Ashanti

Ashanti or Asante , 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.

Bibliography: See R. A. Lystad, The Ashanti (1958, repr. 1968); R. Battray, Ashanti (1923, repr. 1971).

Ashanti Administrative region and ethnic group of central Ghana, w Africa; the capital is Kumasi. The Ashanti people (a matrilineal society) established a powerful empire based on the slave trade with the British and Dutch. In the 18th century their influence extended into Togo and the Ivory Coast. Conflicts with the British throughout the 19th century were finally resolved in 1902, when the Ashanti territories (a British protectorate since 1896) were declared a crown colony. The society is traditionally agricultural. The region is the main area of Ghana's vital cocoa production. The Ashanti are renowned for their crafts, including high-quality goldwork (a gold-encrusted stool was a symbol of their sovereignty) and weaving. Today, Ashanti is the most populous of Ghana's ten regions. Area: 24,390sq km (9414sq mi). Pop. (2000) 3,187,601.

Ashanti wars (Asante wars) The Ashanti empire, in the hinterland of the Gold Coast, reached its peak in the late 18th cent. An attempt by the Ashanti to establish their dominion over the territory adjacent to British trading posts in 1807 threatened British trade, but did not lead to armed conflict until 1824 when the Ashanti were victorious. The British government's ambivalence emboldened the Ashanti to seize the coastal territory again in 1863. After another reversal of policy, Britain sent a military force under Sir Garnet Wolseley to challenge Ashanti claims in 1873. Wolseley destroyed the Ashanti capital, Kumasi. The rapid expansion of French and German colonization in the region induced Britain to demand Ashanti submission in 1896. When the Ashanti resisted, another British expedition (1900–1) destroyed the empire, which became a British crown colony in 1902.