By
the mid of 19th Century, Asante was capable of making its
influence felt over an area of more than 120,000 sq. miles. Areas embraced most of the modern republic of Ghana or what was formerly the Gold
Coast. It was established by the Oyoko people in the
northern part of modern Ghana
where five important states were founded among which included Kumasi, Duabe, Kokofu,
Nsatu and Bwekai Ofinso. It is these
states that all became united into a strong kingdom known as Asante whose head
quarters were founded at Kumasi. The man behind this strong unity of states was
Osei-Tutu.
The
Asante state is a classical
example of centralized societies for politically the king of the Asante
was a supreme ruler, Commander-in-Chief of the army, controller of land and
finances. He had the title of Asantehene and was the keeper of the sacred golden stool
which was believed to contain the spirit soul of the Asante people.
Below
him were a number of hereditary chiefs especially those from the five Oyoko
states who had the titles of Amahene or captains.
It was the work of these captains to maintain law and order in the
states, these had a hereditary privilege especially given that they came from
the metropolitan or main Asante
states. However, with time, the Asante
kingdom expanded into a large empire and the Asantehene appointed chiefs in the conquered states in
particular those whose rulers were rebellions to the Asantehene. These chiefs were however not hereditary but
in those states whose rulers accepted the Asantehene and paid the demanded
tribute, the Asantehene left them as rulers.
Therefore
the political organization of the Asante state was divided into two
namely i.e the Metropolitan which comprised of the capital and the five Oyoko
states and led by hereditary chiefs who recognized the Asantehene as their supreme
ruler.
Another
was the Provincial Asante which comprised of the conquered states whose rulers
were appointed by the Asantehene and others were allowed to go on supervising
their states in behalf of the ruler.
Therefore these appointed chiefs were at the mercy of the Asantehene who
would promote, demote and dismiss them at his own will.
Another
feature of the Asante
political organization was absence of succession disputes. A new king was appointed or chosen by the
Queen mother assisted by senior chiefs mainly from the Oyoko states or the
metropolitan Asante, although the Asantehene was a supreme ruler he couldn’t be regarded as
a divine ruler for he was never an absolute despot for where ever he offended
any customs of the Akan society in particular the Oyoko people, he would be
dethroned.
Militarily,
all able bodied men in Metropolitan Asante had to undergo compulsory military
training service although the Asantehene in Kumasi had a small but well trained and equipped army
which used to protect him, the palace
and the royal estates. In circumstances
of war the rulers of the other states apart from Kumasi of Oyoko states would
mobilize their trained men and send them to the Asantehene in Kumasi where they would be put under command
ready to face the enemy. This meant that
the Asante state did not
have a big and regular army and indeed it was until he was threatened by
European imperialism that the Asante
empire formed a strong large and well trained regular army ready to defend the
empire under the command of the Asantehene.
Economically,
to maintain his officials and the royal guard, the Asantehene had at his disposal a considerable range and
revenues i.e. tributes from the conquered and subjected states, taxes paid by
traders or merchants and the dues got from the royal estates and mining
industry for the Asantehene had his own gold mines worked on by the
slaves. He also had revenue got from the
trading operations; wherever possible taxes were required to be paid in gold
and states that lacked gold used to pay in terms of live stock, food stuffs,
European goods, slaves among others.
External trade was the monopoly of the Asantehene and the top officials
of state.
Socially,
the Asante
society was divided into classes under which there was the king and royal
family including those of the dead kings formed the royal family. The chiefs of other four Oyoko states and
other chiefs appointed by the Asantehene formed the class of notables. The rest of the Asante people who protected and
promoted the well being of the empire formed the class of the commoners.
The
last class and most unfavoured of all was that of slaves who were captured
during raids and offered to the Asantehene as tribute.
These worked as slaves at the king’s palace and for the other members of
the royal family and same recruited in the army especially in times of war.
Religion
also played an important role in the kingdom for the Asantehenes were believed
to have been appointed by God as they used to keep the golden stool which was
believed to have came from heaven. This
therefore made the Asante
people fear, respect and obey the Asantehene without question majorly because he had both
political and religious powers. In this
way the kings of the Asante
were able to have a peaceful and stable kingdom.
DOWNFALL OF ASANTE
Question To what extent were the Fante-Sante wars responsible for downfall
of Asante
Empire
The
factors which led to the fall of the empire took place in the second half of
19th Century and they include the following;
The
Asante-Fante wars of 19th Century were the
result of two main factors. The first
factor is that the Asante
wanted to abolish the role of Afante as middle men between the coast and the
interior of Ghana. The fact that the Fante lived at the coast
enabled them to dominate the trade of the Asante who lived in the
interior. In order to trade with
Europeans, who came to the coast, the Asante were always forced to pass
through the Fante middle men. Sometimes
the Fante prevented Asante
traders from reaching the coast.
Sometimes Asante
traders were insulted by the Fante. The
charges imposed by Fante middle men on Asante
traders left the Asante
with very little profits. Therefore the Asante
wanted to end the trade monopoly of Fante middlemen of military means.
The
second factor, which led to the Asante-Fante wars, is that the rulers of Asante were interested in capturing
the Fante territory in order to have easy access to the European traders who
had established themselves in the neighbouring areas of the Fante. These areas include Anomabu, Kormantin, Cape coast and Mouree.
The Fante were benefiting more than the Asante from the trade, which they
had with Europeans in those areas.
Therefore the Asante
wanted to capture the territory of the Fante in order to get a similar
advantage.
The
Asante-Fate wars led to the collapse of the Asante Empire because of British
interference. The British were against
the attempts of the Asante
to control the Fante coastal areas in fact the British disliked the
Asante and this is because
they considered the Asante
to be barbaric slave traders. Therefore
the British always supported the Fante against the Asante. The Asante army tried to attack the
Fante in 1806, 1824, 1826 and 1853. But
each time the Asante army
attacked the Fante British forces interviewed and defeated the Asante
on behalf of the Fante. This weakened
the Asante
a great deal.
British
interference in Asante laws
and customs contributed to the collapse of the Asante empire. From 1860 onwards a
British governor of the coastal areas in the names of Richard Pine started a
policy of giving protection to Asante
criminals who escaped the punishments of the Asantehene. Therefore
most criminals who escaped from the Asante Empire went to the areas controlled
by the British along the coast of West Africa.
The British governor preferred to
protect them instead of handing them back to the Asantehene. This is because the British believed that the
Asante
system of law was unfair and barbaric.
In 1863 for example the British provided a protection to a criminal
called Kwasir Gyani who escaped to the coast with the gold of the
Asantehene. According to Asante
law and customs, the mineral wealth of the kingdom wasn’t supposed to be owned
by ordinary citizens. It was supposed to
be controlled by the Asantehene.
Therefore Gyani was supposed to hand over the Asantehene. When he escaped to the coast the British
decided to protect him instead of handing him to the Asantehene. The protection provided by the British to the
Asante criminals led to wars
between the Asante
and the British. These wars weakened the
Asante Empire and contributed to its downfall.
The terms of the Maclean Treaty:
The Maclean treaty was signed after the Asante - British wars which
occurred between 1814-1831. During these
wars, the Asante
were defeated by the British. According
to the terms of this treaty the Asantehene was required to surrender all the Southern
provinces of his empire (states). These included Akyem, Wasse, Denkyira, Accra and Assin. The Asantehene was also required to abandon
his claims over the Fate territory therefore by the second half of 19th
Century, the terms of Maclean treaty reduced the territorial powers of the
Asantehene a great deal.
The terms of Fomena Treaty: It was signed after the Asante - British war of 1873. This war was started by the Asante in order to regain the
states which they lost under the terms of Maclean treaty. In fact the Asante
had refused to accept that the Asante
actually lost those states. The Asante
also wanted to capture another territory known as Elmina. During this war the British army was led by
Sir Garnt Wolselely. The Asante
army was led by the commander of the army called Amankwatia. In 1874 the Asante were defeated and this led
the signing of the Fomena treaty.
According to the terms of this treaty the Asantehene was required to give up
forever. His claims over the territories
which he lost under Maclean treaty. In
addition the Asantehene was asked to give up forever his authority over Sefior and
Kwafu districts in the South.
The
terms of the Fomena treaty reduced the size of the Asante
empire to the area known as metropolitan Asante and very few states in
addition to this area.
Internal Rebellions:
There were internal rebellions within in Asante empire against the authority
of the Asantehene. These rebellions were carried out throughout
the 19th Century. Most of the rebellions
took place in provincial Asante
and they were organised by states, which had been conquered by the Asante. The states which rebelled wanted to be
independent of the Asante empire and they took place in states Assin, Wassa,
Gonja, Dagomba, Krache, Byamaui, Akyem etc for example the king of Assin called
Aputae rebelled off against the authority of the Asantehene. Some of the states such as Gonja, Krache and
Gyamani declared their independence from Asante Empire. Rebellion weakened the empire but to make
matters worse, the British encouraged the rebellions to take place. In fact the rulers who rebelled were always
provided with protection by the British whenever they escaped to the coast;
this contributed to the Asante
- British wars that occurred during this period. Some of the states, which rebelled, were
never recovered by the Asante
especially after the British invasion of Asante in 1873-74.
British Annexation of the Asante Empire 1896:
The last Asantehene of the Asante
people was Kwakudua III, he ruled Asante from 1888 - 1896. He was a very strong leader who tried to
restore the boundaries with the Asante
empire who used to have managed to win back territories which had been lost
such as Nsuta, Mapongi, Kakofu but unfortunately Prempe was ruling Asante at a time when the European scramble and
partition of Africa had gained a lot of
momentum. Therefore foreign influence
particularly the influence of the British started contributing to the decline
of Asante
empire during Prempe’s rule. In fact
this period when the British were gaining more and more influence in West Africa, they requested Prempe to press his empire
under British protections but Prempe openly opposed the British. He was sent to exile by the British and the
British took over the Asante
empire in 1896.
The 19th century Fante
Asante and British relations in West Africa
The
19th century history of the Gold Coast and the interior was characterised by
hostile relations between the Fante and the Asante people on one hand and the
collaboration between the Fante and the British on the other.
The
period of 19th century witnessed hostile relations between Asante and the Fante British forces
for example, they had serious encounters on 1806, 1824, 1826, 1836, 1863, 1873,
1874, 1875, 1888, 1896 and 1900. The causes for these attacks were varied and
successive rulers on either side were involved as they inherited these war
circumstances.
The
period between 1806-1824 the hostility was only between Asante and Fante states. Asante
was able to annex many parts of Fante state in this period. After 1824, the
British tried to use the Fante/Asante conflicts to serve their imperial
interests. In effect, the British decided to ally with the Fante against the Asante and some serious wars were fought that
weakened Asante.
By
Formena treaty of 1874, Asante
was reduced to Metropolitan size. In 1874, the British contigent did not only
repulse the Asante attack on
the coast but also drove them back to Kumasi
which they looted and burnt down. At the Formena treaty, Asante was forced to recognise the
independence of Vassal States and to give up all claims of port Elmina. This
defeat marked the beginning of collapse of Asante's
independence as for example in 1896 Kumasi
was folly occupied by the British forces.
THE CAUSES OF THE
ASANTE-FANTE/ BRITISH CONFLICTS IN 19th
CENTURY.
Desire for both Asante and Fante to monopolise
trade opportunities in the area. The Fante had for
long acted as the middlemen in the trade and could not allow the Asante
traders to reach the coast. Asante
did not want to remain cut off and struggled to gain a direct access to the
coast by conquering some of the Fante states towards the coast. This inevitably
became a basis of the conflict between the Fante and Asante.
Asante people wanted to control the trade
routes through the Fante territory and even
maintain a permanent alliance with port Elmina at the coast. Asante wanted to use port Elmina
mainly for importation of fire arms and ammunitions from their friends especially
the Dutch people. Fante oftenly attacked and raided port Elmina thus causing
the Asante
to intervene for liberation of their relatives occupying port Elmina.
Asante-Fante
conflicts were worsened by British fear of the Asante full occupation of Gold
coast that would disrupt their trade relations in the area as for example
increase of taxes, imposition of poor trade policies against foreigners among
others. therefore Britian wanted to protect her trade in the region.
Desire to exploit the Asante
natural resources such as gold, kolanuts among others.
the British merchants on the coast hoped that if Asante power could be slashed, they
would get access to the interior raw materials and lucrative market for British
goods. This convinced the British government to support Fante in a fight
against the Asante.
British wanted to open up the interior
for European activities by destroying the Asante power
that has been an obstacle to this progress. For example, missionary work would
start, slave trade and slavery would be abolished, legitimate trade would be
started and western Education introduced. All this would prepare for British
colonisation of the Gold Coast.
Disrespect of Asante traditional
culture; the British ignorance or refusal to respect
Asante laws and customs also led to the outbreak of Asante-British wars in the
19th century for instance, the Asante-British conflicts of 1864, partly were
caused by governor Richard Pine's refusal to hand back the Asante criminal
Kwasi Gyani who had stolen a gold nugget that would form part of the golden
stool.
Asante reacted against British intervention
in Judicial matters. This steady growing protest against
the extension of British power came to peak in 1865 when John Alfred was
elected as a king of Gold Coast. Two months after he became king, he clashed
with the British when he objected to appeals against decisions of the court
being steadily reduced by the British.
British's interference in Asante's
conflicts with her vassal states: The reason for the
conflict arose from the British interference in the conflicts between Asante
and her southern vassal states such as Denkyira, Akwapim, Fante states and
Wassaw in 1874 northern states also had to break up and these included Dwaben,
Kokofu, Nsuta, Mampang and Adansi left the Asante union in 1874.
The Asante protested the exchange
efforts between the Dutch and the British. In 1873-74
war, the major trouble was related to the port of Elmina
which has just been handed over to British by the Dutch. Asante argued that, the port
belonged to them and handing it over to British was illegal. The conflicts over
the ownership of port Elmina eventually resulted into war. Dutch being friends
to Asante had been in
custody of Asante's port of Elmina.
Rise of Prempeh I to power.
He consolidated Asante power
and made a number of reforms some of which affected the progress of British
hence leading to a full scale war on Asante. For example, one of the
causes for 1896 revolt was that, British traders had been denied freedom of
trade in Asante.
This is why in 1896, Prempeh I was attacked and caught by a British general Sir
Francis Scott, arrested and deported to Sierra Leone with his family, relatives
and close friends.
Fante
as middle men were dishonest to the Asante as they could mix impure
stones in their gold before finally selling it to Europeans for a difference.
This directly affected the Asante
people who were involved in gold mining. As a solution Asante had to fight Fante off and
create a direct contact with the coastal people.
Asante had a desire to re-establish their
historical political structures. In 14th and 15th
centuries, Asante region was
connected with Fante and the Fante were the underdogs of Asante. Therefore one of the causes
of 19th century conflicts between the two was the hope for Asante to dominate Fante once
again.
Fante military pride:
The formation of a confederation in 1868 was another cause for 19th
century conflicts in Gold Coast. A confederation scheme, transformed Fante
State politically as for example a council was formed in which each state was
to be represented by 7 members, 3 joint presidents to head the council, a State
secretary and a strong military force was put in place mainly to defend the
independence of Fante from being taken by British on one hand and by Asante on
the other.
In 1896, British declared a
protectorate over Asante
and proceeded to consolidate their position. They
introduced changes in social, political and economic spheres of Asante
which culminated into 1900 Asante-Fante/British uprising. For example, native
chiefs were not recognised, imposition of 4 Shillings poll tax as a war
indemnity for 1896 invasion, abolition of slavery, Basel missionaries
disruption of Asante culture and imposition of forced-labour under which Asante
were to work on public utilities and carry goods to the coast. In reaction
against such policies, Prempeh I had this to say;
"My
kingdom of Asante will never commit itself to any
such policy. Asante
must remain independent as of old, at the same time to be friendly with all
Whiteman. I do not write this with a boastful spirit but in the clear sense of
its meaning".
This
shows how Prempeh I was determined to defend the independence of his people but
unfortunately in 1896, Asante
was made a British Crown land. In 1924 Prempeh I returned and was restored to power
in 1926 only with ceremonial functions until 1931 when he died.
EFFECTS OF
ASANTE-FANTE/BRITISH WARS
Formation of Fante Confederation scheme. At
the onset, Fante collaborated with British in order to protect themselves from Asante
threats. As time went on, Fante realised that through collaboration response,
British began encroaching on Fante independence and therefore in 1868, Fante
chiefs and the educated elders sat at Mankessim and formed a confederation
scheme and by 1871 a constitution for the confederation was in place to
safeguard the Fante independence.
On
a number of occasions, Asante was always overpowered and its metropolitan
centre (Kumasi) destroyed as for example, in 1873-74 war, the British led
force, armed with modern breach loading rifles easily defeated a poorly armed
Asante force. Kumasi
was captured and burnt down although British withdrew to the coast later. The
1873-74 war greatly destroyed the Asante militarily.
Generally,
in these 19th century wars of West Africa,
they involved enormous loss of lives and property. For example, in 1863-64 war,
war factors combined with an outbreak of dysentry and Malaria on both sides had
to lose soldiers. Trade relations was disrupted and trade routes connecting the
interior and the coast had to be politically destabilised.
Vassal
States used the opportunity of these conflicts and rebelled against Asante
state leading to its disintegration. For example following the results of 1874
war, Asante
was forced to give up her claims on port Elmina, her northern vassal states
broke away and these included Dwaben, Kokofu, Nsuta, Mampong and Adansi. And in
the same year, the British assisted the southern vassal states to break away
such as: Denkyira, Akwapim, Wassaw, Gyaman
Ga and Akim.
In
1873-74 defeat of Asante, it
resulted into the signing of Formena treaty which undermined the sovereignty of
Asante,
paid the war indemnity to British and forced to give up her control over the
coastal states. Asante
accepted this condition under duress.
There
developed increased imperial interest in politics of Gold coast as for example the
weak side of Asante attracted powers like France from Ivory Coast, German
activity from Togoland and Britain, the enemy of Asante feared quick possible
compromise with other European powers and 1896 the British had to declare a
protectorate over Asante.
Prempeh
I and his principle chiefs were captured and exiled in March 1896 to Sierra Leone
where he stayed until 1924 and when he returned he was made a king again in
1926 with just ceremonial powers until his death in 1931.
The
sour effects of previous wars on the side of the British and the 1898 and 1899
emergence of local disturbances organised by Asante military leaders who had
hidden arms in stores made the governor Hodgson to attack customary value of
Asante by demanding to sit on a hidden golden stool which culminated into 1900
uprising as Asante considered it as a violation of native law.
The
1874 defeat of Asante and
the 1896 declaration of a protectorate over Asante
and 1900 declaration of crown colony mixed with the 1873 collapse of a
confederation scheme in Fante with Asante
in the formation of Gold Coast and total loss of their independence which
culminated into formation of a modern Ghana state.
Asante-Fante/British
wars taught a lesson to other African states that were oppressed and suppressed
by similar internal and external imperialism that war of liberation is
difficult but not impossible. That is although they were defeated finally, the Asante
expressed their nationalistic feelings against Fante/British cheating imperial
interests over their land. Perhaps this is why there were numerous wars of
liberation in Africa at the climax of
colonisation process. These included the 1847-96 Shona-Ndebele war, the 1898
Hut tax rebellion, 1904-07 Nama-Herero rebellion, 1905-07 Maji-Maji rebellion and
1906-07 Bambatha rebellion in Zulu kingdom in South Africa among others similarly
they were defeated but their uprisings created a check up on mal-administration
of colonial powers.
The
eventual defeat and occupation of Asante
led to thorough exploitation of Asante Gold mines and other valuable materials
by British colonialists which for long had been protected by Asante Kings