Ashanti, Rise of the (1600–1800)

Ashanti, Rise of the (1600–1800)

PRINCIPAL COMBATANTS: Ashantis vs. various other
African kingdoms

PRINCIPAL THEATER(S): Southern Ghana

DECLARATION: None

MAJOR ISSUES AND OBJECTIVES: In the 18th century the
Ashantis established a West African empire.

OUTCOME: Maintaining its expansion through active slave
trade and the mining of gold, the Ashanti state grew rich
and powerful enough to threaten the interests of British
colonizers.

APPROXIMATE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF MEN UNDER ARMS:
Unknown

CASUALTIES: Unknown

TREATIES: None

The Ashanti were part of the Akan peoples who, in various
tribal groupings, migrated around 1600 from the
region of modern Ghana to settle in the jungle region west
of the Volta and form a loose confederation for defensive
purposes. During the following century they gradually
expanded and increased their power in the Volta basin and
farther west, coming into contact inland with nomadic
tribes and along the coast with Europeans. In the 18th
century the Ashanti developed a highly efficient and
resilient empire in West Africa around today’s southern
Ghana that endured four major struggles against European
imperial forces, mostly British, in the 19th century,
only to be annexed by the British in the early 20th century
(see ASHANTIWAR, FIRST; ASHANTIWAR, SECOND; ASHANTI
WAR, THIRD; ASHANTI WAR, FOURTH).
In the 17th century the slave trade began to ruin the
traditional society and power structures of the coastal
regions of West Africa. The tribes of the so-called Gold
Coast grew fatally weak under the impact of European
trade, but the inland peoples were less affected, although
they, too, participated in the slave raiding and thus experienced
the inherent instability the trade brought with it—
interminable warfare, mismatches in arms and wealth, loss
of traditional social mores, and the like. By mid-century
not only were the inland tribes selling their captives to the
Portuguese and Dutch on the coast but also to Arab slave
traders from across the Sahara. The Arabs brought with
them the Islamic religion, and it generally spread along
the territory bordering the desert on the southwest.
Before the late 1600s the Ashanti had been vassals of
the state of Denkyera, but the last decade of the century
saw the rise of a new Ashanti king. Osei Tutu was an able
leader, skilled in war, who began a struggle that by 1697
led to his conquest of the suzerain state and its surrounding
areas. Tutu created the Ashanti Confederacy, which he
ruled until 1731. Tutu established the capital city at
Kumasi where the sika dwa (golden stool), which came to
symbolize the wealth of Ashanti, was displayed. Much of
the Ashanti wealth came from an active slave trade with
Portuguese and Dutch traders on the coast. In return for
slaves, the Europeans gave the Ashanti weapons to support
their expansion and to maintain the Ashanti’s ownership
of the area’s gold mines.
Ultimately, Osei Tutu was defeated and killed by the
neighboring Akim people, and a period of disarray swept
through the kingdom. His death was soon avenged by
Opoku Ware, who became Ashanti ruler in 1731 and
restored the kingdom. Beginning in 1752, with the reign of
a warrior leader named Osei Kojo, the Ashanti dominions
expanded in all directions. Of all the many tribal groupings
in the jungle region, the Ashanti continued to conquer
until by the end of the century they had stretched their
empire into the open uplands of the middle Volta region
and farther west, also approaching the Ivory and Gold
Coasts, where France and Britain had been engaging in
raids and counterraids that reflected various European
wars. The homegrown and the foreign empires were faceto-
face at the turn of the 19th century.

See also ASHANTI UPRISING.

Further reading: Edward W. Said, Culture and Imperialism
(New York: Vintage, 1994); Carol Thompson, The
Asante Kingdom (New York: Franklin Watts, 1999).