Empire · 1701–1902 · Northern Africa

Asante Empire

Also known as Asante

The Akan states of the Gold Coast forest were united around 1700 by Osei Tutu, ruler of Kumasi, with the priest Okomfo Anokye, who according to tradition called down the Golden Stool from the sky as the symbol of Asante unity. After defeating its overlord Denkyira in 1701, Asante grew into the dominant power of the region, trading gold, kola nuts and enslaved captives to European forts on the coast for guns and cloth.

Its kings, the Asantehene, ruled through a sophisticated bureaucracy and a network of great roads radiating from Kumasi. Asante fought a series of wars with Britain in the 19th century; the British burned Kumasi in 1874 and exiled King Prempeh I in 1896, and after the War of the Golden Stool, led by Yaa Asantewaa, they annexed Asante in 1902.

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Years

1701–1902

Capital

Kumasi

Greatest extent

1820, about 259,000 km²

Region

Northern Africa

c. 259,000 km² ("over 250,000", Iliffe 1995), including tributary states, most of present-day Ghana