S3 E18: Osei Yaw Akoto's Troubles with Palm Wine

During this episode, we explored the crisis-filled reign of Osei Yaw Akoto, and how his unstable behavior brought the Ashanti Empire to the verge of civil war. The king, a notorious alcoholic, often acted rashly and outside of acceptable behavior by the standards of Ashanti culture. He drank aktepeshie, a highly potent beverage associated with the empire's lower classes, and spent most of his days partying with his sycophantic followers at the royal resort. 

Akpeteshie is so strong that, in addition to serving as a drink, Akan cultures traditionally used the substance as a sanitization agent.

Particularly, Osei Yaw Akoto's long-term feud with Kwaku Boaten, the Juabenhene, caused a great deal of unrest within the empire. This culminated in the New Juaben crisis. Juaben was an important city within the Ashanti Empire, and its king was one of the most powerful noblemen in Asanteman. This crisis was ignited when the asantehene requested for one of his friends, a man named Kotiako, to disguise himself as the Juabenhene and sexually assault Boaten's wives. When the king of Juaben found out about this plot, he began preparing to revolt against Akoto. This revolt failed. Boaten and his followers were forced to flee into the predominantly Akyem regions surrounding Kyebi. The new Ashanti migrants would eventually name this area New Juaben.

The modern amanhene of New Juaben

Tensions with the locals almost escalated into a war, which would inevitably suck in the Ashanti, British, and Danish. Fortunately, however, Osei Akoto died before the situation could deteriorate further. Next episode, we'll see how his successor, the first asantehene in decades to not derive from the line of Konadu's descendants, handles the growing crises within the empire.