what is the Ashanti tribe?

Answer 1

Hey Cynthia,

The Ashanti live in central Ghana in western Africa approximately 300km. away from the coast. The Ashanti are a major ethnic group of the Akans in Ghana, a fairly new nation, barely more than 50 years old. Ghana, previously the Gold Coast, was a British colony until 1957. It is now politically separated into four main parts. Ashanti is in the center and Kumasi is the capital.

Answer 2

The Ashanti (also Asante) are a major ethnic group in Ghana.


Prior to European colonization, the Ashanti people devoloped a powerful empire in West Africa through trade. Before the 13th century, Akan peoples migrated into the forest belt of present-day Ghana and established small states in the hilly country in the neighborhood of modern Kumasi. During height of the Mali Empire the Ashantis, and Akan people in general, became wealthy through the trading of gold found within the mines in their terriroty. Currently these mines are owned by the company AngloGold.

The Ashantis later developed the powerful Ashanti Confederacy and became the most powerful ethnic group within the Gold Coast region competing with the Fante people, another Akan group. They became powerful during the colonial period by selling Gold and slaves in exchange for guns and became entrenched in the slave-gun cycle. Ashanti was one of the few African states able to offer serious resistance to the European imperialists. Between 1826 and 1896, Britain fought four wars against the Ashanti kings (the Anglo-Ashanti Wars), one of which was notable as the first conflict in which the Maxim gun was used. In 1900, the British finally subdued the kingdom and renamed it the Gold Coast colony. A revered figure in Asante history is Yaa Asantewaa, a leader of the resistance against British colonialism in 1896.

An important Ashanti cultural artifact that still important today was the golden stool. The Ashanti Golden Stool was sacred, and could only be touched by the Asantehene. In 1900, British Gold Coast governor Frederick Hodgson attempted to take the Golden Stool asking "Where is the Gold Stool? Why am I not sitting on the Golden Stool at this moment? I am the representative of the paramount power; why have you relegated me to this chair?" The search for the Golden Stool sparked the resistence that led to the Anglo-Asante Wars.

The Ashanti's speak Twi, a language similar to Fante, but is more widely spoken (7 million) due to Ashanti influence.

Answer 3

The Ashanti tribe is the largest tribe in Ghana, and one of the few matrilineal societies in West Africa. Ashanti kings retained figurehead status after colonization, and even today great pride in the Ashanti King lives on in the tradition of the Golden Stool.

The Ashanti are noted for their expertise in a variety of specialized crafts. These include weaving, wood carving, ceramics, the renowned kente cloth and metallurgy. Of these crafts, only pottery-making is primarily a female activity; the others are restricted to male specialists. Even in the case of pottery-making, only men are allowed to fashion pots or pipes.

Answer 4

A tribe of ghana