Ashanti Uprising (1900)

Ashanti Uprising (1900)

PRINCIPAL COMBATANTS: The Ashanti vs. Great Britain

PRINCIPAL THEATER(S): Present-day Ghana

DECLARATION: None

MAJOR ISSUES AND OBJECTIVES: After two centuries of war
and four defeats at the hands of British colonial forces,
the Ashanti staged a final uprising and besieged their
former capital of Kumasi.

OUTCOME: British troops crushed the rebellion and
pacified the Ashanti.

APPROXIMATE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF MEN UNDER ARMS:
Ashanti, 5,000; British regulars and native infantry, 2,956

CASUALTIES: Ashanti losses, unknown; Anglo-African
losses, 150 killed, 800 wounded

TREATIES: None

At the turn of the 19th century during the height of the
New Imperialism, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and
Portugal were engaged in almost continuous fighting with
the peoples of Africa to stabilize, pacify, and enforce their
colonial empires in Africa. Such operations were generally
successful, since the Europeans were heavily arming themselves
and beefing up their militaries for a major war they
all knew was coming in Europe itself. One challenge came
to the British from the Ashanti, who had once ruled a large
empire in West Africa but whose confederacy had been bled
dry and ultimately dissolved by four colonial wars stretching
across the entire 19th century (see ASHANTI, RISE OF
THE; ASHANTI WAR, FIRST; ASHANTI WAR, SECOND; ASHANTI
WAR, THIRD; ASHANTIWAR, FOURTH). From March through
November of 1900 the Ashanti, under the leadership of
Queen Yaa Asantewa (d. 1921), besieged Kumasi, which
had been the capital of their union before the British (having
burned it to the ground in a previous war) occupied it at
the end of the last Ashanti War, and demanded the return of
their exiled leaders. The uprising was ultimately suppressed
by British troops and the Ashanti finally pacified.

Further reading: Robert B. Edgerton, The Fall of the
Asante Empire: The Hundred-Year War for Africa’s Gold
Coast (New York: Free Press, 1995); Edward W. Said, Culture
and Imperialism (New York: Vintage, 1994).