The true origins of kente cloth: Beyond the spider story of Bonwire

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Alex oppong 1 year ago

Very soon you will say the Golden stool is from Hohoe I don't blame you

Very soon you will say the Golden stool is from Hohoe I don't blame you
REALLY? 1 year ago

Your ignorance is not an excuse for you to ignore the obvious truth and facts you are being offered to overcome your self-aggrandizement. If you choose to remain ignorant that is your choice but the truth and facts remain wha ...
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Your ignorance is not an excuse for you to ignore the obvious truth and facts you are being offered to overcome your self-aggrandizement. If you choose to remain ignorant that is your choice but the truth and facts remain what they are. ADINKRA definitely has some Ashanti origins, even though the Bono also claim some origins, but never KETE, K3T3, corrupted in Ashanti Twi as KENTE.

Kete or k3t3 describes the weaving process on a loom in Ewe-language spoken in Ghana, Togo, Benin-Dahomey, and Nigeria. Ananse and its web and two Ashanti farmers have nothing to do with it. That is what you yourself term "anansesem" or fairy tale. It is indeed a myth created to control the narrative and claim eminence and ingenuity.

Adinkra exhibits ingenuity for those who desire it for themselves but never KETE. That ingenuity and creativity belong to the Ewes. No weaver in Bonwire and beyond can explain how kente came be a Twi word from a spider's web, truly anansesem. Krokro kroni kro may be better words at least because the words describe the weaving process that men even sing as some of them weave.

Some time in Bonwire even the master weaver, Koffie and his family of master weavers, The Koffies, produce exquisite "kente" pieces for the Asantehene and they are Ewes. But the way, the huge statue of the Asantehene standing at the entrance of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi was created by an Ewe artist-professor along with others. Does he even claim glory and eminence or go around wanting recognition? Kwame Nkrumah did not. That is the model for Ghana and Africa. Do and create stuff not anansesem, "mouth-mouth" and "guy-guy". "I am this and powerful or I am that and the richest, the greatest, stand up and hail me, praise me, bow down for me." Just a few pairs of bones in the nearest future like all human beings. Such vanity, stupidity, and ignorance.

Here is the break-down of the weaving process from which KETE or K3T3 was derived in Ewe-language to be corrupted in Ashanti Twi as KENTE.The Warp and weft are two components that turn yarns into fabric. In weaving k3t3,the warp, vertical strands of yarns are opened, KE in Ewe, and a shuttle containing the weft, horizontal strands of yarns, is thrown through from one end of the warp and caught at the other end. The warp and weft are then pressed tightly together, TE in Ewe. This process then repeated from left to right and from right to left as the warp is opened and the weft passes through and pressed. Open-Press: KETE or K3T3. That is the name of the process and fabric produced through it in Ewe-language.

"Krokro" is copying the sound a shuttle containing the weft makes as it is thrown and slides between the opened warp from one end to the other and then back in the hundreds of thousands of times into the millions, billions and trillions and trillions as beautiful kete or your Ashanti kente are produced.

It is that simple and ingenuous. NO ANANSESEM.
REALLY? 1 year ago

Prof. Dr. Edwin Bodjawah is not Ewe and more interested in African culture than anything else in the true Kwame Nkrumah path of Africana personality.

Prof. Dr. Edwin Bodjawah is not Ewe and more interested in African culture than anything else in the true Kwame Nkrumah path of Africana personality.
Tylenol, USA_In 1992 I Personally Wrote To Asantehene On This Subject.. 1 year ago

I am not a 100 per cent Ashanti but I am not jealous of the Great Ashanti People. In 1992 or thereabouts, I personally wrote to the late Asantehene, Nana Opoku Ware on the undisputed origins of kente from Bonwire. I wrote fro ...
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I am not a 100 per cent Ashanti but I am not jealous of the Great Ashanti People. In 1992 or thereabouts, I personally wrote to the late Asantehene, Nana Opoku Ware on the undisputed origins of kente from Bonwire. I wrote from USA. As tradition and customs demand and out respect to the Manhyia palace, I sent the letter to the secretary of the Asantehene in the same way that any person will speak through the linguist of Asantehene in communicating with His Majesty but not to Asantehene directly.

I think the writer is a sick and ignorant idiot.
REALLY? 1 year ago

Read the post above. You are ignorant. You can continue living in your world of fabricated fairy tales of anansesem.

Read the post above. You are ignorant. You can continue living in your world of fabricated fairy tales of anansesem.
REALLY? 1 year ago

Hahaha You really need Tylenol and lots of it. Hahahahaha.

Hahaha You really need Tylenol and lots of it. Hahahahaha.
Kwame-Belgium 1 year ago

Okomfo Anokye or Komfou from Notsie

Okomfo Anokye or Komfou from Notsie
JJ BA 1 year ago

What a blatant lies and a piece of shit? Your lies and hatred wont lead you to anywhere.
So ask yourself, Is Ewe tribe older than Asante Tribe? You keep on saying that the Ewes in Togo used it long before the Asantes ,so whe ...
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What a blatant lies and a piece of shit? Your lies and hatred wont lead you to anywhere.
So ask yourself, Is Ewe tribe older than Asante Tribe? You keep on saying that the Ewes in Togo used it long before the Asantes ,so where were the Asantes?
Mr ignorance you should have research when did the Asantes started the kente weaving ?Give the historical dates of both tribes
Joe 1 year ago

Bam

Bam
REALLY? 1 year ago

Every group of people produce products from the resources within their environment. Were did they, Bonwire kente inventors, get cotton and silk for them to start weaving the corrupted name kente? Was cotton or silk growing or ...
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Every group of people produce products from the resources within their environment. Were did they, Bonwire kente inventors, get cotton and silk for them to start weaving the corrupted name kente? Was cotton or silk growing or grown in the evergreen forest of the Ashantis, even if their small "empire" of 150 km radius started at the time of the Greek or Roman empires or Ghana, Mali or Songhai empires? Were are those empires now? In the dustbin of history or part of a diminished powerless kingdom or chiefdoms in republics and freaking broke and indebted. Greece is a shadow of a republic wallowing in debt and misery.

Oh! Such a glorious triumphant empire and history!. Asante is just a small chiefdom in the republic of Ghana. Get over it. BAM!

Cotton grew in all the areas Ewe lived and still live, so they use those resources to weave kete. Some live on the coast and therefore had access to silk brought of ships from across the world. Adinkra needs tree bark pigments for printing and Ashanti forest was and is a ready and lasting source.

To get access to the coast and get their slaving -hands on these and guns, the Ashantis raided, pillaged, plundered to capture and kidnapped their neighbouring ethnic groups and sold them into slavery, and now claim the built an empire. Ashanti chiefdom is not older than 1700. Ewe-people left Notsie in the 1500s which means they had a peoplehood before 1500 well into the period of the Yoruba Oyo Empire that started in approximately 1300 C.E.

Now that you have the dates, which is older?

You know why the Ashanti chiefdom, so called empire, failed to beat the British, the conqueror's boots that the defeated asantehene knelt down and kissed? Because they terrorized, killed, and sold their neighbours into slavery. So, when the time came, instead of joining forces with them to fight the British, they joined the British because they also claimed to want to end slavery and the slave trade. The Asante wanted to continue them. Those are facts of history. Mr. Ignorance and Self-aggrandizement.

Modern is still facing the greed, clamour for power and control, and the outcome will be the same, a doomed chiefdom.

The Voltarian 1 year ago

The Eve tribe can be traced back to the 12th century, Ashantis did not exist as a tribe back then. Most of the Ashanti history has either been fabricated or embellished.

The Eve tribe can be traced back to the 12th century, Ashantis did not exist as a tribe back then. Most of the Ashanti history has either been fabricated or embellished.
Efr 1 year ago

It doesn't matter. It's embellished for success. Go back for yours, don't produce new ones. And leave the jealousy and bad temper. You will see the gold God gave you.

It doesn't matter. It's embellished for success. Go back for yours, don't produce new ones. And leave the jealousy and bad temper. You will see the gold God gave you.
bibinii y3 aboa 1 year ago

piece of shit! leave Ashantis alone. why all this jealous?

piece of shit! leave Ashantis alone. why all this jealous?
The Voltarian 1 year ago

There is no jealousy, just pure undiluted facts.

There is no jealousy, just pure undiluted facts.
Efr 1 year ago

It should have come from your fore fathers, not you.
This is what we received, passed down from at leat 300 years. We are not old..but God has been good to us. We simply appreciate him with what we have. Amen

It should have come from your fore fathers, not you.
This is what we received, passed down from at leat 300 years. We are not old..but God has been good to us. We simply appreciate him with what we have. Amen
EI AWONA FUO 1 year ago

FROM CLAIMING KOMFO ANOKYE AND NOW KENTE.
AND EVERYTHING THEY CLAIM COMES FROM NOTSIE.
I WON'T BE SURPRISE IF THEY CLAIM ADINKRA IS FROM NOTSIE THEN THE NEXT WILL BE BATAKARI OF FUGU FROM NOTSIE AND FUFUO WAS THE ARTISAN FA ...
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FROM CLAIMING KOMFO ANOKYE AND NOW KENTE.
AND EVERYTHING THEY CLAIM COMES FROM NOTSIE.
I WON'T BE SURPRISE IF THEY CLAIM ADINKRA IS FROM NOTSIE THEN THE NEXT WILL BE BATAKARI OF FUGU FROM NOTSIE AND FUFUO WAS THE ARTISAN FAVORITE SO FUFUO WILL THEN BE CLAIMED AS WELL FROM NOTSIE.
EI EWES
REALLY? 1 year ago

Batakari is from Northern Ghana and so too Fugu. They were made and still made from cotton grown in the region. Adinkra needs tree bark pigment that was and is available in the Ashanti forest. No one disagrees with those but ...
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Batakari is from Northern Ghana and so too Fugu. They were made and still made from cotton grown in the region. Adinkra needs tree bark pigment that was and is available in the Ashanti forest. No one disagrees with those but not inventing weaving cloth they call "kente" from 2 farmers watching a spider. That is total nonsense, anansesem. It is Kete or k3t3 that was corrupted in Ashanti twi as Kente. May be it can be called "krokronikro". Hahahaha. I laugh enter Bonwire to see ananse weaving kente.

Your self-aggrandizement anansesem do not always stand the test of facts and history. Get over it and deal with modern Ghana, the republic Kwame Nkrumah and other real patriots built.
Efr 1 year ago

Test of facts of history indeed. Most Africans weave. And whatever their story is, they love it, keep your and let is keep ours. You can twist the stories to your advantage but never will you have the backing of your ancestor ...
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Test of facts of history indeed. Most Africans weave. And whatever their story is, they love it, keep your and let is keep ours. You can twist the stories to your advantage but never will you have the backing of your ancestors, becuase they didn't give you that. Millennial creating centuries old fact. Indeed
The Voltarian 1 year ago

Ashantis did not create Kete or the Adinkra symbols, the Adinkra symbols are a creation of the Bono people, and Eves created the Kete cloths and taught Ashantis how to weave it.
This is an irrefutable fact.

Ashantis did not create Kete or the Adinkra symbols, the Adinkra symbols are a creation of the Bono people, and Eves created the Kete cloths and taught Ashantis how to weave it.
This is an irrefutable fact.
Manny 1 year ago

Kete - open press now is kente meaning unknown
Gali - grating casava is gari meaning unknown

Kete - open press now is kente meaning unknown
Gali - grating casava is gari meaning unknown

Bgees 2 months ago

In which school did they teach the Ashantis please.

In which school did they teach the Ashantis please.
ROGUE LAWYER 1 year ago

Nkwasiafo3 ad33so paaa oh,
where is this idiot heading to with fabricated own lies, ? and who does it think it could deceive ?
self imaginator idiot of idiocy.
Asantiman would continue to be Asanti- nothing could change t ...
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Nkwasiafo3 ad33so paaa oh,
where is this idiot heading to with fabricated own lies, ? and who does it think it could deceive ?
self imaginator idiot of idiocy.
Asantiman would continue to be Asanti- nothing could change the history of Asantiman-
kotib3to lunatic
REALLY? 1 year ago

Who says the history will change? Your can attempt to change it with anansesem but it is not happening. Asante raided, pillaged and plundered neighbours for slaves and sold them. Slave-raiding and slave trading is part of Asa ...
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Who says the history will change? Your can attempt to change it with anansesem but it is not happening. Asante raided, pillaged and plundered neighbours for slaves and sold them. Slave-raiding and slave trading is part of Asante history and because of that they were loosers. Deal with it.
ROGUE LAWYER 1 year ago

wagyimi dodo,
seek a mental help:

typical Asanti WOULD never ever sell their people to the very white man they were fighting with.
Asantis were the only tribe in the then Goldcoast who needed more solders to fight the ...
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wagyimi dodo,
seek a mental help:

typical Asanti WOULD never ever sell their people to the very white man they were fighting with.
Asantis were the only tribe in the then Goldcoast who needed more solders to fight the British,
so it is never true Asantis engaged in slave trade.
the very people the white man took away were never sold, they were the strong fighters who were captured in many of the wars, they were not sold.
the white man who wanted to look good and saint painted to the world that those people were sold to them. that was fabricated lies fool like you have eaten and still eaten them.
who in his right mind would sell his strongest soldiers to his enemy ?
REALLY? 1 year ago

Idiot. Donkor did not happen. Ashantis never attacked neighbouring ethnic groups. Keep tickling your anus and laughing with your Ashanti superiority logic. You claim you built an empire but never subjugated people and enslave ...
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Idiot. Donkor did not happen. Ashantis never attacked neighbouring ethnic groups. Keep tickling your anus and laughing with your Ashanti superiority logic. You claim you built an empire but never subjugated people and enslaved them. No empire in history came into being without subjugation and slavery. Did you manufacture European guns? Your ancestors got them by selling kidnapped and captured war prisoners to European slaver traders. They were losers and when the European wanted to end the slave trade with them, they refused because they did not want to loose the power and control they had terrorizing their neighbours.Their neighbours refused to side with them against the British because they were slave raiders and made war to capture people to sell. Your history is fucked up just as you understanding of it. You are a descendant of people thieves and sellers, Kwasia woti. Aboa wai.
Debunked Western fallacy 1 year ago

In 1820, the Asantehene Osei Bonsu wrote down that "he cannot make war to catch slaves in the bush like thieves". Early 19th century sources like Bowdich had wrote how Ashanti did not make war just to catch slaves. The idea o ...
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In 1820, the Asantehene Osei Bonsu wrote down that "he cannot make war to catch slaves in the bush like thieves". Early 19th century sources like Bowdich had wrote how Ashanti did not make war just to catch slaves. The idea of "primitive slave raiders" has long been debunked. Why don't you mention a single date, where the Ashanti Empire just slave raided? Do you know Ashanti couldn't even declare war unless there was a parliamentary vote? You Ghanaians are letting tribalism feed you with White man fallacy. The Ashanti was an empire that traded slaves, yes. But it was not this primitive slave catcher. Slaves were sold after an enemy state has been conquered just like all big empires did. The Ashanti could manufacture their guns. And the war against Britain was caused by the British not holding up the 1820 Ashanti - British treaty. Not some slave trade nonsense.
Efr 1 year ago

Your use of the caveat "May " in most the sentences in the article, indicates that not much factual information is derived from here. Yes and I'm being carful to use"May" , ...the Asantes "may" have learnt Kente eqaevong amd ...
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Your use of the caveat "May " in most the sentences in the article, indicates that not much factual information is derived from here. Yes and I'm being carful to use"May" , ...the Asantes "may" have learnt Kente eqaevong amd the looms use or whatever from anyone else, since they were migrating from Mali, the North, bono ahafo and what nots, ...the northern people of Ghana weave the fugubon looms, where did they get it?? The Banda people of bono weave and before colonialism, the other Alan's used to call them frantomafoo, to wit, the people who put on weave cloths. The Erhipians weave something similar to Kente, Nigerians weave their Asoke, which is definitely our fugu in the north, some even have a weaved cloth in nigeria,ighter than the Asoke which looks similar to Jente, Morroco weaves...so many of us weave. in the that makes us distinct and tells our histores. Kente has another variation of origin, called kenten...basket, and it explains something. In all of this, have you thought of how they even managed to get the silk cloth they use in wearing???
Let's stop the "what ifs " and propaganda of who has been around, and owns what, to prove a point. In any case, are the Anlos not Africans, who migrated to Ghna land?? Who knows, they equally saw the n8gerains nor the Ethiopians wearing. Oral tradition gasnt helped us but ut doesn't kill our identities too. Our brethren from Ewe land, spare us the claiming of this or that, if the history doesn't sit in your palaces and oral space, don't create it, and don't distort it either. Let's live continuously in harmony. After all when we fall in ❤️, these things are not mentioned. Big ups to is all
Francis Bannor-Anin 1 year ago

If the writer acknowledges the role of the Asantes in popularising the kente cloth which he believes the Asantes copied or stole from the Ewes, then the Asantes need to be celebrated by the Ewes for promoting their kente clo ...
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If the writer acknowledges the role of the Asantes in popularising the kente cloth which he believes the Asantes copied or stole from the Ewes, then the Asantes need to be celebrated by the Ewes for promoting their kente cloth all over the world for them. In fact the Ewes should show their appreciation by giving the Asantes an award for something that they themselves could not do for their own cloth. It is only ungrateful people who will pay the Asantes for this good gesture with ingratitude .
N. Asante 1 year ago

Ashanti's role in popularizing is not diminished by any means.

Ashanti's role in popularizing is not diminished by any means.
Firing Squad. 1 year ago

Masa, stop being naive and let Asante be, why is you Ewe's see anything Asante as being stolen from you , are you okay, Ashanti has been in existence before the creation of modern-day Ghana. Asante was a Kingdom, if you don't ...
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Masa, stop being naive and let Asante be, why is you Ewe's see anything Asante as being stolen from you , are you okay, Ashanti has been in existence before the creation of modern-day Ghana. Asante was a Kingdom, if you don't know you can ask your ancestors, we Asantes have been using Kente cloth since time memorial, so I am surprised you're trying to distort the facts, whenever you travel outside Ghana, people will start asking about Asante Kente. So my brother if you want to market Ewe Kente to the world you're free to do so, and stop blaming Asante's for your problems and leave Asante alone. You guys have been so blinded by tribalism and it has affected your sense of judgment, so you always blame Asante for your predicament but there is a saying, who Jah Bless no one curse. And when was the first and the last time you Ewe's, hear Asante's blaming ( Ewe's ) for our problems, never but Whenever ever you people experience any difficult situation, instead of focusing on finding a solution to it, you just stay idle and blame Asante. Nonsense. Have you heard of this food Pizza, it originates from Italy but Americans make more money from Pizza than the Italians, and the answer is how you package and market it. Come to think of Ewe Kente it does not bright, but Asante Kente is multi colored and easy to identify and also beautiful which is synonymous with our culture. Thank .

N. Asante 1 year ago

This is counterintuitive from your line of reasoning, but you conclusion is actually the correct thing to say. In present day Ghana, Kente's association with Ashantis is more pronounced than with Ewes. Despite this, there is ...
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This is counterintuitive from your line of reasoning, but you conclusion is actually the correct thing to say. In present day Ghana, Kente's association with Ashantis is more pronounced than with Ewes. Despite this, there is no issue even if Kente's origins in Eweland.
Garba 1 year ago

You read but lack comprehension, the writer acknowledged the Asantes for popularizing Kente but the facts remains that they learnt the craft from the Ewe people, period.

You read but lack comprehension, the writer acknowledged the Asantes for popularizing Kente but the facts remains that they learnt the craft from the Ewe people, period.
Emmanuel Afran 1 year ago

This article can be accurate:
1. If you say Because weaving started on Ewe lands before Asante lands, it means Kente started on Ewe lands, why was it not started first from Egypt as you indicated weaving started foremost in ...
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This article can be accurate:
1. If you say Because weaving started on Ewe lands before Asante lands, it means Kente started on Ewe lands, why was it not started first from Egypt as you indicated weaving started foremost in Egypt as far back as 4000BCE?

2. K3t3 in Ewe seems more aligned with 'K3t3' in Akan, which refers to that woven mat or mattress, also called Bropa. Not Kente which is a cloth.

3. The literature review is too scanty to support such long studied fact that Kente is from Ashanti.

4. There is no evidence anywhere that Ewes invented or wove Kente. They wove other forms of clothing and K3t3 or mats but never Kente.
Emmanuel Afran 1 year ago

This article can't be accurate.

This article can't be accurate.
kojo fordi 1 year ago

what's wrong with the Asante Bonwire discovery about kente?.
serlom's '' kɛtɛ '' as he says is Akan word which means mat in English.
Asantes popularity of lkente is acredited globally even if the narrative is given to not ...
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what's wrong with the Asante Bonwire discovery about kente?.
serlom's '' kɛtɛ '' as he says is Akan word which means mat in English.
Asantes popularity of lkente is acredited globally even if the narrative is given to notsie this time around, moreover, Akyems and Kotoko are the same people but not divisible. Let's build Ghana with LOVE for all.
Bastie Asantefournyinaahene 1 year ago

Asantes haven’t contributed anything culturally , arts and custom in Ghana. They’re just braggarts

Asantes haven’t contributed anything culturally , arts and custom in Ghana. They’re just braggarts
Delusional take 1 year ago

This is delusional. Considering how advanced and sophisticated the Asante Empire was. And I'm not even Ghanaian.

This is delusional. Considering how advanced and sophisticated the Asante Empire was. And I'm not even Ghanaian.
Okponglo Guy 1 year ago

Tickle your self funny. Asante is even a Ewe word. You created the universe. Such lies denotes envy and unnecessary inferiority complex.

Tickle your self funny. Asante is even a Ewe word. You created the universe. Such lies denotes envy and unnecessary inferiority complex.
Okponglo Guy 1 year ago

So why weave Ayigbe Kente to date? Why even call it Kente? Call it K3t3.

We know your green kente. Why didn’t your chiefs use them? Kente is all over Akan land.

The green eye monster is deadly.

So why weave Ayigbe Kente to date? Why even call it Kente? Call it K3t3.

We know your green kente. Why didn’t your chiefs use them? Kente is all over Akan land.

The green eye monster is deadly.
Simon Dzidzornu 1 year ago

The etymological meaning of the word "K3t3" (Kete) in Ewe is "Open-press", that is, "Open and press", depicting the functions of the feet and hands in the weaving a piece of k3t3 cloth.

The etymological meaning of the word "K3t3" (Kete) in Ewe is "Open-press", that is, "Open and press", depicting the functions of the feet and hands in the weaving a piece of k3t3 cloth.
Source? 1 year ago

Did you get this from your dreams?

Did you get this from your dreams?
Togbe 4 months ago

Do you open and close when weaving? Save us the Ayigbe nonsense!

Do you open and close when weaving? Save us the Ayigbe nonsense!
Addai 2 months ago

Ghana web stop misleading people. Kente is from Asante Bonwire . Stop this nonsense ; always twisting history

Ghana web stop misleading people. Kente is from Asante Bonwire . Stop this nonsense ; always twisting history
Bgees 2 months ago

Meanwhile Bowdich wrote on Kente cloth in his book in 1819. Such a shame on you some Ewes

Meanwhile Bowdich wrote on Kente cloth in his book in 1819. Such a shame on you some Ewes

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The true origins of kente cloth: Beyond the spider story of Bonwire

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