States and Territories Established in 1670 - Ashanti Empire (Paperback)

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The Ashanti Empire or Asante Empire, also known as the Ashanti Confederacy or Asanteman (independent from 1701-1896), was a pre-colonial West African state created by the Akan people of what is now the Ashanti Region in Ghana. Their empire stretched from central Ghana to present day Togo and Cte d'Ivoire, bordered by the Dagomba kingdom to the north and Dahomey to the east. Today, the Ashanti monarchy continues as one of the constitutionally-protected, sub-national traditional states within the Republic of Ghana. The Ashanti or Asante are a major ethnic group in Ghana. They were a powerful, militaristic, and highly disciplined people of West Africa. The ancient Ashanti migrated from the vicinity of the northwestern Niger River after the fall of the Ghana Empire in the 1200s. Evidence of this lies in the royal courts of the Akan kings reflected by that of the Ashanti kings whose processions and ceremonies show remnants of ancient Ghana ceremonies. Ethno linguists have substantiated the migration by tracing word usage and speech patterns along West Africa. Around the 13th century AD, the Ashanti and various other Akan peoples migrated into the forest belt of present-day Ghana and established small states in the hilly country around present-day Kumasi. During the height of the Mali Empire the Ashanti, and Akan people in general, became wealthy through the trading of gold mined from their territory. Early in Ashanti history, this gold was traded with the greater Ghana and Mali Empires. The Ashanti Royal stoolAkan political organization centered on various clans, each headed by a paramount chief or Amanhene. One of these clans, the Oyoko, settled Ghanas sub-tropical forest region, establishing a center at Kumasi. During the rise of another Akan... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=12521667