From to , the united Ashanti army defeated the Denkyira people, who had conquered the Ashanti in the early 17 th century. Over the course of the 18 th century, the Ashanti conquered most of the surrounding peoples, including the Dagomba. By the early 19 th century, Ashanti territory covered nearly all of present-day Ghana, including the coast, where the Ashanti could trade directly with the British.
In exchange for guns and other European goods, the Ashanti sold gold and slaves, usually either captured in war or accepted as tribute from conquered peoples.
As they prospered, Ashanti culture flourished. They became famous for gold and brass craftsmanship, wood carving, furniture, and brightly colored woven cloth, called kente. Although the Ashanti maintained traditional beliefs, Muslim traders and Christian missionaries won some converts among them to their respective religions. The Ashanti tribe, located in central Ghana is the largest tribe of the region.
The people of this tribe live in the West African Rainforest nearly miles away from the West Coast. It is the major indigenous tribe of the Akans Ashanti and Fanti of Ghana. Ghana basically is a new country of about 60 years old, and it was previously known as the Gold Coast.
Most of the modern province of Ghana was dominated by the Ashanti tribe from to Akans were very rich in gold and this was the main reason why they were able to form a state. Even today, Ashanti is the largest tribe in Ghana, which is politically separated into four major parts. With a population of about 1 million, the tribe which covers square miles of land area, lies in the center and its capital is Kumasi.
Ashanti emerged as the dominant power in It conquered the left, right and central tribes declaring a monopoly on the routes to the coasts.
Kumasi, the capital, became the practical urban center with services and facilities like those of Europe those days. Due to this, it became one of the trade centers for the Europeans. Starting from Portuguese, slowly British, French, Dutch and other Europeans built forts all over the coasts and shared trades like gold, raw materials, slaves, etc, with them.
But then came the time in the 19th century when the trade of the slaves was completely abolished, and this led to the fall of the Ashanti Kingdom. At that time, British took over the Gold Coast. Osei Tutu made the gold mines royal possessions.
He also made gold dust the circulating currency in the empire. Gold dust was frequently accumulated by Asante citizens, particularly by the evolving wealthy merchant class. However even relatively poor subjects used gold dust as ornamentation on their clothing and other possessions. Larger gold ornaments owned by the royal family and the wealthy were far more valuable. Periodically they were melted down and fashioned into new patterns of display in jewelry and statuary. If the early Ashanti Empire economy depended on the gold trade in the s, by the early s it had become a major exporter of enslaved people.
The slave trade was originally focused north with captives going to Mande and Hausa traders who exchanged them for goods from North Africa and indirectly from Europe. By , the trade had shifted to the south as the Ashanti sought to meet the growing demand of the British , Dutch , and French for captives.
In exchange, the Ashanti received luxury items and some manufactured goods including most importantly firearms. The consequence of this trade for the Ashanti and their neighbors was horrendous. From until , the Ashanti Empire was in a perpetual state of war involving expansion or defense of its domain.
0コメント