Ashanti people

The Ashanti people are a major ethnic group among the Akan population in present-day Ghana. The estimated 1 to 1.5 million members of the Ashanti tribe live in the rain forests about 150 miles from the coast of West Africa. The Ashanti are peaceful, but they were known for the fierceness of their warriors in the past. From the fifteenth to the nineteenth century, they built an empire of about 24,560 square miles, which rivaled the British Empire at its peak. Their homeland includes many gold mines. As a result, the Ashanti are known for their ability to work with gold. They are also renowned for their textiles, especially kente cloth, a brightly colored fabric originally worn only by Ashanti royalty.

Background

The recorded history of the Ashanti can be traced to the thirteenth century. Ashanti legends say that several migrating peoples came together to form the tribe. The Ashanti people tie their cultural beginnings to a legend about a golden stool. According to the legend, this stool contains the souls of all Ashanti, and it fell down from heaven to rest at the feet of a man named Osei Tutu. Tutu had a spiritual mentor, Okomfo Anokye, who was a powerful shaman. The legend says that the shaman caused the golden stool to fall at the feet of Tutu as a sign of his right to rule. The golden stool remains a revered object among the Ashanti. No one is allowed to sit on it, and it is protected from resting directly on the ground.

Tutu went on to become the first Ashanti asantehene, or king, and established Kumasi as the capital of the Ashanti tribal region. He also led the tribe in conquering the Denkyira, a neighboring tribe that had previously defeated the Ashanti. This would be the beginning of many years of successful warfare against neighboring tribes. By the end of the eighteenth century, the Ashanti holdings expanded to the western coast of Africa, and they were able to trade directly with the British and other Europeans whose ships landed there. In exchange for European goods and guns, the Ashanti offered gold mined from their land or taken as the spoils of war. They also traded slaves who were often prisoners of war from the many neighboring tribes the Ashanti defeated. Handcrafted gold, brass, and wood items made by skilled Ashanti craftsmen were also in high demand among the Europeans.

Eventually, the British tried to expand their holdings into Ashanti territory and eliminate the Ashanti slave trade. As a result, the Ashanti and British clashed in several wars during the nineteenth century, and the Ashanti suffered a number of defeats. By 1900, during what was known as the Yaa Asantewa War, the British gave the Ashanti a choice—they could surrender the golden stool or they could allow the British to exile King Prempeh I. The golden stool was still considered such a precious item among the Ashanti that they allowed their king to be sent into exile in the Seychelles and consented to becoming a British colony.

King Prempeh I was allowed to return to the Ashanti in 1924, and they slowly began to reassert their presence as a separate people. In 1935, the British acknowledged the Ashanti Confederacy and officially allowed them to return to self-governance.

Ashanti Society

The Ashanti people speak a language called Twi or Asante. As a result, the Ashanti people are sometimes referred to as Asante. They have a strong oral storytelling tradition and a reputation for their folklore. One famous Ashanti folklore character is Anansi, a man who can take the form of a spider. In most tales, Anansi plays tricks on people until he is eventually tricked and trapped himself.

Although the group is now part of modern-day Ghana, the Ashanti still have an asantehene, whose role is more ceremonial than governmental. Under the king is the Confederacy Council, which consists of paramount chiefs who govern district chiefs. The district chiefs govern a local council of elders, made up of subchiefs, who deal with village matters. The villages all have head councils, which are led by the heads of households within the community.

While their community leadership is mostly male, Ashanti families are matriarchal, with the women's clans taking precedence in family relationships. Ashanti households tend to be multi-generational, with married couples living close to the wife's family in small complexes around a central area or courtyard. The Ashanti also practice polygamy, with the men sometimes taking more than one wife. Parents often arrange marriages. Despite these potential challenges, divorce is rare.

Children are respected and treasured in Ashanti society but are also expected to contribute to the family unit from a young age. The boys begin to learn farming or other trades from their fathers around the age of eight or nine. They are also taught to play the talking drums. Once an important tool of warfare to share battle plans and warnings, the drums continue to be part of Ashanti ceremonies and provide a way to communicate across distances. Ashanti girls are taught domestic skills, such as cooking and housekeeping, and are expected to help with some farm chores.

The Ashanti spiritual life is a mixture of worship of the natural and supernatural. Many Ashanti believe in witches and fairies, and they also believe that plants and animals have souls. However, the many Christian and Muslim missionaries who visited the Ashanti over the years have had an impact, and some of the population now worships in those traditions.

Bibliography

"Asante (Ashanti)." Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East, edited by Jamie Stokes, Facts on File, 2009, pp. 66–69.

"Ashanti." University of Missouri, dice.missouri.edu/docs/niger-congo/Ashanti.pdf. Accessed 11 Oct. 2016.

"Ashanti: Folk Tales from Ghana." Smithsonian Folkways, www.folkways.si.edu/harold-courlander/ashanti-folk-tales-from-ghana/childrens-prose/album/smithsonian. Accessed 11 Oct. 2016.

"Ashanti Golden Stool." PBS, 1999, www.pbs.org/wonders/Episodes/Epi3/3‗wond1a.htm. Accessed 11 Oct. 2016.

"The Ashanti People." Ball State University, bsu.edu/classes/magrath/205f99/studproject/anansimoon/ashanti.html. Accessed 11 Oct. 2016.

"Ashanti Proverbs from Ghana." University of California Los Angeles, 2006, cogweb.ucla.edu/Discourse/Proverbs/Ashanti.html. Accessed 11 Oct. 2016.

"Ashanti Region." Government of Ghana, www.ghana.gov.gh/index.php/about-ghana/regions/ashanti. Accessed 11 Oct. 2016.

West, April. "Ashanti People." Africa Guide, www.africaguide.com/culture/tribes/ashanti.htm. Accessed 11 Oct. 2016.

"Wonders: Ashanti Kingdoms." PBS, 1999, www.pbs.org/wonders/Episodes/Epi3/3‗wondr1.htm. Accessed 11 Oct. 2016.