By the start of the 19th Century, the Asante empire had expanded covering virtually modern Ghana, Ivory coast, Togo except the kingdom of the Fante which therefore meant that the Asante people were controlling trade along the coastal regions which created hostile relations between the Fante and the Asante.  The two groups belonged to the Akan races whose origin is not very clear among historians although its believed that by the 18th Century the two had settled in what is present day modern Ghana and by around the 18th Century the two groups had turned into powerful tribes partly due to the growth of and expanding trade along the coast.

In case of the Fante, trade was carried on with inland towns by canoes on R. Benin regions with the Europeans notably the Dutch and British.

In the same way, the Asante had considerable trade with Guinea and other towns near the Niger bend as well as with Europeans especially with the Dutch at Elmina castle who usually paid tribute to the Asantehene such that with the help of this trade the two tribes were able to acquire guns which they used to strengthen themselves and to expand these boundaries leading to the creation of large empires such as the Asante empire.

To the Asante, in addition to the trade, the Asante people had able leadership among whom included Osei-Tutu, Opoku-Ware, Osei-Bonsu Ospi Yeboah who had greatly participated in the expansionism of the Asante empire whose capital was at Kumasi where they attracted many outsiders that greatly helped them in the development of the Asante empire such that by the 19th Century period, the Asante confederation or empire covered the greatest proportion of West Africa.

Meanwhile the Fante covered what is the southern part of modern Ghana as far as the coast it was therefore as a result of this conflict for power that greatly explains the bitter relations between the Asante and Fante.

Another cause of the conflict comes as a result of the desire by the Asante to trade directly with the Dutch at Elmina castle at the coast in other words remove the Fante who acted as middle men.  It was therefore the desire by the Fante to remain in the middle of the position between the Asante and Europeans at the coast that caused the conflict between the two tribes for example in 1887 the Asante-Hene complained to the Governor at the Gold coast that the Asante sent pure gold to purchase goods from the Europeans and the Fante mixed it with foreign ingredients and therefore the pure gold trade got spoilt which therefore worsened the relationship between the Asante and Fante.

In addition, the Asante-Hene attached much importance on the Elmina forts and was therefore determined to take them over although this couldn’t be possible with the domination of the pants over trade.

In the economic pattern, the British also contributed to this conflict because they were close partners with the Fante and therefore greatly feared that the moment the Asante monopolized trade in the area, the British would be driven out of this trade which they didn’t want to lose.  It’s therefore in this light that the British decided to support the Fante in their resistance against Asante domination which therefore seemed to increase the bitter relations between the Asante and Fante.

The social link between the Asante and the British was another cause for the British believed that they depended on Fante coastal people for survival for its through the Fante that the British obtained food, water, labour, force and that the Fante provided the British with concubines with whom they intermarried leading the growth of the half castes or the mulatto population along the coastal regions.  It’s these mutual interests that  the British and Fante together thus causing a conflict with the Asante.

Meanwhile the Asantehene was determined to expand his empire as far as the coast taking over the Fante confidence and on the other hand the Fante weren’t  ready to accept the domination of the Asante for they would make them lose their hegemony it’s therefore in this regard that the Fante sought alliance with the British to fight against Asante domination.

Culturally, the Asantehene refused to integrate any new cultures with those of the Fante especially those of the whites while the Fante were ready to accept the process of cultists with the whites along the coastal areas which therefore created jealousy between the two tribes thus explaining the conflict.

In addition to the already existing misunderstandings between the Asante and Fante, in the year of 1863 the British refused to hand over a refugee who had run away from the Asante something that greatly annoyed the Asantehene who the British had regarded as a babaric king.  It was therefore under these circumstances that the Asante later clashed with the British especially when the Asantehene in the names of Kwaku Dua I and the refusal by the coastal governor Richard Pine to hand over the criminal that forced the Asante to declare war on the British in what later came to be known as the Asante - British wars of 1863 in which the Asante army at first surrounded by the British forts at the coast and managed to inflict some degree of defeat on the British forces although the war ended prematurely following the outbreak of dysentery among the Asante armies which forced them to withdrew in 1864.

This meaningless and senseless war was greatly questioned by the British parliament to the extent that the commission of inquiry was set up to look into the causes of this war and recommended that due to too much expense involved in administration, the British should withdraw from the area and other parts of West African settlement.

The British withdrawal left the Fantes in isolation and therefore as an end result the Fante chiefs and intellectuals were forced to form a political confederation purposely to reset the Asante domination although the confederation didn’t last long partly because it lacked unity among its leaders and the Dutch forts at Elmina led to its collapse because by 1870’s, the Dutch had lost interest at the forts because they had proved unprofitable and they therefore sought to abandon them to the British such that the return of the British into the trade of coastal areas especially when they occupied the gold coast forts became the final blow to the Fante confederation.

As an end result, the Fante begun clashing with the British and in the year of 1871 the British arrested leaders of the Fante confederation, put pressure on them to abandon the co-operation which they accepted and thus the whole region of the Fante was, put under the British control which therefore became the end of the Fante confederation and what therefore remained was the British domination of the Asante people.

It was therefore the desire of the British to control trade in the whole hinterland that forced them to want to dominate the Asante people and indeed this caused a crisis between the two such that in 1873 the British declared war on the Asante purposely to destroy the strong Asante kingdom and indeed it was in this light that the British defeated the Asante, the Asante imperial powers were destroyed and the British decided to intervene directly into the affairs of Ghana and by the peace treaty of Fomena of 1874 the Asantehene was forced to recognise the independence of the coastal states and to give up claim over coastal trade especially the gold regions and it was in this light that Britain took over the whole of the Asante region thus officially and formally establishing the gold coast colony in what is present day Ghana.