The Ashanti 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.[1] The Ashanti 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.[2]
Painting of the Ashanti Yam Festival in 1817
The king and the aristocracy were the highest social class in the Ashanti society. Commoners were below the aristocracy with slaves forming the lowest social order. The Ashanti 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 smaller gods below this supreme being. People of all classes believed in witchcraft and magic. The Ashanti medical system was largely herbal similar to the Traditional African medicine of other pre-colonial African societies.
^Obeng, J. Pashington (1996). Asante Catholicism: Religious and Cultural Reproduction Among the Akan of Ghana. Brill. p. 20. ISBN 978-90-04-10631-4. An empire of a hundred thousand square miles, occupied by about three million people from different ethnic groups, made it imperative for the Asante to evolve sophisticated statal and parastatal institutions [...]
TheAshantiEmpire was governed by an elected monarch with its political power centralised. The entire government was a federation. By the 19th century...
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were built by theAshantiEmpire to connect the capital with cities north and south oftheempire starting from the 18th century. Ashanti roads were supervised...
Asante people developed theAshantiEmpire, along the Lake Volta and Gulf of Guinea. Theempire was founded in 1670, and the capital Kumase was founded...
of Anansi became such a prominent and familiar part ofAshanti oral culture that they eventually encompassed many kinds of fables, evidenced by the work...
is the name in Akan culture for a group of people that share common maternal ancestry governed by seven major ancient female abosom (deities). The Abusua...
was a campaign in 1900 during the series of conflicts between the United Kingdom and theAshantiEmpire (later Ashanti Region), an autonomous state in...
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as the Akwamu Empire (1550–1650), and ultimately led to the rise theEmpireofAshanti (1700–1900). From the 15th century to the 19th century, the Akan...
Densinkran is the hairstyle worn by queen mothers and women oftheAshanti people in Ghana. It is a short cut and the edges ofthe head and hair are dyed...
The Asante Traditional Buildings are a collection of 10 traditionally built buildings from the time oftheAshantiEmpire in the area near Kumasi. These...
used by European forces. The practice was banned by a number of African kingdoms, notably by theAshantiEmpire in 1838. The British took a strong stance...
sanku, is attested to at least the 17th century, as the then newly established AshantiEmpire incorporated elements of its heavily Mande-influenced northern...
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was the Queen Mother of Ejisu in theAshantiEmpire, now part of modern-day Ghana. She was appointed by her brother Nana Akwasi Afrane Okese, the Edwesuhene...
capital ofthe historical AshantiEmpire. Kumasi is approximately 500 kilometres (300 mi) north ofthe Equator and 200 kilometres (100 mi) north ofthe Gulf...
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The Golden Stool (Ashanti-Twi: Sika dwa; full title, Sika Dwa Kofi "the Golden Stool born on a Friday") is the royal and divine throne of kings of the...
symbols. The Sasanian Empire or Sassanid Empire, also known as the Second Persian Empire or Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early...
Abuakwa is a small town in the Atwima Nwabiagya District oftheAshanti Region. OKYEMAN is a traditional area in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Historically,...
The Russian Empire, also known as Tsarist Russia, Tsarist Empire or Imperial Russia, and sometimes simply as Russia, was a vast realm that spanned most...
monarch in the Ouémé Valley. AshantiEmpire (1701–1894), a pre-colonial Akan West African state of what is now theAshanti Region in Ghana. Theempire stretched...
resulted in the 1806 Ashanti-Fante War, as well as an ongoing struggle by theEmpireofAshanti against the British, the four Anglo-Ashanti Wars. The Danes...
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican state of ancient Rome. It is generally understood to mean the period and territory ruled by the Romans following...
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its...
and culture, theAshantiempire had one ofthe largest historiographies of any indigenous Sub-Saharan African political entity. The Sikh Empire (1799–1846)...
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