ASHANTI, ii-shiin'te, or ASHANTEE. A negro kingdom in western Africa. separated from the Gulf of Guinea by the British Gold-Coast colony (q.v.), of which it has practically been a part since 1396 (Map: Africa. D 4). Its boundaries are only imperfectly defined, and its area is estimated at about 10.000 square miles. It is a fertile and well-watered region. and a large part of its surface is covered with trop ical forests especially rich in resinous plants. The soil has been little cultivated, owing to the backward state of the country. The principal crops raised by the natives are yams, corn, rice, millet, and tobacco. The chief products for ex port are ivory, rubber, dyewoods, and gold. The latter metal is found in many parts of the country, but not in sufficient quantities to repay its mining by modern methods. The natives have several well-developed industries, and are skilled workers in metals and in the weaving of fabrics, as well as in the production of earthen ware. The commerce of .Ashanti was quite im portant before the Ashanti War of 1900, and amounted to about $7.000.000 annually. The railway line from Sekondi. on the coast, to Ku massi, the capital of Ashanti, recently con structed, will do much for the development of the country. Another railway line is proposed between _tkkra and Kumassi, and the telegraph line was completed in 1900 as far as Mansu. The population of Ashanti is estimated at from 1,000,000 to 3,000,000. It consists of a great number of different tribes. who, prior to the British occupation, were governed by their own kings ender the supremacy of the King of Kumassl. The principal tribes are the Bekwais, Kokofus, Kumassis. Daniassis, and Alanpons, all of negro descent. Physically. the inhabitants of Ashanti are strong and well developed. Their speech belongs to the Tshi group. They practice polygamy, and their religion is a mixture of ancestor - worship and animism or nature worship. Gold found in the country is wrought by the natives into barbaric ornaments. Capital, Knmassi (q.v.), with a population estimated at 30,000.
The beginnings of the Ashanti kingdom are obscure, but its traditions point to an immigra tion sonic hundreds of years ago from a region to the north, probably caused by the spread of the Mohammedan Empire of Timbuktu. Our
first positive glimpse of it is in the year I700, when Kumassi was made the capital by Osai Ton-too I., who conquered Akins, Assin, Ga man, Denkira, and other neighboring States. In their enurse of conquest over the Fantis, the Ashantis became involved in war with the British from 1807 to ISI1, and from '1822 to 1831. In the second war the Brit ish met heavy reverses at first, but succeeded finally in driving the Ashantis from the sea coast and fixing the river Prah as the southern boundary of their kingdom. In 1873-74, in con sequence of disputes arising in connection with the cession of the Dutch forts to Britain, war broke out again, and an army under Sir Garnet Wolseley forced its way to the centre of the kingdom. After a severe battle at Amoaful, and several days' fighting. Kumassi was taken February 4, 1874, and burned on the fith; and though the rainy season had set in, the army returned in safety to the coast. The King sub mitted, promised to pay tribute, and to put an end to the slave traffic. In 1895, the King of Ashanti (Prempch) having molested the Eng lish settlers on the coast, and raided the natives in numerous slave-hunting expeditions, a strong British force was sent again to Kumassi, which it reached with little resistance. The King was forced to submit to English authority and the kingdom became a British protectorate (Janu ary, 1896). In the spring of HMO the Ashantis rose in sudden rebellion. The British Governor of the colony and some 200 troops were pent up in Kumassi by 15,000 Ashanti warriors. On .Tune 3, Governor Hodgson, with a hun dred men, succeeded in getting away to the coast, and on July II a relief expedition entered the town after a siege of nearly four months. Consult: H. C. Biss, The Relief of Kumassi (London, 1901) ; H. A. Freeman, Travel and Life in Ashanti and Jaman (London, 189S) ; C. C. Ileindo•f, history of the Gold Coast and Ashanti (Basel, I895).