ASHANTI, an inland country of West Africa, annexed by Great Britain in 1901. It lies immediately north of the Gold Coast colony, and while preserving a separate entity is adminis tered by a chief commissioner under the authority of the governor of the Gold Coast. Area 24,379sq.m. ; pop. (1931 census) 578,078.
A great part of Ashanti is covered with primaeval and almost impenetrable forest. Many of the trees, chiefly silk-cotton and hardwood, attain splendid proportions, the bombax reaching a height of over 2ooft., but the monotony is oppressive, and is seldom relieved by the sight of flowers, birds or beasts. Ferns are abundant, and the mimosa rises to heights of from 3o to 6of t. All over the forest spread lianas, or monkey ropes, their usual position being that of immense festoons hanging from tree to tree. In the north-eastern districts the primaeval forest gives place to park-like country, consisting of plains covered with high coarse grass, and dotted with occasional baobabs, as well as with wild plum, shea-butter, dwarf date, fan palms and other small trees. About 25m. south-east of Kumasi is Lake Busumchwi, the sacred lake of the Ashanti. It is surrounded by forest-clad hills some 800ft. high, is nearly circular, and has a maximum diameter of 6m. The Black Volta, and lower down the Volta (q.v.) , form the northern and eastern frontier, and various tribu taries of the Volta, running generally in a northerly direction, traverse the eastern portion of the country. In the central parts are the upper courses of the Ofin and of some tributaries of the Prah.
The most probable tradition represents the Ashanti as deriving their origin from bands of fugitives, who in the i6th or 17th century were driven before the Muslim tribes migrating southward from the countries on the Niger and Sene gal. Having obtained possession of a region of dense forest, they defended themselves with a valour which, becoming part of their national character, raised them to the rank of a powerful and con quering nation. They are of the pure negro type, and are sup posed to be originally of the same race as the Fanti, nearer the coast, and speak the same language. The Ashanti are divided into a large number of tribes, of whom a dozen may be distinguished, viz., the Bekwai, Adansi, Juabin, Kokofu, Kumasi, Mampon, Nsuta, Nkwanta, Dadiassi, Daniassi, Ofinsu and Adjisu. Each tribe had its own king, but from the beginning of the 18th century the king of Kumasi was recognized as paramount and was spoken of as the king of Ashanti. Under British rule the kingship has been abolished, but each tribe has its paramount chief styled Oman hene. The principal symbols of authority are the stool (chiefs are "enstooled" not crowned) and umbrella. Land is held in common by the tribes, lands un allotted being attached to the of fice of head chief and called "stool lands." Human sacrifice, practised among the Ashanti un til the closing years of the i9th century, was founded on a senti ment of piety towards parents and other connections—the chiefs believing that the rank of their dead relatives in the future world would be measured by the num ber of attendants sent after them. The Ashanti are skilful in several kinds of manufacture, particularly in weaving cotton. Their pottery and works in gold also show considerable skill. A large quantity of silver-plate and goldsmiths' work of great value and considerable artistic elaboration was found in 1874 in the king's palace at Kumasi, not the least remarkable objects being masks of beaten gold. The influence of Moorish art is perceptible. Unlike many West African races, the Ashanti in general show a repugnance to the doctrines of Islam ; but large numbers have become converts to Christianity (chiefly to the Anglican and Wesleyan churches). Education is much sought after by the Ashanti. They are keen farmers and keen traders.
The capital is Ku masi (q.v.) ; pop. (1932) 39,82o. It is served by a railway, 167m. long, from the port of Sekondi (Takoradi), completed in 19o3, and by another railway, 196m. long and completed in 1923, which has its sea terminus at Accra. North of Kumasi is Mampon, on the main motor road, and still farther north Kintampo, formerly a great slave and ivory mart and now the entrepot for trade with the northern territories and the French Sudan. Sunyani and Goaso are towns in the west ; Bekwai and Obuasi are south of Kumasi on the railway to Sekondi. There is an extensive system of motor roads and a public motor transport system. The chief product for export is cocoa. Cultivation began about 1905 and within 20 years the prosperity of the country had come to depend largely upon the cocoa crop, the seasonal production having reached 6o,000 tons. Next in importance is the production of kola nuts. Wild rubber had ceased by 1913, save in exceptional years, to pay for collection, but plantation rubber is a minor industry, and since 1924 coffee has been cultivated. Besides the goods exported by sea there is a large overland trade with the north in cattle and sheep, kolas, salt and shea butter. In the Obuasi district gold is mined, the annual production being valued at over £300,000. While cultivation is almost entirely in the hands of Ashantis, the traders include many Syrians, Hausas and Lagosians. Trade, as also revenue, statistics are included in those of the Gold Coast. For administration Ashanti is divided into an eastern province (headquarters Kumasi) and a western (headquarters Sunyani), each under a provincial commissioner. A considerable measure of authority is exercised by the Omanhene and council of the various tribes.
When it came under the notice of Europeans early in the 18th century the Ashanti confederation had been brought under the hegemony of the Kumasi tribe. Previously other tribes, such as the Denkera (Denkyira), had claimed the overlordship. The real founder of the kingdom of Ashanti was Osai Tutu, who is de scribed as the fourth king of Kumasi. According to legend there came to his court a magician who affirmed that he was com missioned by 'Nyame (the god of the sky) to make of the Ashanti a great nation, and in proof thereof he drew down a black cloud from which there descended a wooden stool partly covered with gold which came to rest on the knees of Osai Tutu. This stool, the magician declared, contained the soul of the nation. After wards, greatly enriched, it became the famous Golden Stool of Ashanti. It had its own umbrella (another adjunct of sovereignty) and its own attendants. On great occasions the Golden Stool was placed next the king's stool and the king rested his arm upon it.
Osai Tutu was a great warrior. To him is attributed the build ing of Kumasi town ; it is more probable that he greatly expanded an existing town. In 1719 he opposed the king of Denkera's demand for tribute; defeated him in battle and executed both him and his queen. Thereaf ter he greatly extended his conquests. At length (c. 173o) he was defeated and slain at Koromanti in battle with the Akims but his successor, Osai Apoko, made further conquests towards the coast. This trend of the Ashanti to the coast was marked during the reign of Osai Tutu Kwadwo (Quam ina), who in 1807 made war on the Fanti (the ruling people of the coast) because they had given asylum to two Assin chiefs whom he had defeated. Kwadwo reached the coast near Anamabo, where was a British fort. A pitched battle was fought with great slaughter, but the Ashanti failed to storm the fort, though the garrison was reduced from 24 to eight men. Colonel G. Torrance, then governor of Cape Coast, concluded a humiliating peace. He agreed to surrender the Assin chiefs—one escaped, the other was executed by the Ashanti—and half the fugitives in Anamabo fort : most of the remainder were sold by Torrance and his council as slaves. Torrance also acknowledged the Ashanti conquest of Fantiland and agreed to pay rent to the Ashanti for Anamabo fort and Cape Coast Castle.
Notwithstanding this settlement disputes continued, the Brit ish alternately supporting and abandoning the coast people. In 1821 the British Government assumed direct control of the British settlements on the Gold Coast. The governor, Sir Charles M'Carthy, espoused the cause of the Fanti, but was killed in battle with the Ashanti on Jan. 21, 1824, at Essamako. He had but 500 men to io,000 of the enemy. The skull of Sir Charles was afterwards used at Kumasi as a royal drinking cup, but not by Kwadwo, who died on the same day as Sir Charles fell. A state of chronic warfare ensued. It ended in a signal defeat of the Ashanti by the British at Dodowa, near Accra, on Aug. 7, 1826. Peace was not formally made until 1831, when by a treaty concluded with Mr. George Maclean the Ashanti acknowledged the Prah as their southern boundary.
Kwaka Dua I., who became king in 1838 was a rare exception among Ashanti rulers, a peace-loving monarch who encouraged trade. He could not refrain, however, from asserting authority over the Fanti, and in 1863 he went to war because of the refusal of the British to surrender a fugitive chief and a runaway slave. The Ashanti were successful in two actions and were allowed to retire unmolested. "The bush" said Kwaka Dua, "is stronger than the cannon of the white men." The prestige of the Ashanti increased and when after Kwaka Dua's death in 1867, and the usual interval of civil strife, Kofi Karikari ("King Coffee" as he was popularly called in England) was enstooled he swore that his business should be war. The chief event which caused the war which followed was the transfer (April 2, 1872) of Elmina from the Dutch to the British. The Ashanti regarded the Elmina people as their subjects, and they held the Elmina "custom note"—that is, the king received from the Dutch an annual payment, in its origin ground rent for the fort, but looked upon by the Dutch as a "dash" (present) for trade purposes. A minor cause of the war was the holding in captivity at Kumasi of four Europeans, including Mr. Fritz Ramseyer, of the Basel Mission, and his wife. In Jan. 1873 an Ashanti force crossed the Prah and advanced to the neighbour hood of Cape Coast. Fortunately for the British the Ashanti army was greatly weakened by the outbreak of small-pox and fever. Sir Garnet (afterwards Viscount) Wolseley was sent from England to deal with the situation. His force, which included 2,400 white troops, occupied Kumasi after severe fighting on Feb. 4, 1874. Kofi Karikari fled into the bush and refused to surrender. Wolseley, encumbered with many sick and wounded, with fever prevalent, provisions scarce and the rainy season beginning, was compelled to retire, having first set Kumasi in flames. On Feb. 12, however, Captain (later Sir John) Glover, R.N., administrator of Lagos, who with native levies was co operating with Wolseley from the east, reached the deserted ruins of Kumasi. Glover's appearance induced Kofi Karikari to sue for peace and on Feb. 13 at Fomana a treaty was signed. The Ashanti king renounced all claims to Elmina, promised to pay an indemnity, pledged himself to use his best endeavours to check the practice of human sacrifice and to promote freedom of trade. The British, however, neglected to take the opportunity offered to encourage the secession of various states from the Ashanti confederation and thus the power of Kumasi was reconsolidated. Deposition of Prempeh.—Shortly after the war the Ashanti deposed Kofi Karikari, and placed on the stool his brother Mensa. This monarch broke almost every article of the Fomana treaty. His rule was tyrannous and stained with repeated human sacrifices. In 1883 a revolution displaced that monarch, who was succeeded by Kwaka Dua II.—a young man who died (June 1884) within a few months of his election. In the same month died the ex-king Kofi Karikari, and disruption threatened Ashanti. After a desolat ing civil war, Prempeh—who took the name of Kwaka Dua III. —was chosen king (March 26, 1888), and for a time peace and prosperity came to Ashanti. However, in 1893, there was fresh trouble between Ashanti and the tribes of the Gold Coast. The British Government was forced to interfere, and in 1895 called upon Prempeh to fulfil the terms of the 1874 treaty, and further, to accept a British protectorate. The king declined to treat with the governor of the Gold Coast, and despatched informal agents to England, whom the secretary of state refused to receive. To enforce the British demands an expedition was at length decided upon. The force was placed under Colonel Sir Francis Scott, and, after most careful organization, the main column started from Cape Coast on Dec. 27, 1895. On Jan. 17, 1896, Kumasi was occupied, and on the loth Prempeh made submission to Mr. (afterwards Sir W. E.) Maxwell, the governor of Cape Coast, in native fashion. After this act of public humiliation, the king and the queen-mother with the principal chiefs were arrested and after being kept at Elmina for some time were exiled to the Seychelles Islands. The fetish buildings at Bantama were burned, and on Jan. 22, leaving a Hausa garrison at Kumasi, the expedi tion began the return march of 15om. to Cape Coast. Although no fighting occurred, fever claimed many victims, among whom was Prince Henry of Battenberg, who had volunteered for the post of military secretary to Sir Francis Scott.
After the deportation of Prempeh no successor was appointed to the throne of Ashanti. Whilst the other States of the confederacy retained their heredi tary chiefs the affairs of the Kumasi were administered by chiefs under British guidance. But although outwardly submissive the Kumasi were not reconciled to British rule, and in 190o the action of Sir Frederic Hodgson, the governor of the Gold Coast, precipitated a revolt. In March of that year Sir Frederic, in a public palaver at Kumasi, bitterly reproached the chiefs with not having brought to him the golden stool. Sir Frederic, like almost all Europeans at that time, believed the golden stool to be the king's throne. He did not know that it was regarded as contain ing the soul of the nation, and if it were captured or destroyed the Ashanti would perish. Hence when Prempeh surrendered, the stool had been hidden. Attempts made by Sir Frederic's orders to find the stool had failed and the rebellion- began with an attack on Hausa soldiers whose chief object was the discovery of the stool. The British at Kumasi were now obliged to take refuge in the fort (April 1900) . Reinforcements brought the garrison of the fort up to 700 men in May, the 20 Europeans in the fort including Lady Hodgson and three other women. Outside the fort were gathered 3,00o native refugees. The Kumasi chiefs and their Adansi and Kokofu allies had 40,000 warriors. They sat down to invest the fort, and famine and disease soon began to work havoc. When conditions had become desperate the governor and all the Europeans save three, together with 600 Hausas sallied out of the fort (June 23), attacked a weakly-held stockade and, though suffering about ioo casualties, succeeded in getting clear. The governor's party, taking a circuitous route, reached Cape Coast on July io.
Three white men—Captain F. E. Bishop, Lieut. J. C. Ralph, Dr. J. B. Hay, colonial surgeon—with i oo Hausas were left in Kumasi fort with rations for three weeks. Meanwhile a relief expedition had been organized at Cape Coast by Colonel (after wards General Sir) James Willcocks. Carriers could scarcely be obtained, there were no local food supplies, the rainy season was at its height, all the roads were deep mire, and the enemy were both brave and cunning, fighting behind concealed stockades. It was not until July 2 that Colonel Willcocks was able to advance. There was smart fighting on the i4th, and at 4.3o P.M. on the 15th, after a march since daybreak through roads "in indescribably bad condition," the main rebel stockade was encountered. It was carried at the point of the bayonet by Yoruba troops, who proved themselves fully equal to the Hausa. Kumasi was entered the same evening, a bugler of the war-worn garrison of the fort sounding the "general salute" as the relieving column came in view. Most of the defenders were too weak to stand. Outside the fort nothing was to be seen but burnt-down houses and putrid bodies. On Sept. 3o the Kumasi were completely beaten at Obassa.
On Sept. 26, 19o1, Ashanti was formally annexed to the British dominions. After the annexation the rela tions between the governing power and the governed steadily im proved, great credit being due to the wise administration of Sir Donald Stewart, the first chief commissioner, and to Sir Francis Fuller, who was chief commissioner from 1905 to 192o. The maintenance of the tribal system and the support given to the lawful chiefs did much to win the confidence and respect of a people naturally suspicious, and mindful of their exiled king. The accidental discovery in 1921 of the Golden Stool showed how greatly understanding between the British and the Ashanti had increased. The stool, placed in a box and buried in the ground was found by native workmen and shortly afterwards was robbed of its golden ornaments by a number of Ashanti. News of the desecration of the stool caused national mourning. The culprits were arrested and were tried by the principal chiefs, who recom mended their execution. This punishment was changed by the Government into banishment : the chief whose duty it had been to guard the stool was also banished. For its part the Govern ment intimated that it no longer desired possession of the stool and that no attempt to interfere with it would be made, unless use were made of it for seditious purposes.
The changed attitude of the people was due also to improved economic conditions following the opening of the railway to Kumasi in 1903 and, later on, the cultivation of cocoa on a large scale. Education was greatly prized and Christian missions gained large numbers of converts. The loyalty of the Ashanti to the Crown was manifest throughout the World War. The Ashanti generally, and the Kumasi in particular, much desired, however, the return of Prempeh, and at length their request was granted. After 28 years' exile Prempeh, who had in the Seychelles become a Christian and had adopted European ways and clothes, came back in 1924 to Kumasi, but as a private citizen. He was re ceived by a great crowd, the pagans joining with the Christians in singing the "Old Hundredth." He was present at the great palaver held at Kumasi in April 1925 to welcome the prince of Wales, an occasion marked by a full display of native ceremony and dignity. In 1926 Prempeh was restored to the Kumasi stool, that is to the position of omanhene (paramount chief) of the Kumasi tribe, but not to the kingship of Ashanti. Subsequently Prempeh chose his sister to fill the position of "Queen-Mother," an office of much influence.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.—Of early works the most valuable are The Golden Bibliography.—Of early works the most valuable are The Golden Coast ... (i665) and A new ... description ... of Guinea in Dutch (Eng. trans., 2nd ed., 1721), both by Willem Bosman; T. E. Bow dich, A Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee (1819) ; and J. Dupuis, Journal of a Residence in Ashantee (5824). For history generally, see Col. A. B. Ellis, A History of the Gold Coast of West Africa (1893) ; C. C. Reindorf (a native pastor of the Basel mission), History of the Gold Coast and Asante, ... from about 15oo to 186o (Basel, 1895), and Sir Francis Fuller, A Vanished Dynasty: Ashanti (192I).
For the British military campaigns, in addition to the official blue books, consult: Sir Henry Brackenbury, Narrative of the Ashantee War (1874) ; Sir H. M. Stanley, Coomassie, being the story of the
expedition (new ed., 1896) ; Gen. R. S. S. Baden-Powell, The Downfall of Prempeh, an account of the 1895-96 expedition (1896) ; Lady Glover, Life of Sir John Hawley Glover, chs. iii.-x. (1897) ; Capt. C. H. Armitage and Lieut.-Col. A. F. Montanaro, The Ashanti Campaign of 1900 (igoi) ; Capt. H. C. J. Biss, The Relief of Kumasi (19o1) ; Viscount Wolseley, The Story of A Soldier's Life, vol. ii. chs. xliii.-l. (19o3) ; Sir James Willcocks, From Kabul to Kumasi, chs. xv. to end (1904). The two books following are by besieged residents in Kumasi. Lady Hodgson, The Siege of Kumasi (190I) ; Dark and Stormy Days at Kumasi, 'goo, from the diary of the Rev. Fritz Ramseyer 0900. The annual reports issued since 1906 by the Colonial Office, London, contain historical notes. Capt. R. S. Rattray's books, Ashanti (1923) and Religion and Art in Ashanti (1927) deal with anthropology; E. W. Smith in The Golden Stool, ch. i. (1926) gives the history of the stool. (F. R. C.)
