ASHANTI, or ASHANTEE, a former negro kingdom of western Africa, since 27 Aug. 1896, a British colony of the Gold Coast administered by its governor, under a 'separate constitution, and definitely annexed, 26 Sept. 1901. Its boundaries defined 22 Oct. 1906, enclose an area of 20,000 square miles. It is in general hilly and is largely covered with forests. It is well watered and extremely fertile, but the climate is unhealthful. Among the trees are the baobab, palms and cotton trees. The crops are chiefly rice, corn, sugar-cane and yams, the last forming the staple vegetable food of the natives. The domestic animals are cattle, horses of small size, goats, and a species of hairy sheep. The larger wild animals are the elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, lion, hippopota mus, etc. Birds are numerous and crocodiles and other reptiles abound. Gold is obtained in the form of dust or in nuggets; in 1914 the output was 113,286 ounces valued at $2,406,350. Under British rule, agriculture has extended, cocoa and rubber plantations have been established, and the valuable forest trees exploited. Imports into Ashanti in 1914 amounted to $4,427,645; exports, $5,851,350, besides gold, comprising cocoa, $1,750,000; kola, $900,000; rubber, $100,000. The Ashantis long made themselves known as warlike and ferocious, with a love of shedding human blood amounting to a passion. Human teeth and jawbones were worn as personal ornaments, and human sacrifices used to be frequent. On the death of a king or chief enormous numbers of victims were slaughtered with circumstances of revolting cruelty, and there were regtilarly recurring periods, at inter vals of 18 or 24 days, called the great and little adai, when human sacrifices were made. Notwithstanding this there exist, among them certain of the arts of civilization. They excel in the manufacture of cotton cloths and in the fabrication of articles in gold; they make good earthenware, tan leather, and make sword blades of superior workmanship. The native government was a monarchy. The chief town is Coomassie or Kumasi; pop. 20,000. The British first came in contact with the Ashan tis in 1807, when a treaty was concluded by the governor of Cape Coast with the king of Ashanti, acknowledging the sovereignty of the latter by right of conquest over the coast, including Cape Coast Castle. In 1823 war was proclaimed by the Ashantis against the British, and they succeeded in the following year in de feating a small body of troops led by the gov ernor, who perished with almost all his officers; hut in 1826 the Ashantis were completely de feated near Accra. At the close of another
war, in 1831, the river Prah was fixed as the boundary between the Ashanti kingdom and the states protected by Great Britain, but the Ash antis soon began to interfere beyond the bound ary. Early in 1873 the Ashantis again in vaded the territory protected by Great Britain, and General Wolseley (subsequently Viscount Wolseley) was sent against them. The Ashanti general Amanquantia had concentrated his troops, 20,000 strong, at Amoaful, 20 miles from Coomassie. The British general led to the attack 1,481 English and 708 native troops, whom he formed into a square. The battle be gan on 31 January, on which day Amoaful was taken. On the 4th Coomassie was entered. The loss of the British in killed and wounded was 300, and a large number ultimately suc cumbed to the climate. As the King refused to enter Coomassie to sign a treaty, the British set fire to the town and began their return march on the 6th. The treaty signed soon after stipulated that the King of Ashanti should renounce his claims to the protectorate over the allies of Great Britain ; that free trade and open communication should be established with the coast, and that the King should pay an indemnity of 50,000 ounces of gold. The last condition was not faithfully observed, but the result of the war was greatly to weaken the power of the Ashantis. The conduct of King Prempeh, a successor of King Koffee, led to the dispatch of another British expedition, which in 1896 entered Coomassie without resistance, and received the submission of the King, who was taken and sent into banishment. A British resident was stationed in the country, which became a British protectorate, subordinate to the governor of the Gold Coast. In June 1898 an agreement was arrived at between Great Britain and France with regard to the bound aries between their respective territories here. In 1900 the Ashantis rose in rebellion and be sieged the governor and 700 troops in Coomas sie. The governor and part of the garrison fought their way out 23 June, and after four months' siege an expedition reoccupied the capital 15 July. The definite annexation to the British empire followed 26 Sept. 1901. Pop. 300,000.