| Conventional Long Name: | Asante Empire |
| Common Name: | Asante |
| Status: | State union with Ghana |
| Life Span: |
|
| Year Start: | 1701 |
| Event End: | State union |
| Year End: | Present |
| Event1: | Independence from Denkyira |
| Date Event1: | 1701 |
| Event2: | Annexed to form British Ashanti Crown Colony |
| Date Event2: | 1901[1] |
| Event3: | Self-rule within British colony |
| Date Event3: | 1935 |
| Event4: | State union Asante Kingdom with Ghana |
| Date Event4: | 1957 |
| P1: | Denkyira |
| S1: | Ashanti (Crown Colony)Ashanti Crown Colony |
| Flag S1: | Flag of the Gold Coast (1877–1957).svg |
| S2: | Ghana |
| Flag S2: | Flag of Ghana.svg |
| Coa Size: | 100px |
| Image Map Caption: | Map of the Asante Empire |
| Capital: | Kumasi |
| Common Languages: | Asante (Twi) (official),Hausa, Dyula |
| Religion: | Akan religion, Islam (Qadiriyya, Suwariyya) |
| Government Type: | Constitutional Elective Monarchy |
| Leader1: | Osei Tutu |
| Year Leader1: | 1670–1717 (first) |
| Leader2: | Prempeh I |
| Year Leader2: | 1888–1896 (13th) |
| Leader3: | Prempeh II |
| Year Leader3: | 1931–1957 (last) |
| Leader4: | Osei Tutu II |
| Year Leader4: | 1999–present absolute monarchy national state within Ghana) |
| Legislature: | Asante Kotoko (Council of Kumasi)[2] and the Asantemanhyiamu (National Assembly) |
| Stat Area1: | 259000 |
| Stat Pop1: | 3,000,000 |
| Ref Area1: | [3] |
| Today: | Ghana Ivory Coast Togo |
| Currency: | Mperedwan, Benda |
| Demonym: | Asantefoɔ |
The Asante Empire (Asante Twi: Twi: '''Asanteman'''), also known as the Ashanti Empire, was an Akan state that lasted from 1701 to 1901, in what is now modern-day Ghana. It expanded from the Ashanti Region to include most of Ghana and also parts of Ivory Coast and Togo.[4] [5] Due to the empire's military prowess, wealth, architecture, sophisticated hierarchy and culture, the Asante Empire has been extensively studied and has more historic records written by European, primarily British, authors than any other indigenous culture of sub-Saharan Africa.[6] [7]
Starting in the late 17th century, the Asante king Osei Tutu ( - 1717) and his adviser Okomfo Anokye established the Asante Kingdom, with the Golden Stool of Asante as a sole unifying symbol.[8] [9] Osei Tutu oversaw a massive Asante territorial expansion, building up the army by introducing new organisation and turning a disciplined royal and paramilitary army into an effective fighting machine.[6] In 1701, the Ashanti army conquered Denkyira, giving the Ashanti access to the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean coastal trade with Europeans, notably the Dutch. The economy of the Asante Empire was mainly based on the trade of gold and agricultural exports[10] as well as slave trading, craft work and trade with markets further north.[11]
The Asante Empire fought several wars with neighboring kingdoms and lesser organized groups such as the Fante. The Asante held their own against the British in the first two of the five Anglo-Ashanti Wars, killing British army general Sir Charles MacCarthy and keeping his skull as a gold-rimmed drinking cup in 1824. British forces later burnt and sacked the Asante capital of Kumasi, however, and following the final Asante defeat at the fifth Anglo-Ashanti War, the Asante empire became part of the Gold Coast colony on 1 January 1902. Today, the Asante Kingdom survives as a constitutionally protected, sub-national traditional state[12] in union with the Republic of Ghana. The current king of the Asante kingdom is Otumfuo Osei Tutu II Asantehene. The Asante kingdom is the home to Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana's only natural lake. The state's current economic revenue is derived mainly from trading in gold bars, cocoa, kola nuts and agriculture.[13]
The name Asante means "because of war". The word derives from the Twi words ɔsa meaning "war" and nti meaning "because of". This name comes from the Asante's origin as a kingdom created to fight the Denkyira kingdom.[14]
The variant name "Ashanti" comes from British reports transcribing "Asante" as the British heard it pronounced, as-hanti. The hyphenation was subsequently dropped and the name Ashanti remained, with various spellings including Ashantee common into the early 20th century.
Between the 10th and 12th centuries AD, the ethnic Akan people migrated into the forest belt of Southern Ghana and established several Akan states: Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo, Assin-Denkyira-Fante Confederacy-Mankessim Kingdom (present-day Central region), Akyem-Akwamu-Akuapem-Kwahu (present-day Eastern region and Greater Accra), and Ahanta-Aowin-Sefwi-Wassa (present-day Western region).
Asante had a flourishing trade with other African states due to the Asante gold wealth. The Asante also traded enslaved people. At this time the trade of enslaved people was focused towards the north. The army served as the effective tool to procure captives.[15] These captives from war would go to Hausa and Mande traders and would be exchanged for goods from North Africa and other European goods.[16] [17] When the gold mines in the Sahel started to play out, the Asante kingdom rose to prominence as the major player in the gold trade.[13] At the height of the Asante empire, the Asante people became wealthy through the trading of gold mined from their territory.[13]
Asante political organization was originally centred on clans headed by a paramount chief or Omanhene.[18] One particular clan, the Oyoko, settled in the Asante's sub-tropical forest region, establishing a centre at Kumasi.[19] The Asante became tributaries of another Akan state, Denkyira but in the mid-17th century the Oyoko under Chief Oti Akenten started consolidating the Asante clans into a loose confederation against the Denkyira.[20]
The introduction of the Golden Stool (Sika dwa) was a means of centralization under Osei Tutu. According to legend, a meeting of all the clan heads of each of the Asante settlements was called just prior to declaring independence from Denkyira. Those included members from Nsuta, Mampong, Dwaben, Bekwai and Kokofu. In this meeting the Golden Stool was commanded down from the heavens by Okomfo Anokye, chief-priest or sage advisor to Asantehene Osei Tutu I and floated down from the heavens into the lap of Osei Tutu I. Okomfo Anokye declared the stool to be symbolic of the new Ashanti Union (the Ashanti Kingdom) and allegiance was sworn to the stool and to Osei Tutu as the Asantehene. The newly declared Ashanti union subsequently waged war against and defeated Denkyira.[21] The stool remains sacred to the Asante as it is believed to contain the Sunsum — spirit or soul of the Asante people.
In the 1670s the head of the Oyoko clan, Osei Kofi Tutu I, began another rapid consolidation of Akan peoples via diplomacy and warfare.[22] King Osei Kofi Tutu I and his chief advisor, Okomfo Kwame Frimpong Anokye led a coalition of influential Asante city-states against their mutual oppressor, the Denkyira who held the Asante kingdom in its thrall. The Asante kingdom utterly defeated them at the Battle of Feyiase, proclaiming its independence in 1701. Subsequently, through hard line force of arms and savoir-faire diplomacy, the duo induced the leaders of the other Asante city-states to declare allegiance and adherence to Kumasi, the Asante capital. From the beginning, King Osei Tutu and priest Anokye followed an expansionist and an imperialistic provincial foreign policy. According to folklore, Okomfo Anokye is believed to have visited Agona-Akrofonso.
Realizing the strengths of a loose confederation of Akan states, Osei Tutu strengthened centralization of the surrounding Akan groups and expanded the powers of the judiciary system within the centralized government. This loose confederation of small city-states grew into a kingdom and eventually an empire looking to expand its borders. Newly conquered areas had the option of joining the empire or becoming tributary states.[23] Opoku Ware I, Osei Tutu's successor, extended the borders, embracing much of Ghana's territory.
European contact with the Asante on the Gulf of Guinea coast region of Africa began in the 15th century. This led to trade in gold, ivory, slaves, and other goods with the Portuguese. On May 15, 1817, the Englishman Thomas Bowdich entered Kumasi. He remained there for several months, was impressed, and on his return to England wrote a book, Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee.[24] His praise of the kingdom was disbelieved as it contradicted prevailing prejudices. Joseph Dupuis, the first British consul in Kumasi, arrived on March 23, 1820. Both Bowdich and Dupuis secured a treaty with the Asantehene, but the governor, Hope Smith, did not meet Ashanti expectations.[25]
From 1824 till 1899 there were five Anglo-Ashanti wars between the Asante Empire and Great Britain and its allies. The British lost or negotiated truces in several of these wars, with the final war resulting in British burning of Kumasi and official occupation of the Asante Empire in 1900. The wars were mainly due to Asante attempts to establish a stronghold over the coastal areas of present-day Ghana. Coastal peoples such as the Fante and the Ga came to rely on British protection against Asante incursions.
In December 1895, the British left Cape Coast with an expeditionary force to start what is known as the Third Anglo-Ashanti War, see below. The Asantehene directed the Asante to not resist the British advance, as he feared reprisals from Britain if the expedition turned violent. Shortly thereafter, Governor William Maxwell arrived in Kumasi as well, where Prempeh I was humiliated.