Kwaku Dua I | |
---|---|
Asantehene of Asanteman | |
Reign | 25 August 1834 – 27 April 1867 |
Predecessor | Osei Yaw Akoto |
Successor | Kofi Karikari |
Born | Fredua Agyeman Unknown date, c. 1797 Kumasi, Ashanti Empire |
Died | (aged 70) Kumasi, Kingdom of Ashanti |
Issue | Prince Kwasi Boachi |
Dynasty | Oyoko |
Father | Boakye Yam Kumaa |
Mother | Amma Sewaa |
Conflicts |
Kwaku Dua Panin (born Fredua Agyeman; c. 1797 – 27 April 1867) was the eighth Asantehene of the Ashanti Empire from 25 August 1834 until his death. [1]
Prince Kwaku Dua took part in the fighting against the Gyaman, a state 200 kilometers (120 mi) north of Kumasi, from 1818 to 1819, and particularly distinguished himself in combat when he commanded a division in the battle of Katamanso in 1826. [2]
In 1834, Kwaku Dua Panin succeeded Osei Yaw Akoto. His wives included Nana Takyiau and her sister, Nana Konadu Somprema. [3]
Witnessing the frequent human sacrifices in Ashanti, the Dutch were convinced that the Ashanti had vast manpower, some of which could be made available to the Royal Dutch Army. On 18 March 1837, Kwaku Dua Panin signed an agreement with King William I of the Netherlands to provide Ashanti recruits, a thousand of whom would join the Dutch East Indies Army within a year in exchange for guns. [4]
Jacob Huydecoper, a Gold Coast Euro-African from Elmina, opened a recruitment agency in Kumasi to this end. As recruitment was still supposed to be voluntary, slaves offered to the recruiting agent received an advance payment – ostensibly to purchase their freedom. As part of the deal, two Ashanti princes, Kwasi Boachi—Kwaku Dua Panin's son—and Kwame Poku, were to be educated in the Netherlands. [3] Boachi eventually graduated from the Royal Academy of Delft and became the first black mining engineer in the Netherlands who would go on to have a distinguished career in the East Indies. [5] In 1841, Kwaku Dua was presented with a horse-drawn four wheeled carriage by Thomas Birch Freeman on behalf of the Wesleyan Missionary Society. [6]
From 1841 to 1844, Kwaku Dua Panin fought against the Gonja and Dagomba to the north. In 1863, the Ashanti invaded territory to their south which was then under British protection, which soured relations with the British. [7]
Kwaku Dua Panin died suddenly on 24 April 1867; he was succeeded by Kofi Karikari. [3] Historian McCaskie writes that at the time of his death that year, the Adaka Kesie (The chest containing Ashanti's disposable currency reserves) was full with a value of nearly 180,000 mperedwan approximately £1,440,000 in the 19th century. [8]
Kwaku Dua organized the construction of new streets to replace the old narrow streets of Kumasi for the convenience of his carriage. [9] In 1841, he ordered for the construction of proper bridges across the streams of the metropolitan area. [10] Reconstruction of the 7th Great Road occurred from 1836—1838. In 1839, it was documented by Freeman that permanent camps of road labourers were supplied by the King in Assin to maintain the 6th Great Road. [10]
The Ashantehene built a new village during his reign which he called "Elmina." (not to be confused with Elmina) The village contained a large square building or barracks called "Dutch Fort" which served as a military depot. Kwaku Dua also ordered Dutch artillery pieces although the Dutch provided immobile cannon rather than field carriages. This depot may have been the royal arsenal at Eburaso. In the mid 19th century, T. B. Freeman described this depot as the royal arsenal where "all the stores of ammunition of war are kept, consisting of gunpowder, lead bars, etc. No stranger is allowed to visit this place. It is occupied by a strong guard, and is said to cover as large a space of ground, as the palace." [11]
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Mensa Bonsu was the tenth king of the Ashanti Empire, from 1874 until his forced abdication on 8 March 1883.
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Kwasi Boakye or Kwasi Boachi was a Prince of the Ashanti Empire who was sent to the Netherlands together with his cousin, Kwame Poku, in 1837, by his father, King Kwaku Dua Panin, to receive education as part of larger negotiations between the Ashanti and the Dutch about the recruitment of Ashanti soldiers for the Dutch East Indies Army.
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The history of Kumasi dates to the late 17th century when it emerged as the capital of the Ashanti Empire. Although various oral sources differ on the origin of Kumasi, majority agree it emerged as the capital of Ashanti under Osei Kofi Tutu I in the late 17th century. In the early 18th century, Kumasi was invaded and sacked by the Aowin but the invasion was curbed by Asantehene Opoku Ware I. 19th century written accounts by European visitors described the neatness and sophistication of the city. The population of Kumasi under the Ashanti Empire varies per source. The city was ransacked by the British Empire in 1874 during the Anglo-Ashanti Wars. A Civil war occurred within the 1880s which led to further decline of Kumasi. Another British invasion of the city occurred within 1895—1896 as Kumasi was left in ruins.
Konadu Yaadom, also Kwadu Yaadom was the fourth Asantehemaa of the Ashanti Empire, whose multiple marriages and spiritual influence meant that she became an important and powerful ruler in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Ghana–United Kingdom relations are the diplomatic, historical and trade relations between Ghana and the United Kingdom. Modern state Ghana-UK relations began when Ghana became independent from the UK in 1957 as the Dominion of Ghana.
The Economy of the Asante Empire was largely a pre-industrial and agrarian economy. The Asante established different procedures for mobilizing state revenue and utilizing public finance. Asante trade extended upon two main trade routes; one at the North and the other at the South. The Northern trade route was dominated by the trade in Kola nuts and at the South, the Asante engaged in the Atlantic Slave Trade. A variety of economic industries such as cloth-weaving and metal working industries existed. The Asante originally farmed in subsistence until agriculture became extensive during the 19th century.
Owusu-Ansa was a prince of the Ashanti Empire. He was taken to the United Kingdom as adolescent, where he received a British education. After his return to West Africa in 1841, he first became a Methodist minister and, after his resignation from that position, a diplomat in the Ashanti Empire and the British Gold Coast. He played an important role in ending or preventing several Anglo-Ashanti conflicts.
8 roads with several sub routes were built by the Asante Empire to connect the capital with cities north and south of the empire starting from the 18th century. Asante roads were supervised and policed by the government, but the sacred roads of the state received more attention. 4 main roads were directed northwards of the state whiles the other 4 were built south and towards the Coast. The southern roads of the Asante Empire fell into decline in the late 19th century and the entire road network was abandoned following British colonization.
The Aban was a stone structure that served as a palace for the Asantehene and played the other function of displaying his craft collection. It was constructed in 1822 as a project of Asantehene Osei Bonsu, with the stones and labor provided by the Dutch at Elmina. The palace was destroyed in 1874 during the British invasion and its remains were used to construct a British fort in the late 19th century.
The Asantehemaa is the queen mother according to West African custom, who rules the Asante people alongside the Asantehene. African queen mothers generally play an important role in local government; they exercise both political and social power. Their power and influence have declined considerably since pre-colonial times, but still persist in the 21st century.
Opoku Fofie, born around 1775 and died in March 1804, was the sixth asantehene (monarch) of the Ashanti Empire, belonging to the dynastic house of Opoku Ware of the Oyoko clan. The youngest son of the asantehemaa Konadu Yaadom and Adu Twum Kaakyire, he acceded to the throne by the principle of dynastic alternation in force since the founding of the empire, after the crisis that opposed his mother to her predecessor Osei Kwame from 1797 to 1803.