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Ashanti Empire
The Asante Empire ( Asante Twi: ), also known as the Ashanti Empire, was an Akan state that lasted from 1701 to 1901, in what is now modern-day Ghana. It expanded from the Ashanti Region to include most of Ghana and also parts of Ivory Coast and Togo. Due to the empire's military prowess, wealth, architecture, sophisticated hierarchy and culture, the Asante Empire has been extensively studied and has more historic records written by European, primarily British, authors than any other indigenous culture of sub-Saharan Africa. Starting in the late 17th century, the Asante king Osei Tutu ( – 1717) and his adviser Okomfo Anokye established the Asante Kingdom, with the Golden Stool of Asante as a sole unifying symbol. Osei Tutu oversaw a massive Asante territorial expansion, building up the army by introducing new organisation and turning a disciplined royal and paramilitary army into an effective fighting machine. In 1701, the Asante army conquered Denkyira, giving the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Political Systems Of The Asante Empire
The political organization of the historical Asante Empire was characterized by ''stools'' which denoted "offices" that were associated with a particular authority. The Golden Stool was the most powerful of all, because it was the office of the King of the Asante Empire. Scholars such as Jan Vansina have described the governance of the Asante Empire as a federation where state affairs were regulated by a council of elders headed by the king, who was simply ''primus inter pares.'' Structure and organization In all, the Asante state was a centralized state made up of a hierarchy of heads starting from the "Abusua Panyin" who was head of a family or lineage. The family was the basic political unit in the empire. The family or lineage followed the village organization which was headed by the ''Odikro''. All villages were then grouped together to form divisions headed by a divisional head called ''Ohene''. The various divisions were politically grouped to form a state which was headed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
State Union
A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller politics or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal government; they are called prefectures, regions, or provinces in the case of a centralised government. This form of government may be created through voluntary and mutual cession and is described as ''unionism'' by its constituent members and proponents. In other cases, it may arise from political unification, characterised by coercion and conquest. The unification of separate states which, in the past, had together constituted a single entity is known as ''reunification''. Unlike a personal union or real union, the individual constituent entities may have devolution of powers but are subordinate to a central government or coordinated in some sort of organization. In a federalised system, the constituent entities usually have internal auton ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Nation State
A nation state, or nation-state, is a political entity in which the State (polity), state (a centralized political organization ruling over a population within a territory) and the nation (a community based on a common identity) are (broadly or ideally) congruent. "Nation state" is a more precise concept than "country" or "state", since a country or a state does not need to have a predominant national or ethnic group, ethnic group. A nation, sometimes used in the sense of a common ethnicity, may include a diaspora or refugees who live outside the nation-state; some dispersed nations (such as the Romani people, Roma nation, for example) do not have a state where that ethnicity predominates. In a more general sense, a nation-state is simply a large, politically sovereign country or administrative territory. A nation-state may be contrasted with: * An empire, a political unit made up of several territories and peoples, typically established through conquest and marked by a domin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Culture Of The Asante Empire
The Asante Empire was governed by an elected monarch with its political power centralised. The entire government was a federation. By the 19th century, the Empire had a total population of 3 million. The Asante society was matrilineal as most families were extended and were headed by a male elder who was assisted by a female elder. Asante Twi was the most common and official language. At its peak from the 18th–19th centuries, the Empire extended from the Komoé River (Ivory Coast) in the West to the Togo Mountains in the East. The king and the aristocracy were the highest social class in the Asante society. Commoners were below the aristocracy with slaves forming the lowest social order. The Asante celebrated various ceremonies which were compulsory for communal participation. Festivals served as a means of promoting unity, remembering the ancestors and for thanksgiving. There was the belief in a single supreme being who created the universe with a decentralized system of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Military Of The Asante Empire
The military of the Asante Empire first came into formation around the 17th century AD in response to subjugation by the Denkyira Kingdom. It served as the main armed forces of the empire until it was dissolved when the Asante became a British crown colony in 1901. In 1701, King Osei Kofi Tutu I won Asante independence from Denkyira at the Battle of Feyiase and carried out an expansionist policy.''History of the Ashanti Empire''. The Asante army prior to the 18th century used predominantly bows with poisoned arrows, swords, spears and javelins. King Osei Tutu I instituted reforms in the army such as the adoption of military tactics used by other Akan kingdoms. Through trade with Europeans at the coast, the Asante acquired firearms and artillery. By the 19th century, the army was primari ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Togo
Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the least developed countries and extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its capital city, capital, Lomé, is located. It is a small, tropical country, spanning with a population of approximately 8 million, and it has a width of less than between Ghana and its eastern neighbour Benin. Various peoples settled the boundaries of present-day Togo between the 11th and 16th centuries. Between the 16th and 18th centuries, the coastal region served primarily as a Atlantic slave trade, European slave trading outpost, earning Togo and the surrounding region the name "The Slave Coast of West Africa, Slave Coast". In 1884, during the scramble for Africa, German Empire, Germany established a protectorate in the region called Togoland. After World War I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of cities in Ivory Coast, city and economic centre is the port city of Abidjan. It borders Guinea to the Guinea–Ivory Coast border, northwest, Liberia to the Ivory Coast–Liberia border, west, Mali to the Ivory Coast–Mali border, northwest, Burkina Faso to the Burkina Faso–Ivory Coast border, northeast, Ghana to the Ghana–Ivory Coast border, east, and the Atlantic Ocean's Gulf of Guinea to the south. With 31.5 million inhabitants in 2024, Ivory Coast is the List of African countries by population, third-most populous country in West Africa. Its official language is French language, French, and indigenous languages are also widely used, including Bété languages, Bété, Baoulé language, Baoulé, Dyula language, Dyula, Dan language, Da ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Ashanti Region
The Ashanti Region is located in the southern part of Ghana and is the third largest of Regions of Ghana, 16 administrative regions, occupying a total land surface of and making up 10.2 percent of the total land area of Ghana. It is the List of Ghanaian regions by population, most populated region in Ghana, with a population of 5,440,463 according to the 2021 census, accounting for around one-sixth of Ghana's total population. The Ashanti Region is known for its gold bar and Cocoa bean, cocoa production. The largest city and Capital city, capital of Ashanti is Kumasi.Ashanti Region Geography The Ashanti Region is located in the middle belt of Ghana. It lies between longitudes 0.15W and 2.25W as well as latitudes 5.50N and 7.46N. The region shares boundaries with six of the sixteen political regions: the ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Akan People
The Akan () people are a kwa languages, Kwa group living primarily in present-day Ghana and in parts of Ivory Coast and Togo in West Africa. The Akan speak languages within the Central Tano languages, Central Tano branch of the Potou–Tano languages, Potou–Tano subfamily of the Niger–Congo languages, Niger–Congo family.''Languages of the Akan Area: Papers in Western Kwa Linguistics and on the Linguistic Geography of the Area of Ancient''. Isaac K. Chinebuah, H. Max J. Trutenau, Linguistic Circle of Accra, Basler Afrika Bibliographien, 1976, pp. 168. Subgroups of the Akan people include: the Adansi, Agona, Akuapem people, Akuapem, Akwamu, Akyem, Anyi people, Anyi, Ashanti people, Asante, Baoulé people, Baoulé, Bono people, Bono, Chakosi people, Chakosi, Fante people, Fante, Kwahu, Sefwi people, Sefwi, Wassa, Ahanta people, Ahanta, Denkyira and Nzema people, Nzema, among others. The Akan subgroups all have cultural attributes in common; most notably the tracing of royal m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Asante Twi
Asante, also known as Ashanti, Ashante, or Asante Twi, is one of the principal dialects of the Akan language. It is one of the three literary dialects of Akan, the others being Akuapem and Fante. There are over 3.8 million speakers of the Asante dialect, mainly concentrated in Ghana and southeastern Cote D'Ivoire, and especially in and around the Ashanti Region of Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t .... References Ashanti people Akan Akan language {{Ghana-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Economy Of The Asante Empire
The Economy of the Asante Empire was largely a pre-industrial and agrarian economy. The Asante established different procedures for mobilizing state revenue and utilizing public finance. Asante trade extended upon two main trade routes; one at the North and the other at the South. The Northern trade route was dominated by the trade in Kola nuts and at the South, the Asante engaged in the Atlantic Slave Trade. A variety of economic industries such as cloth-weaving and metal working industries existed. The Asante originally farmed in subsistence until agriculture became extensive during the 19th century. State revenues Gold dust was the main currency of the Asante Empire. Mperedwan or Peregwan was the highest denomination in Asante. One Peregwan was equal to an Asante weight of 2.25 troy ounces. According to Ratray, the Omanhene obtained revenue through death duties, trade, court fees and fines as well as mining. The Gyaasehene was responsible for the empire's national tre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Shell Money
Shell money is a medium of exchange similar to coin money and other forms of commodity money, and was once commonly used in many parts of the world. Shell money usually consisted of whole or partial sea shells, often worked into beads or otherwise shaped. The use of shells in trade began as direct commodity exchange, the shells having use-value as body ornamentation. The distinction between beads as commodities and beads as money has been the subject of debate among economic anthropologists. Shell money has appeared in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Australia. The shell most widely used worldwide as currency was the shell of '' Cypraea moneta'', the money cowry. This species is most abundant in the Indian Ocean, and was collected in the Maldive Islands, in Sri Lanka, along the Malabar coast, in Borneo and on other East Indian islands, and in various parts of the African coast from Ras Hafun to Mozambique. Cowry shell money was an important part of the trade networks of Afric ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
