The Early History Of The Akan States Of Ghana

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 27. Chapters: Akwamu, Akyem, Asebu, Ashanti Empire, Axim, Denkyira, Fante Confederacy, Fort Metal Cross, Fort Nassau (Ghana), Gold Coast (region), List of rulers of Asante, List of rulers of the Akan states of Akwamu and Twifo-Heman, List of rulers of the Akan state of Adanse, List of rulers of the Akan state of Akyem Abuakwa, List of rulers of the Akan state of Bono-Tekyiman, List of rulers of the Akan state of Denkyira, List of rulers of the Akan state of Gyaaman, Mankessim Kingdom. Excerpt: The Ashanti (or Asante) Empire (or Confederacy), also Asanteman (1701-1957), was a West Africa sovereign state of the Ashanti people of Ashanti, Ghana. The Ashantis (or Asantefo) are of Akan origin, the Ashantis a powerful, militaristic and highly disciplined people of West Africa inhabiting an area known as "Akanland." Their military power, which came from effective strategy and an early adoption of European firearms, created an empire that stretched from central Ghana to present-day Benin and Ivory Coast, bordered by the Dagomba kingdom to the north and Dahomey to the east. Due to the empire's military prowess, sophisticated hierarchy, social stratification and culture, the Ashanti empire had one of the largest historiographies of any indigenous Sub-Saharan African political entity. From the 17th century AD, Asanteman king Osei Tutu (c. - 1717), with the help of accomplice Okomfo Anokye, established the Kingdom of Asanteman, with the Golden Stool as a symbol of Asante unity and spirit. Osei Tutu engaged in a massive Asante territorial expansion. He built up the army based on the Ashantis introducing new organization and turning a disciplined paramilitary and militia into an effective fighting machine. In 1701, the Asanteman army conquered Denkyira, giving Ashantis access to the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean coastal trade with...

This is a collection of primary sources with introductions.Paper back edition is an abridge version of the more scholarly hardcover edition for the general reader and for students.

In the eighteenth century part of modern day Ghana consisted of the three Akyem states, yet in almost all historical works on Ghana the Akyem are presented as a single homogeneous people. The author, Senior Lecturer of History at the University of Cape Coast examines the three groups and analyses their vital role in the history of Ghana in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Covering the period of 1699-1875, the study relies primarily - though not exclusively - on documentary evidence.

Covering 500 years of Ghana's history, The Ghana Reader provides a multitude of historical, political, and cultural perspectives on this iconic African nation. Whether discussing the Asante kingdom and the Gold Coast's importance to European commerce and transatlantic slaving, Ghana's brief period under British colonial rule, or the emergence of its modern democracy, the volume's eighty selections emphasize Ghana's enormous symbolic and pragmatic value to global relations. They also demonstrate that the path to fully understanding Ghana requires acknowledging its ethnic and cultural diversity and listening to its population's varied voices. Readers will encounter selections written by everyone from farmers, traders, and the clergy to intellectuals, politicians, musicians, and foreign travelers. With sources including historical documents, poems, treaties, articles, and fiction, The Ghana Reader conveys the multiple and intersecting histories of Ghana's development as a nation, its key contribution to the formation of the African diaspora, and its increasingly important role in the economy and politics of the twenty-first century.

The communities along the coastline of Ghana boast a long and vibrant maritime culture. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the region experienced creeping British imperialism and incorporation into the British Gold Coast colony. Drawing on a wealth of Ghanian archival sources, historian Kwaku Nti shows how many aspects of traditional maritime daily life—customary ritual performances, fishing, and concepts of ownership, and land—served as a means of resistance and allowed residents to contest and influence the socio-political transformations of the era. Nti explored how the Ebusua (female) and Asafo (male) local social groups, especially in Cape Coast, became bastions of indigenous identity and traditions during British colonial rule, while at the same time functioning as focal points for demanding a share of emerging economic opportunities. A convincing demonstration of the power of the indigenous everyday life to complicate the reach of empire, Maritime Culture and Everyday Life in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Coastal Ghana reveals a fuller history of West African coastal communities.