is Greater Accra. Kumasi is the capital, and Accra is the largest city. The largest river is the Pra River, and the largest inland lake is Lake Bosumtwi, which is also the location of an impact crater. Lake Volta, is the largest lake and reservoir, as well as the largest reservoir on Earth by surface area. The highest point is in the Atewa Range, and the lowest is Cape Three Points. The main territorial islands are Bobowasi Island in the Atlantic Ocean and Dodi Island on Lake Volta.

Ashantiland
Region Regional Capital Map
Ashanti Kumasi
Brong-Ahafo Sunyani
Central Cape Coast
Eastern Koforidua
Greater Accra Accra
Western Sekondi-Takoradi

Territorial borders

 Black Volta River
 Ivory Coast Lake Volta
   Ashantiland  
Atlantic Ocean Gulf of Guinea and Atlantic Ocean Lake Volta and Gulf of Guinea

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ashanti peoplpe.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ashanti Empire.

References

  1. 1 2 "History of the Asante (Ashanti) People" (PDF). anglogold.com. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  2. ↑ The Techiman-Bono of Ghana:an ethnography of an Akan society Kendall/Hunt Pub. Co., 1975
  3. ↑ Title: Africa a Voyage of Discovery with Basil Davidson, Language: English Type: Documentary Year: 1984 Length: 114 min.
  4. ↑ Africa from the 12th to the 16th century Joseph Ki-Zerbo, Djibril Tamsir Niane, James Currey, 1997, 294 pp.
  5. ↑ Indigenous medicine and knowledge in African society. Psychology Press, 2007 - Health & Fitness.
  6. ↑ MacLean, Iain. Rational Choice and British Politics: An Analysis of Rhetoric and Manipulation from Peel to Blair, 2001. Page 76.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Collins and Burns (2007), p. 139.
  8. ↑ "Akwamu - Encyclopedia Article and More from". Merriam-Webster. 13 August 2010. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  9. ↑ Africa: a Voyage of Discovery with Basil Davidson, Documentary, 1984, 114 minutes.
  10. 1 2 Kingdom of Ashanti Kings And Queens Of Asante
  11. 1 2 Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana, Volumes 7–9, p. 28
  12. 1 2 3 Djibril Tamsir Niane, Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century, Unesco. International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a General History of Africa.
  13. ↑ Effah-Gyamfi, Kwaku (1987). "Archaeology and the study of early African towns: the West African case, especially Ghana", West African Journal of Archaeology.
  14. ↑ Kwasi Konadu, Indigenous Medicine and Knowledge in African Society, Routledge, 2007.
  15. ↑ Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt, Michel Abitbol, Naomi Chazan (1988). The Early State in African Perspective: Culture, Power and Division of Labor. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 90-04-08355-3.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Collins and Burns (2007), p. 140.
  17. 1 2 Davidson (1991), p. 242.
  18. 1 2 Kumasi (7 October 2012). "NPP Has Track Record… of protecting the public purse, says Nana Addo". The Chronicle. Archived from the original on 7 October 2012.

Coordinates: 5°27′N 0°58′W / 5.450°N 0.967°W / 5.450; -0.967

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