S3E24: The Third Anglo-Ashanti War part 2: The Burning of Kumasi

 

The Ashanti Aban Kesie palace, just before its destruction

With the Ashanti retreating from their failed offensive, January of 1874 was when the British general Garnet Wolesly started planning his invasion into Asanteman. The British would take two paths. One, larger army, led by Wolesly himself, headed north through Adansi, straight toward the Ashanti capital of Kumasi. Another would trek northwest from Akyem Swedru, take Juaben, and then converge at the capital.

Map of showing British invasion columns and major battles

An Ashanti slip of paper featuring a Quranic verse, intended for insertion into a locket.

With the Ashanti general Amankwatia having thoroughly lost any support he once enjoyed in Kumasi, he was demoted to an officer rank. In his place, another aging general, a man named Nkwanta, was elevated to the commander of the Ashanti army. This decision was not unanimous though, as Amankwatia's ally, the king of Juaben, decided to withhold the well-armed 20,000 soldiers at his disposal in protest of Nkwanta's promotion. Nkwanta, in an effort to boost the shattered morale of his men, handed out lockets containing verses from the Quran, which he claimed would protect them at bullets. Nkwanta's plan was to lure the British deep into Asanteman, then ambush and encircle them when they overextended.

Ashanti soldiers fight the encircled British at Amofo

Nkwanta's plan went well at first. Wolesly's army attacked the Ashanti outside of Bekwai, where they drove the Ashanti back at the battle of Egginasi. Nkwanta's army dragged the pursuing British further inland, into the generals trap. At the town of Amofo, the Ashanti suddenly surrounded the isolated Black Guard, the regiment serving as the British forward guard. Using a unique technique of volley fire, the Ashanti out the Black Guard under immense pressure, and nearly destroyed them altogether. According to the later writings of Wolesly, more than a fourth of the men in the regiment were either killed or grievously injured. However, a severe ammunition shortage stopped the Ashanti from finishing off the reeling British. The British ordered a counterattack, which destroyed the overextended and low on ammunition Ashanti wings. Amankwatia, as well as the king of Mampong, were both killed in battle. The battle of Amofo was a devastating defeat for the Ashanti. Despite early promise, the army had been largely destroyed, and the path to Kumasi was now open. 

British soldiers sacked and burned much of Kumasi

With the city now undefended, the British completely trashed the Ashanti capital of Kumasi. The royal palace was looted and then destroyed, as were many of the city's most famous monuments and streets.

One of the crowns looted from the Kumasi palace

Some of the objects looted from the palace included multiple Ashanti crowns, golden jewelry, daggers, ceremonial swords, soul washing plates, and sculptures. Other objects, which the British did not have room to carry, were destroyed alongside the building, including paintings of various Ashanti royals, the royal library and its many books, and many other precious relics, furniture, and pieces of jewelry.

Chair looted from the palace 

Dagger and Sheathe (possibly) looted from the palace

Map of Ghana after the Treaty of Fomena (1874)

As the British returned to Cape Coast with a caravan of looted goods, they met with an Ashanti messenger that negotiated a peace treaty on behalf of Asantehene Kofi Kakari. The treaty signed away Ashanti claims of sovereignty over Elmina, Denkyira, Akyeman, and other southern Ashanti territories. It also mandated an enormous gold indemnity to the British, and prohibited the Ashanti from performing ritualized criminal executions.

S3E23: The Third Anglo-Ashanti War Part 1 - The Offensive of 1873

 

British soldiers landed on Cape Coast in 1873

In 1873, the Ashanti and British once again went to war. Under cheering crowds, Ashanti soldiers marched from Kumasi, down to the Pra River, and eventually marched south into the British Gold Coast. Their main objective was to capture the disputed territory of Elmina while capturing major British ports like Accra and Cape Coast to prevent the British from receiving supplies and reinforcements. The Ashanti force of 80,000 was divided into two columns, one which attacked the east to capture Accra, and a larger force in the west to capture Elmina.

The uniform of an Ashanti officer (1873)

Initially, the offensive went according to plan. The Ashanti routed the British in early battles in the East, while the western force gradually pushed the British further and further south. Eventually, the commander of the Ashanti army, general Amankwatia, reached the walls of Cape Coast while capturing much of the city of Elmina. At this point, the British were in desperate straits, with only a few hundred men available to defend the city. However, for reasons that aren't especially clear, Amankwatia chose not to launch an attack against the cities. The British would use this time effectively, importing thousands of Hausa mercenaries to help them defend the cities, followed by thousands of more British soldiers.

An Ashanti soldier poses for a photograph taken by a group of missionaries. Here, he is demonstrating how Ashanti soldiers removed their shirts before going into battle.

By the end of 1873, Ashanti arms supplies were in a desperate state. Gunpowder supplies were short, forcing Amankwatia to ration power among his men. As a result, Ashanti gunners often used only a fraction of the needed gunpowder for their weapons, meaning that the slugs they fired came out at a slow trajectory and left only welts. Guns were also in short supply, meaning that many Ashanti were forced to use obsolete smoothbore muskets rather than the standard-issue 1843 carbines. The worst problem, however, was food. Amankwatia had expected a quick victory and planned accordingly, meaning that he was incredibly short of food supplies after several months of fighting.

The maximum extent of the Ashanti offensive in 1873

With British reinforcements arriving in droves and the Ashanti becoming increasing short on food, ammunition, and weapons, the Ashanti were forced to withdraw back across the Pra, ending their offensive of 1873. However, this did not mark the end of the war, as the British would continue to press on and invade Asanteman the following year.

Garnet Wolesly, who would be christened "Sir Garnet Wolesly" for his success in the Ashanti War

S3E22: The Elmina Crisis

 

Enslaved Ewe people (left) and Swiss missionaries (center), are led back to Kumasi by Ashanti Soldiers (left)

In 1872, the British and Dutch agreed on a deal. In exchange for territory in modern-day Indonesia, the Dutch would trade the town of Elmina and other territories they controlled in southern Ghana to the British. This deal threatened to give to Britain something unprecedented. Since the beginning of European maritime contact with West Africa, there had never been a point in which a single European power monopolized trade coming in and out of the coast of Ghana. Now, the British did. Not only that, but the Ashanti had always viewed their relationship with the Dutch as one of tenant and landlord. They charged the Dutch rent for the right to stay in Elmina, which, from the Ashanti point of view, meant that the territories still belonged to them. The Dutch, apparently, disagreed. They traded the land anyways.

Ghana - 1870

Ghana - 1872 (After the sale of the Dutch Gold Coast + Bofour's Campaigns

This new exchange of land provoked an outraged response from the Ashanti government. However, the Ashanti were not in consensus on how to respond. Some favored maintaining peace with the British, such as the young general Adu Bofour. Bofour had just returned from a series of successful campaigns against the politically city-states and villages past Ashanti's eastern border. He even seized some coastal territories that could potentially undermine the threat of a British coastal monopoly. Meanwhile, the Asantehemaa Afua Kobi also opposed going to war, but for entirely different reasons. In particular, her reasoning revolved around the ethics of the way that the Ashanti had handled the negotiations surrounding the return of a group of European missionaries and merchants that Bofour had captured on his campaign. The Europeans were taken as prisoners to Kumasi, where they were kept in a comfortable state of imprisonment. At first, the asantehene Kofi Kakari tried ransoming off the prisoners to the British for a hefty price. This worked, and the British offered to pay up. However, the king then withdrew his offer when he heard about the trade with the Dutch, and dramatically upped his asking price to a complete British withdrawal from the Dutch territories. This displeased Kobi, who believed that her son was provoking divine wrath by acting in such a dishonest manner.

A crowd of onlookers welcomes the captured Europeans into Kumasi

Meanwhile, the pro-war crowd was led primarily by the aging general Amankwatia IV. Amankwatia saw the war as an opportunity for him to lead the Ashanti to a great victory, and finally entrench his superior status over the young up-and-comer Bofour. He also believed that refusing to meet the British on the battlefield would give the British the impression that the Ashanti were pushovers, ensuring that future, more severe provocations would happen again in the future.

Kofi Kakari chose to side with the pro-war faction, and, under uproarious applause, mobilized his armies for war. 

S3E21: The Rise of Kofi Kakari

 

Ashanti Royal Executioner in Traditional Garb

 In 1867, the city of Kumasi experienced the bloodiest week it had yet seen. Following the death of Asantehene Kwaku Dua, who had ruled the Ashanti Empire for more than four decades, the city fell into a state of mourning. Parades of mourners gathered around the city to showcase their sadness caused by the king's passing.

However, the head royal executioner, or adumhene, decided to make a power play. The death of the asanthene was traditionally accompanied by the mass execution of his personal slaves, or Akyere. However, the unexpected nature of Kwaku Dua's death meant that nobody had prepared the Akyere for execution, and that they were spread throughout the city, going about their usual tasks. The adumhene lured many back to the palace, by informing them of a "special cleaning assignment." Once they arrived, they were promptly locked in the palace and killed by the royal executioners. The executioners began roving around the city, killing any other Akyere who had not fallen for his ruse. The confused citizens of Kumasi, not aware of what was happening, went into a panic. Many fled the city, while many others assumed that civil war was starting, and decided to fight back. Soon, the executioners were killing not only Akyere, but ordinary civilians as well. The massacre continued for several more days, until Kwaku Dua's body was finally buried and the official mourning period ended.

The massacre was a power play by the adumhene, allowing him to showcase his strength in Kumasi. As the massacre ended, the various nobility, bureaucrats, and other notables convened in Kumasi to choose Kwaku Dua's replacement. With the backing of the Adumhene, the convened Ashanti elected Kofi Kakari, the son of the Asantehemaa Afua Kobi

Kobi, pictured many years after the events of this episode

Kobi had been selected as Asantehemaa due to her weak ties to the royal dynasty. However, with the support of the adumhene and a few military generals, she managed to place her son, Kofi Kakari on the golden stool, ostensibly to act as a placeholder for the paternal grandson of Kwaku Dua, a young man named Kwaku Dua II. To secure his position of power, Kofi Kakari decided to undo many of Kwaku Dua's unpopular but necessary policies, including the unpopular estate taxes he had levied to fund an enormous debt relief program to help rural peasants escape debt peonage.

S3E20: The Second Anglo-Ashanti War

 

Afro-Caribbean soldier in British service during the Second Anglo-Ashanti War

In 1863, the Ashanti and British armies once again met on the field of battle. That year, the British colonial government in the Cape Coast decided to harbor two Ashanti fugitives: a runaway slave and an amanhene under trial for hoarding state funds. This frightened the Ashanti authorities, then under the rule of the long-time Asantehene Kwaku Dua. By harboring the fugitives, the British were violating the agreement hatched between the nations at the conclusion of the first Anglo-Ashanti war. Kwaku Dua worried that, since the British were willing to violate this stipulation of the agreement, they would violate other, more important stipulations in the future. So, that year, the previously pacific rule of Kwaku Dua erupted into its first major external war.

The Ashanti and their Neighbors (1850)

The war saw many early victories for the Ashanti. Particularly, at the battle of Barikuma, the Ashanti army defeated and inflicted heavy losses on a British regiment. Throughout the conflict, the British struggled to organize a resistance to the invading Ashanti. However, the onset of the rainy season combined with outbreaks of malaria and smallpox in both armies caused the Ashanti offensive to grind to a halt. The war eventually became a deadly stalemate, with the Ashanti losing many soldiers to disease, and the British losing even more. Eventually, after a year and a half of fighting, the British relented. They returned the fugitives, granted the Ashanti control over disputed regions north of the Birim River, and announced that, for the foreseeable future, the British protectorates in southern Ghana would be on their own. Angry at this announcement, the Fante and Ga of southern Ghana pushed for greater autonomy from British rule, forming two new semi-independent states, the Republic of Accra and the Fante Confederation.

Map of Ghana in 1868

S3 E19 - Kwaku Dua Fixes a Broken Empire

 

Kwaku Dua's son Kwasi Boakye during his education in the Netherlands

From 1834 until 1867, the Ashanti Empire underwent a remarkable transformation. Still recovering from the disastrous rule of the alcoholic and unpredictable Osei Yaw Akoto, the empire received a new king. The new king, an obscure bureaucrat turned war-hero with only a vague connection to the royal family, would prove to be the opposite of his predecessor in every way. His name was Kwaku Dua, and he would lead the Ashanti longer than any king before him.

Kwaku Dua's reign was mostly filled with trying to patch up Asanteman's numerous problems that had appeared during his predecessor's rule. First, he invited the people of Juaben to return to their city. The people of Juaben had been forced to flee their home after a long-standing feud between Osei Yaw Akoto and the king of Juaben escalated into a minor military conflict. Had it not been for the fortunately timed ascension of Kwaku Dua, the conflict likely would have escalated into a full blown civil war. To end the conflict, Kwaku Dua invited the refugees to return to their home. He also criminally charged and executed many of the old asantehene's associates, including the rapist Kotiako and the troublemaking Ata twins.

Most controversially, he radically transformed the Ashanti economy. To prevent a mounting deflation crisis, Kwaku Dua imported a great number of cowries, the primary currency of the empire. He also instituted debt-relief policies to help the peasantry more easily escape debt slavery. These policies were paid for with an unpopular progressive estate tax, or tax on inheritance. These reforms were successful at righting the Ashanti economy.

He also sought to update and improve Ashanti mining engineering and prospecting. To do this, he struck a deal with the Dutch to allow his son and nephew, Kwasi Boakye and Kwame Opoku, to study engineering in the Netherlands and return to teach others of their methods. This plan would ultimately fail. Kwasi Boakye became attached to life in the Netherlands and refused to return to Asanteman. Meanwhile, Kwame Opoku returned to Ghana, only to realize that he had become so estranged from his own culture that he couldn't even speak to fellow Akans. He suffered an identity crisis and later committed suicide. We will cover their lives in greater detail on the latest premium episode of the show, available at Patreon.com/historyofafrica

However, they also represented a growing authoritarianism among the Asantehene. Throughout his rule, Kwaku Dua often ignored the constitutional limits of the asantehene. He passed legislation without the consent of the national assembly, and gave numerous positions of power to his allies in the military. 

His rule was mostly peaceful, with the only major wars being a war against the Dagbon Kingdom to the north, and the Second Anglo-Ashanti War of 1863. Our next episode will focus on the latter conflict, the least famous entry in the saga of the Anglo-Ashanti Wars, but perhaps one of the most impactful wars in Ghana's hsitory.

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.