History of West Africa Gold Coast
1874-1918






Ashanti Confederation, late 17th century - 1901



The Ashanti Confederation (also called Asante) was established in the late 17th century. It's political center was Kumasi, where the Asantehene (king) resided. The Golden Stool was a symbol the Asantehene's power. The language was Asante. The state was warlike.
In 1806/14 the Ashanti conquered the coastal Fanti (Fante) states. In 1817 and 1820, the Ashanti signed treaties of friendship with Britain. Yet, Britain's policy to actively suppress slave trade resulted in conflict; in 1824 the Ashanti defeated a British force; peace was signed in 1831. The Danes closed down their trading posts in 1850, the Dutch ceded their possesons on the Gold Coast to the British in 1872.
Late in the 19th century, Britain searched to establish it's sovereignty over the confederation. In 1874, a British force under Sir Garnet Wolseley occupied Kumasi and annexed the coastal province, which was declared the Gold Coast Colony. The Ashanti resisted, but were defeated in 1896, when a Protectorate was proclaimed. King Prempeh I. was exiled to the Seychelles, and the Ashanti Protectorante, after an Ashanti uprising provoked by the British in 1900, the kingdom was declared dissolved, integrated into the Gold Coast Colony.
In the 1880s, the Ashanti state, including vassall statelets, was described as 193,000 square km in size, with a population of 4.5 million (Meyers).






EXTERNAL
FILES 		Ashanti, from Infoplease; Asante or Ashanti, from africana.com
Ghana, from Library of Congress, Country Studies
Links to Ashanti Culture, from Webster Univ.
Asantemanso, from Univ. of Calgary, Dept. of Archaeology
Armed Conflict Events Data : Asante 1800-1999, from OnWar.com
Armed Conflict Events Data : Fante 1800-1999, from OnWar.com
Ashanti Military Campaigns 1873-1874, 1895-1896 and 1900, from War Times Index
Ashanti Kingdom, from the Ashanti Homepage
Britain ask Ashanti for Golden Stool, 1900, from African-American Registry
Yaa Asantewaa 1900, from Historical Personalities & Issues
Yaa Asantewaa's War 1900, from Kammaasi Black Politics Page
Biography Wilfred Bennett Davidson-Houston, posted by St.Lucia Government House, 1899-1900 resident at the Ashanti Kgd.
The Golden Stool, from ashanti.com
Ashanti Empire and Golden Stool, from Info Ghana
Gold Coast, from British Empire Map Room
DOCUMENTS Article Ashanti, from EB 1911
Lord Baden-Powell, The Downfall of Prempeh (1895-1896), posted by Pinetree Web
Article Aschanti, P.1 (900), P.2 (901), from Meyers Konversationslexikon, 1888-1890 edition, in German
Rulers of the Ashanti, from World Statesmen
REFERENCE M'Baye Gueye and A. Adu Boahen, Asante; the Yaa Asantewaa War, pp.131-134, 143-144, in A. du Boahen (ed.), Unesco General History of Africa Vol.VII : Africa under Colonial Domination 1880-1935, Paris etc. 1985



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on November 6th 2004

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