Akwamu
Kingdom of Akwamu | |
|---|---|
 Akwamu National State Symbol
| |
| Status | State until 1886 Now a non-sovereign monarchy within Ghana |
| Capital | Asamankese Nyanaoase Nsaki Akwamufie |
| Common languages | Twi |
| Government | Monarchy |
| Akwamuhene | |
| History | |
• Migration from Twifo-Heman | Early 17th century |
• Conquest of Accra | 1677 |
• Defeated by Akyem | 1730 |
• Incorporated into the Gold Coast Colony | 1886 |
Akwamu was a state set up by the Akwamu people in present-day Ghana. According to tradition, it was founded by people from Twifo-Heman.[1] The Akwamu led an expansionist empire in the 17th and 18th centuries. At the peak of their empire, Akwamu extended 400 kilometres (250 mi) along the coast from Ouidah, Benin in the East to Winneba, Ghana, in the West.[1][2]
History
[edit]The Akwamu moved from Twifo-Heman to the modern-day region of Akyem Abuakwa in the late 16th or early 17th century.[1] In the early 17th century a succession dispute pushed some Akwamu, led by Nana Asare, to move eastwards.[3] Asamankese and Nyanoase served as the capitals of Akwamu before its imperial era.[4] By the mid-1600s they dominated the Akuapem area.[4]
Imperial Era
[edit]Akwamuhene Ansa Sasraku played a pivotal role in transforming Akwamu into an empire. He led an attack on the Ga kingdom of Accra in 1677, destroying the capital city but unable to pursue the survivors, who took shelter under the walls of Christianborg castle.[5] Ladoku was conquered the next year.[6] Akwamu sponsored a mutiny among the Danish garrison of Christianborg in 1680, and once the fort's protection was removed Accra became a province of the growing empire.[7] According to Akwamu tradition, Nana Ansa Sasraku I played an important role in the life of King Osei Kofi Tutu I of Ashanti by protecting him from Denkyira. It was at Akwamu that Osei Tutu met Okomfo Anokye. With the aid of Akwamu, Ashanti embarked on a series of campaigns which led to the defeat of the Denkyira.[8]
Ansa Sasraku's last conquest was the Fante kingdom of Agona, in 1689, shortly before his death.[9] He was succeeded by two kings who ruled together, Nana Addo Panin and Nana Basua. Basua masterminded the Akwamu takeover of the Danish trading castle of Christianborg at Osu, in present-day Accra, in 1693.[10] After Basua's death, Ado led further expansion east of the Volta river. A February 1702 invasion was initially repulsed, but after regrouping the Akwamuhene overran Little Popo in April and Whydah in May. Whydah remained a tributary of Akwamu until its destruction by Dahomey 25 years later.[11]
Ado's successor Akonno took the stool in 1703. By 1710, he had expanded Akwamu further north and northeast, conquering Krepi and Kwahu lands.[12] At the peak of its power, the Akwamu state encompassed much of the southeastern part of the present-day Ghana,[13] and was the largest Akan empire.[2]
In the 1720s a civil war in the Akwamu state caused great hardship. The victors sold most of the King's allies as slaves and they were transported to the Caribbean island of St. John. In 1733 they fomented a slave revolt on the island.[14]
The Akwamu empire fell after an invasion by the Akyem in 1730-31, supported by many of Akwamu's oppressed vassals.[15] The entire western portion of the empire, including the Akwamu heartland, became Akyem Abuakwa.[16] The Akwamus were pushed to Akwamufie, the location of their current capital.[2]
Post-Empire
[edit]Despite the loss of much of their territory, Akwamu remained a powerful kingdom, even expanding eastwards again in the late 18th century.[15] During the third and fourth Anglo-Ashanti wars, Akwamu tried to help the Ashanti but withdrew their aid, because a diplomatic agreement with British government signed in 1867. Despite this, Akwamu and the Ashanti Empire were still strong allies. They fought in many wars as allies, such as in the "Krepi war" in 1869.[citation needed]
Organization
[edit]The Akwamu are ruled by the king of the Yaa Ansaa Royal Family of the Aduana abusua (maternal clan).[17]
The seat of the Akwamu government was located at Nyanoase.[18] Between 1681 and 1701, it was from Nyanoase that the government administered over several ports across the Gold and Slave Coasts. Aside from the coast, Akwamu established trade networks with Dagbon and Gonja up north, Akyem northwest, while eastward, they traded with Adra and Whydah.[19] Akwamu generated wealth through commodity circulation, fines, taxes and tributes.[19] An account of the city in 1684 is the oldest recorded description of the city which Swartz and Dumett quote as:
The King [Ansa Sasraku (d.1689)] lives twelve leagues from the sea; he is one of the greatest rulers of Guinea. The place where he lives is well-policed, and the Frenchmen whom I sent there assured me that they have never seen a place of greater beauty; the streets of the town, which are thirty feet wide, are lined up for a distance of three leagues with trees. He has 600 officers at his court with numerous soldiers and much gold.[20]
Erik Tileman documented in the late 17th century that the capital was two Danish miles long and 160 feet wide as there was a single major street that contained the royal residence at the center of the city. The street was flanked with state buildings, courts, council buildings, stool and treasury houses as well as shrines.[20] Nyanoase along with other metropolitan cities, contained large plantations; some of which were royal or state plantations.[21] Taxes or tributes were paid occasionally by the towns and villages within the jurisdiction of the empire.[22] European forts on the Accra coast paid rents for their forts and lodges in the form of gold, cowries or imported merchandise.[23]
Military
[edit]According to historian Ivor Wilks, "Akwamu possessed such an array of cannon that Sir Dalby Thomas thought the days of European forts might well be over."[24] Despite possessing artillery, the bulk of the army was centred on the musketeers, bowmen and spearmen.[25] Akwamu might have influenced the military organization and civil administration of the Ashanti Empire. Akwamu and the founder of the Ashanti Empire had formed an alliance since the late 17th century.[26] Akwamu also formed an alliance with some Fante westwards. During the reign of King Akwonno, the Dutch signed a treaty with Akwamu on 3 April 1702 which saw the Dutch bound themselves to assist Akwamu in any justified war, with a force of 100 fully armed men, 3000 pounds of gunpowder as well as 300 pounds of bullets.[27]
List of rulers of the state of Akwamu
[edit]The list of rulers of Akwamu:[28][better source needed]
| Akwamu rulers | Period of reign |
|---|---|
| Nana Agyen Kokobo | 1505–1520 |
| Nana Ofosu Kwabi | 1520–1535 |
| Nana Oduro | 1535–1550 |
| Nana Addow | 1550–1565 |
| Nana Akoto I | 1565–1580 |
| Nana Asare | 1580–1595 |
| Nana Akotia | 1595–1610 |
| Nana Obuoko Dako | 1610–1625 |
| Ohemmaa Afrakoma | 1625–1640 |
| Nana Ansa Sasraku I | 1640–1674 |
| Nana Ansa Sasraku II | 1674–1689 |
| Nana Ansa Sasraku III | 1689–1699 |
| Nana Ansa Sasraku IV | 1699–1702 |
| Nana Akonno Panyin | 1702–1725 |
| Nana Ansa Kwao | 1725–1730 |
| Nana Akonno Kuma (Regent) | 1730–1744 |
| Nana Opoku Kuma | 1744–1747 |
| Nana Darko Yaw Panyin | 1747–1781 |
| Nana Akoto Panyin | 1781–1835 |
| Nana Darko Yaw Kuma | 1835–1866 |
| Nana Kwafo Akoto I | 1866–1882 |
| Nana Akoto Ababio | 1882–1887 |
| Nana Akoto Ababio II | 1887–1909 |
| Nana Akoto Kwadwo | 1909–1910 |
| Nana Akoto Ababio III | 1910–1917 |
| Nana Ansa Sasraku V | 1917–1921 |
| Nana Akoto Ababio IV | 1921–1937 |
| Odeneho Kwafo Akoto II | 1937–1992 |
| Odeneho Kwafo Akoto III | 2011–present |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Akwamu". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 28 March 2007.
- ^ a b c Buah 1998, p. 20.
- ^ Buah 1998, p. 19.
- ^ a b Wilks 1957, pp. 28.
- ^ Wilks 1957, pp. 34.
- ^ Wilks 1957, pp. 35.
- ^ Wilks 1957, pp. 36.
- ^ Wilks 1957, pp. 53.
- ^ Wilks 1957, pp. 44.
- ^ Wilks 1957, pp. 47.
- ^ Wilks 1957, pp. 50–51.
- ^ Wilks 1957, pp. 55.
- ^ Muḥammad Zuhdī Yakan, Almanac of African Peoples & Nations, p. 161.
- ^ Hartman, Saidiya. Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007), pp. 91–93.
- ^ a b Buah 1998, p. 22.
- ^ Wilks 1957, pp. 56.
- ^ Dogbey, Larry (9 May 2022). "Supreme Court declares Yaa Ansaa Royal Family owners of Akwamu stool; Kwafo Akoto days numbered". The Herald. Ghana. Retrieved 25 May 2023.
- ^ Swartz & Dumett (2011), pp. 371–372.
- ^ a b Swartz & Dumett (2011), p. 373.
- ^ a b Swartz & Dumett (2011), p. 374.
- ^ Swartz & Dumett (2011), p. 375.
- ^ Swartz & Dumett (2011), p. 379.
- ^ Swartz & Dumett (2011), pp. 381–382.
- ^ Wilks 1957, pp. 31.
- ^ Wilks, Ivor (2001). Akwamu 1640-1750: A Study of the Rise and Fall of a West African Empire. Department of History, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. p. 49. ISBN 9788277650364.
- ^ Wilks 1957, pp. 52.
- ^ Wilks 1957, pp. 54.
- ^ Ayim-Aboagye, Desmond. "Kofi Anan Ancestors Were Amorites!". ModernGhana. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
Bibliography
[edit]- Buah, F. K. (1998). A History of Ghana. London: MacMillan. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
- Swartz, Henri B. K.; Dumett, Raymond E. (2011). West African Culture Dynamics: Archaeological and Historical Perspectives. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110800685.
- Wilks, Ivor (1957). "The Rise of The Akwamu Empire, 1650-1710". Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana. 3 (2): 25–62. JSTOR 41405705.