Sankofa Series: How the Asante tribe came to be

The following details are from two separate articles published on GhanaWeb on March 11, 2020, and, from the history page on the website. It has been out together into one article as GhanaWeb marks the month of March as Ghana Month.

The Ashanti tribe or Asantes are one of Ghana’s major ethnic groups. The ancient Ashanti migrated from the vicinity of the northwestern Niger River after the fall of the Ghana Empire in the 13th century.

Evidence of this lies in the royal courts of the Akan kings and reflected by that of the Ashanti kings whose processions and ceremonies show remnants of ancient Ghana ceremonies.

After crossing the lower Niger River, they made their way through the forests of modern-day Benin and Togo before reaching the Ghanaian coast. The Ashanti and various other Akan people migrated into the forest belt of present-day Ghana and established small states in the hilly country around present-day Kumasi.

In these lands, rich in gold and kola nuts, mainstays of trade, the Ashanti, as well as their other Akan cousins, prospered.

By the 16th century, with the affluent trade economy of the region, a number of highly developed Akan states had emerged: The Bono in the north, the Denkyira, Akwamu, Fante and Ashanti to the south. Kingdom formation centred on various clans, each headed by a paramount chief or Amanhene.

One of these clans, the Oyoko, settled in Ghana’s sub-tropical forest region, establishing a center at Kumasi.

Over the 16th and 17th centuries, during the rise of another Akan state known as the Denkyira, the Ashanti became tributaries. The Denkyiras quickly grew to dominate and exercise control over the smaller southern states.

The Oyoko clan, which was under the Denkyiran dominance soon started rising to prominence. Obiri Yeboa (r. c. 1660 – 1680) of the Oyokos never saw his ambitions for the future of the Ashanti, united and free from Denkyira come to fruition. But during his reign, he planted the seeds for unification that his nephew and successor Osei Tutu (r. c. 1680 – 1717) would use.

Osei Tutu during his reign started consolidating and uniting the other clans against the Denkyira. The Ashanti chiefs swore allegiance to the stool which Okomfo Anokye, the first Asantehene (Osei Tutu’s) chief priest and advisor, conjured from the heavens during a meeting of all the heads of each Ashanti clan.

With those alliances firmly secured, Osei Tutu led his new army to defeat the Denkyira. Their victory allowed the Ashanti access to the European trade spilling in from the coast. Due to that, the empire tripled in size, becoming a strong, war-focused nation. Osei Tutu died in battle during a campaign against Akyem, another Akan state.

More history of the Ashanti Kingdom;

The Asante Kings (Asantehene)

Nana Osei Tutu (1680 tp 1717),

Nana Opoku Ware I (1720-1750)

Nana Kusi Obodum (1750-1764)

Nana Osei Kwadwo (1764-1777

Nana Osei Kwame (1777-1798)

Nana Opoku Fofie (1798-1799)

Nana Osei Bonsu (1800-1823)

Nana Osei Yaw Akoto (1824-34)

Nana Kwaku Dua I (1834 - 67)

Nana Kofi Karikari (1867-74)

Nana Mensah Bonsu (1874-1883)

Nana Kwaku Dua II in 1884

Nana Kwaku Duah II alias Nana Agyeman Prempeh I from 1888 to 1931,

Nana Osei Tutu Agyeman Prempeh II from 1931 to 1970

Otumfuo Opoku Ware II from 1970-1999.

The Asante kingdom was founded by the great King Osei Tutu in the eighteenth century. His fetish priest was Okomfo Anokye, who unified the Asante states through allegiance to the Golden Stool, which miraculously descended from heaven. Okomfo Anokye planted two trees in the forest and predicted that one tree would live and become the capital of Ashanti. Hence is derived the name Kumasi (the tree lived); the place in which the other tree was planted became Kumawu (the tree died).

Although located in the heart of the forest, Asante dominion was extended by military action and political skill towards the European-occupied castles on the coast to the south, and also into the dry savannah lands to the north. This led to various wars with Britain. Kumasi was captured by the British Army in 1873 (as a result of which much of the magnificent Asante gold regalia can be seen in Londo n in the British Museum). After a final uprising in 1901, led by the Queen Mother of Ejisu (Yaa Asantewaa) Asante came into British Protection and finally became a region of the Gold Coast colony.

In 1957, after a period of internal self-government, the Gold Coast becam e the first African colony to achieve independence under the charismatic leadership of Kwame Nkrumah.

Kumasi

Getting to the end of the 17th century Anokye Komfuo planted three "KUM" trees at different places. One at Kwaaman was ruled by the Nananomayokofuo, a second one at Apemso-Bankofo ruled by Nananomaduanafuo and a third a village near Fomena and Amoafo called Oboani ruled by Nananomekuonafuo.

The Kum tree at Kwaaman flourished and became a very big tree under which the King and his people often sat and so Kwaaman became Kum-ase meaning under Kum.

The tree at Oboani was however very tiny and for no apparent reason was relatively short. According to oral tradition, this small tree however produced a couple of other trees which were all small in size. The name of the village was changed to Kuma meaning small KUM.

The Kum tree at Apemso-Bankofo did not grow at all. After a few weeks, the leaves got rotten and the tree fell down and so it was said that the Kum tree has died or the Kum tree was dead and so the village became Kum-awu and this later changed to become Kumawu.

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