Ashanti

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

or ASHANTEE, formerly a kingdom, now a British protectorate, in west Africa, on the Gold Coast, and to the N. of the river Prah; area about 20,000 square miles. It is in great part hilly, well watered, and covered with dense tropical vegetation. The country round the towns, however, is carefully cultivated. The crops are chiefly rice, maize, millet, sugar-cane, and yams, the last forming the staple vegetable food of the natives. The domestic animals are cows, horses of small size, goats, and a species of hairy sheep. The larger wild animals are the elephant, rhinoceros, giraffe, buffalo, lion, hippopotamus, etc. Birds of all kinds are numerous, and crocodiles and other reptiles abound. Gold is abundant, being found either in the form of dust or in nuggets. The Ashantis used to be warlike and ferocious, with a love of shedding human blood amounting to a passion, human sacrifices being common. Polygamy is practiced by them. They make excellent cotton cloths, articles in gold, and good earthenware, tan leather and make sword blades of superior workmanship. The chief town is Kumasi, which is connected with Sekondi on the coast by a railway 168 miles long. (Pop. about 25,000). The British first came in contact with the Ashantis in 1807, and hostilities continued off and on till 1826, when they were driven from the seacoast. Immediately after the transfer of the Dutch settlements on the Gold Coast to Great Britain in 1872-when the entire coast remained in British hands-the Ashantis reclaimed the sovereignty of the tribes round the settlement of Elmina. This brought on a sanguinary war, leading to a British expedition in 1874, in which Kumasi was captured, and British supremacy established along the Gold Coast. In 1895-1896 another British expedition, from the Gold Coast, took possession of Kumasi, forced the submission of the King, who, with his principal chiefs, was sent to Sierra Leone, and established a protectorate over the country. In 1900 a sudden uprising of native tribes was put down only after considerable fighting. Great Britain definitely annexed Ashanti, Sept. 26, 1901, and it now forms part of the Gold Coast Colony. Pop. about 300,000.