Ashanti (äshän`tē) or Asante (äsän`tē), historic and modern administrative region, central Ghana, W Africa. The region is the source of much of Ghana's cocoa. It is inhabited by the Ashanti, a matrilineal Akan people who constitute one of Ghana's major ethnic groups. Before the 13th cent., Akan peoples migrated into the forest belt of present-day Ghana and established small states in the hilly country in the neighborhood of modern Kumasi. By the late 17th cent. the states had been welded by the Oyoko clan into the Ashanti confederation, with the capital at Kumasi and the Oyoko chieftain as king. After subduing neighboring states the confederation came into conflict with British settlements on the coast, although treaties of friendship were negotiated (1817, 1820). A series of Anglo-Ashanti wars in the 19th cent. ended with the defeat of the confederation (1896) and its annexation (1901) to the Gold Coast colony. The British exiled King Prempeh I to the Seychelles and, in spite of great resistance, broke up the confederation. It was restored in 1935. In 1945 the Ashanti were given representation in the executive and legislative councils of the Gold Coast. They supported an unsuccessful attempt to give Ghana a federal constitution in 1954 and resisted the centralizing measures of the Nkrumah government. The Ashanti king remains influential in S Ghana. The Ashanti are noted for the quality of their gold work and their colorful kente cloth, and are famous for the gold-encrusted stool that is the symbol of the kingship.
People of southern Ghana and adjacent areas of Togo and Côte d'Ivoire. The largest segment of the Akan peoples, they speak Twi, a language of the Kwa group of Niger-Congo languages; all together the Akan peoples make up about half the population of Ghana. Though some Asante now live and work in urban centres, most live in villages and engage in agriculture. The symbol of Asante unity is the Golden Stool, held to be so sacred that not even kings were allowed to sit on it. The Asante supplied slaves to British and Dutch traders in exchange for firearms, which they used to build up a large empire in the 18th and 19th centuries. They fought several wars against the British (1824, 1863, 1869, 1874), finally losing their capital, Kumasi, in 1896. Thereafter what remained of the empire went into decline. Asante goldwork and kente cloth remain prominent items of trade. See also Fante.
Ashanti
Bibliography
See R. A. Lystad, The Ashanti (1958, repr. 1968); R. Battray, Ashanti (1923, repr. 1971).
Asante
or Ashanti)
An Asante chief wearing silk cloth and gold jewelry.
(credit: Doran H. Ross)
Ashanti
an administrative region of central Ghana: former native kingdom, suppressed by the British in 1900 after four wars. Capital: Kumasi. Pop.: 3 187 607 (2000). Area: 24 390 sq. km (9417 sq. miles)
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