Asante people

{{Short description|Ethnic group and nation in Ghana}} {{Infobox ethnic group | group = Asante | native_name_lang = Twi | flag = Flag of Ashanti.svg | native_name = Asantefoɔ | image = Akan dancers.jpg | image_caption = Akan dancers in Ghana | regions = Ashanti Region and Ahafo Region ({{flag|Ghana}}) | langs = {{hlist| Twi (a native dialect of Akan) | English}} | religions = {{hlist| Christianity|Islam|Akan religion}} | related_groups = Akan (Agona, Akuapem, Akwamu, Akyem, Bono, Coromantee, Fante, Kwahu, Wassa, Sefwi) }} {{infobox ethnonym||people=Asantefoɔ|language=Asante Twi|country=Asanteman}} The '''Asante''', also known as '''Ashanti''' in English ({{IPAc-en|ə|'|ʃ|ɑː|n|t|iː|audio=Ashanti-Asanti.ogg}}), are part of the Akan ethnic group and are native to the Ashanti Region of modern-day Ghana. Asantes are the last group to emerge out of the various Akan civilisations. Twi is spoken by over nine million Asante people as their native language.<ref name="Asante-Asante Twi" /><ref name="Asante » Asante Twi">{{cite web |url=http://ofm-tv.com/akan/twi.html |title=Asante » Asante Twi |work=ofm-tv.com |access-date=2015-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170430135512/http://ofm-tv.com/akan/twi.html |archive-date=2017-04-30 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Asante Warlike Meaning">{{cite book |last=Sheard |first=K.M. |title=Ashanti Warlike Meaning (Llewellyn's Complete Book of Names for Pagans, Wiccans, Witches, Druids) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FVyHTUQnnBgC&pg=PA76 |publisher=Llewellyn Worldwide |year=2011 |isbn=9780738723686}}</ref>

The Asante people developed the Ashanti Empire, along the Lake Volta and Gulf of Guinea.<ref name="United Asante States Under Nana Osei Tutu I" /> The empire was founded in 1670, and the capital Kumase was founded in 1680 by Asantehene Osei Kofi Tutu I on the advice of Okomfo Anokye, his premier.<ref name="United Asante States Under Nana Osei Tutu I">{{cite web |url=http://asantekingdom.org/history/united-asante-states-under-nana-osei-tutu-i/ |title=United Asante States Under Nana Osei Tutu I |work=asantekingdom.org |access-date=2015-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150811142740/http://asantekingdom.org/history/united-asante-states-under-nana-osei-tutu-i/ |archive-date=2015-08-11 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Sited at the crossroads of the Trans-Saharan trade, Kumase's strategic location contributed significantly to its growth.<ref name="History Of The Asante Confederay » Restoration Of The Asante Confederacy">{{cite web |url=http://asantekingdom.org/history/history-of-asante-confederacy/ |title=History Of The Asante Confederay » Restoration Of The Asante |work=asantekingdom.org |access-date=2015-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923171329/http://asantekingdom.org/history/history-of-asante-confederacy/ |archive-date=2015-09-23 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Over time a number of peculiar factors have combined to transform the Kumase metropolis into a financial centre and political capital.<ref name="History Of The Asante Confederay » Restoration Of The Asante Confederacy" /> The main causal factors included the unquestioning loyalty to the Asante rulers and the Kumase metropolis' growing wealth, derived in part from the capital's lucrative domestic trade in items such as gold, slaves, and bullion.<ref name="History Of The Asante Confederay » Restoration Of The Asante Confederacy" />

==Nomenclature== In the Asante dialect of Twi, ''Asantefo''; singular masculine: ''Asantenibarima'', singular feminine: ''Asantenibaa''. The name ''Asante'' "warlike" is traditionally asserted by scholars to derive from the 1670s as the Asante went from being a tributary state to a centralized hierarchical kingdom.<ref name="United Asante States Under Nana Osei Tutu I" /><ref name="HW" /> ''Asantehene'' Osei Tutu I, military leader and head of the Asante Oyoko clan, founded the Asante Empire.<ref name="United Asante States Under Nana Osei Tutu I" /><ref name="HW">Kevin Shillington, ''History of Africa'', New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996 (1989), p. 194.</ref> Osei Tutu I obtained the support of other clan chiefs and, using Kumase as the central base, subdued surrounding Akan states.<ref name="United Asante States Under Nana Osei Tutu I" /><ref name="HW" /> Osei Tutu challenged and eventually defeated Denkyira in 1701,<ref name="United Asante States Under Nana Osei Tutu I" /><ref name="HW" /> and this is the asserted modern origin of the name.<ref name="United Asante States Under Nana Osei Tutu I" />

==Geography== {{multiple image | align= left | image1= | width1= 390 | caption1= | alt1= | footer=Map of Ashanti Homeland; City-State Ashanti and Kumasi Metropolis | footer_background=#FFFFFF | background color=#000000 | footer_align=center }} The Ashanti Region has a variety of terrains: coasts and mountains; wildlife sanctuary, strict nature reserve, and national park; forests and grasslands;<ref name="Issues Of Tropical Forest Transformation in Ashanti Region" /> lush agricultural areas;<ref name="Meet-the-Press: Ashanti Region">{{cite web |url=http://www.modernghana.com/news/29188/1/meet-the-press-ashanti-region.html |title=Meet-the-Press: Ashanti Region |access-date=1 August 2015}}</ref> and near savannas,<ref name="Issues Of Tropical Forest Transformation in Ashanti Region">{{cite web |url=http://www.ajol.info/index.php/just/article/viewFile/75596/66132 |title=Issues Of Tropical Forest Transformation in Ashanti Region |work=ajol.info |publisher=African Journals OnLine}}</ref> enriched with vast deposits of industrial minerals,<ref name="Meet-the-Press: Ashanti Region" /> most notably vast deposits of gold.<ref name="Gold Mining">{{cite web |url=http://www1.american.edu/ted/ghangold.htm |title=GHANGOLD Case |access-date=1 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925103307/http://www1.american.edu/ted/ghangold.htm |archive-date=25 September 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The territory Asante people settled is home to a volcanic crater lake, Lake Bosumtwi, and Asante is bordered westerly to Lake Volta within the central part of present-day Ghana.<ref name="Ashanti Region Executive Summary">{{cite web |title=Ashanti Region Executive Summary |url=http://www.modernghana.com/GhanaHome/regions/ashanti.asp?menu_id=6 |access-date=1 August 2015}}</ref> The Asante (Kingdom of Asante) territory is densely forested, mostly fertile and to some extent mountainous.<ref name="Ashanti Region Executive Summary"/> There are two seasons—the rainy season (April to November) and the dry season (December to March).<ref name="Ashanti Region Executive Summary"/> The land has several streams; the dry season, however is extremely desiccated.<ref name="Ashanti Region Executive Summary"/> Ashanti Region is hot year round.<ref name="Ashanti Region Executive Summary"/>

Today Asante people number upwards of 10 million. Asante Twi, the majority language, is a member of the Central Tano languages within the Kwa languages.<ref name="Asante-Asante Twi">{{cite web |url=http://www.lsa.umich.edu/students/academicsrequirements/lsadegreesrequirements/languagerequirement/lesscommonlytaughtlanguages |title=Ashanti » Asante Twi (Less Commonly Taught Languages) |publisher=University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts |access-date=2015-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160515045658/http://www.lsa.umich.edu/students/academicsrequirements/lsadegreesrequirements/languagerequirement/lesscommonlytaughtlanguages |archive-date=2016-05-15 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Ashanti » Asante Twi">{{cite web |url=http://ofm-tv.com/akan/twi.html |title=Ashanti » Asante Twi |work=ofm-tv.com |access-date=2015-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170430135512/http://ofm-tv.com/akan/twi.html |archive-date=2017-04-30 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Asante political power combines Asantehene Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II as the political head of the Asantes and the Ashanti Region,<ref name="Kings Of Asante">{{cite web |title=Kings Of Asante |url=http://asantekingdom.org/history/kings-of-asante/ |work=asantekingdom.org |access-date=1 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925080843/http://asantekingdom.org/history/kings-of-asante/ |archive-date=25 September 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="The Asantehene Personality Profile">{{cite web |title=The Asantehene » Personality Profile |url=http://manhyiaonline.org/pages/sections.php?mid=3&tp=# |access-date=28 July 2015}}</ref> with Asante semi-one-party state representative New Patriotic Party,<ref name="Kumasi">{{cite news |author=Kumasi |title=NPP Has Track Record... of protecting the public purse, says Nana Addo |date=1 August 2015 |newspaper=The Chronicle |url=http://ghanaian-chronicle.com/npp-has-track-record-of-protecting-the-public-purse-says-nana-addo/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007213454/http://ghanaian-chronicle.com/npp-has-track-record-of-protecting-the-public-purse-says-nana-addo/ |archive-date=7 October 2012 |url-status=dead |access-date=1 August 2015}}</ref> and since the Ashanti Region (and the Kingdom of Asante) state political union with Ghana,<ref name="1956: Gold Coast to get independence">{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/11/newsid_2524000/2524453.stm |title=1956: Gold Coast to get independence|publisher=BBC News |date=11 May 1956}}</ref> the Asante remain largely influential.<ref name="Seventy Five Years After The Restoration of Asanteman"/>

Asantes reside in Asante and Brong Ahafo Regions in Ghana.<ref name="Seventy Five Years After The Restoration of Asanteman">{{cite web |url=http://asantekingdom.org/history/seventy-fvie-years-after-the-restoration-of-asanteman/ |title=Seventy Five Years After The Restoration of Asanteman |work=asantekingdom.org |access-date=2015-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925094234/http://asantekingdom.org/history/seventy-fvie-years-after-the-restoration-of-asanteman/ |archive-date=2015-09-25 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Kumase metropolis, the capital of Asante (Kingdom of Asante), has also been the historic capital of the Asante Kingdom.<ref name="Seventy Five Years After The Restoration of Asanteman"/> The Ashanti Region currently has a population of 11 million (11,000,000).

Today, as in the past, the Ashanti Region continues to make significant contributions to Ghana's economy.<ref name="The Historic And Present Importance Of Asante- Its Culture And Economy"/> Asante is richly endowed with industrial minerals and agricultural implements, Asante is responsible for much of Ghana's domestic food production and for the foreign exchange Ghana earns from cocoa, agricultural implements, gold, bauxite, manganese, various other industrial minerals, and timber.<ref name="The Historic And Present Importance Of Asante- Its Culture And Economy">{{cite web|url=http://asantekingdom.org/history/the-historic-and-present-importance-of-asante-its-culture-and-economy/|title=The Historic And Present Importance Of Asante- Its Culture And Economy|work=asantekingdom.org|access-date=2015-08-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925070749/http://asantekingdom.org/history/the-historic-and-present-importance-of-asante-its-culture-and-economy/|archive-date=2015-09-25|url-status=dead}}</ref> Kumase metropolis and Ashanti Region produces 96% of Ghana's exports.<ref name="Meet-the-Press: Ashanti Region" /><ref name="Gold Mining" />

==History==

===Asante Empire=== {{main|Ashanti Empire}} In the 1670s the Ashanti went from being a tributary state to the centralized hierarchical Denkyira kingdom. Asantehene Osei Kofi Tutu I, military leader and head of the Oyoko clan, founded the Asante kingdom. Osei Tutu obtained the support of other clan chiefs and using Kumase as the central base, subdued surrounding states.<ref name="HW"/> Osei Tutu challenged and eventually defeated Denkyira in 1701,<ref name="United Asante States Under Nana Osei Tutu I"/><ref name="HW"/> and presumptuously from this, the name ''Asante'' came to be.<ref name="United Asante States Under Nana Osei Tutu I"/><ref name="HW"/>

Realizing the weakness of a loose confederation of Akan states, Osei Tutu strengthened centralization of the surrounding Akan groups and expanded the powers judiciary system within the centralized government.<ref name="AW"/> Thus, this loose confederation of small city-states grew into a kingdom or empire looking to expand its land.<ref name="AW"/> Newly conquered areas had the option of joining the empire or becoming tributary states.<ref name="AW">Gilbert, Erik ''Africa in World History: From Prehistory to the Present'' 2004</ref> Opoku Ware I, Osei Tutu's successor, extended the borders.<ref>Shillington, loc. cit.</ref>

==Sovereignty and independence== [[File:Ashanti Yam Ceremony 1817.jpg|thumb|310px|left|Asante yam ceremony, 19th century by Thomas Edward Bowdich]] Because of the long history of mutual interaction between Asante and European powers, the Asante have the greatest amount of historiography in all of sub-Saharan Africa.<ref name="The Ashanti Legal System">{{cite web|author=David Luca|year=2005|title=The Ashanti Legal System|url=http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Academic/Course_Pages/Legal_Systems_Very_Different_13/papers_05/Ashanti.htm|access-date=27 July 2015|work=daviddfriedman.com}}</ref> In the 1920s the British catalogued Asante religion, familial, and legal systems in works such as R. S. Rattray's ''Asante Law and Constitution''.<ref name="Ashanti War" /> The Asante state strongly resisted attempts by Europeans, mainly the Kingdom of Great Britain, to conquer them.<ref name="Ashanti War"/> The Asante limited British influence in the Asante State,<ref name="Ashanti War"/> as Britain annexed neighbouring areas.<ref name="Ashanti War"/> The Asante were described as a fierce organized people whose king "can bring 200,000 men into the field and whose warriors are evidently not cowed by Snider rifles and 7-pounder guns".<ref name="Ashanti War">{{cite book|title=The Newfoundlander|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZCE1AAAAIBAJ&pg=6500%2C6374935|publisher=The Newfoundlander|page=6500|date=16 December 1873}}</ref>

The Ashanti Empire was one of the few African states that seriously resisted European colonization.<ref name="Ashanti War"/> Between 1823 and 1896, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland fought four wars against the Asante kings: the Anglo-Asante Wars.<ref name="Ashanti War"/> In 1901, the British finally defeated the state following the 1900 War of the Golden Stool and the Ashanti Empire was made a British protectorate, in 1902, and the office of ''Asantehene'' was discontinued, with the Asante capital Kumasi annexed into the British empire; however, the Asante still largely governed themselves.<ref name="The Exile of Prempeh"/><ref name="Asantehene visits Seychelles"/> Asante gave little to no deference to colonial authorities.<ref name="The Exile of Prempeh"/><ref name="Asantehene visits Seychelles"/> In 1926, the British permitted the repatriation of Asantehene Prempeh I – whom they had exiled to the Seychelles in 1896<ref name="The Exile of Prempeh">{{cite web|url=http://www.kreolmagazine.com/society-culture/creol-and-more/people/229-the-exile-of-prempeh-in-the-Seychelles|title=The Exile of Prempeh in the Seychelles|work=Kreol International Magazine|year=2012|access-date=24 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150123141946/http://www.kreolmagazine.com/society-culture/creol-and-more/people/229-the-exile-of-prempeh-in-the-seychelles|archive-date=23 January 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Asantehene visits Seychelles">{{cite web|url=http://www.modernghana.com/news/138733/1/asantehene-to-visit-seychelles.html|title=Asantehene visits Seychelles|work=Modern|date=5 July 2007|access-date=1 August 2015}}</ref> – and allowed him to adopt the title ''Kumasehene'', but not ''Asantehene''. However, in 1935, the British finally granted the Asante self-rule sovereignty as Kingdom of Asante, and the Asante King title of ''Asantehene'' was revived.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ashanti.com.au/pb/wp_8078438f.html|title=Ashanti.com.au|access-date=24 July 2015}}</ref>

==Culture and traditions== {{about|modern Ashanti culture|information on pre-colonial Ashanti culture|Culture of the Ashanti Empire}} [[File:Akwasidae Celebration in Manhyia Palace.jpg|thumb|Akwasidae Celebration in Manhyia Palace in 2009]] thumb|An Asante funeral in 2020 Asante culture celebrates Adae, Adae Kese, Akwasidae, Awukudae and Asante Yam festival.<ref name="The Adae Kese Festival">{{cite web |url=http://www.africanpoems.net/gods-ancestors/the-adae-kese-festival/ |title=The Adae Kese Festival|access-date=27 July 2015}}</ref> The Seperewa, a 10-14 stringed harp-lute, as well as the Fontomfrom drums, are originally from the Bono Akan people.<ref name="Peres hosts Ashanti king">{{cite web |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4258944,00.html |title=Peres hosts Ashanti king in Jerusalem |author=Noam (Dabul) Dvir |work=Ynetnews |date=22 July 2012 |publisher=Ynet |access-date=1 August 2015}}</ref>

===Society and customs=== Asante consists of primarily matrilineal societies where line of descent is traced through the female.<ref name="Family Life Among the Ashanti"/> Usually, this mother progeny relationship determines land rights, inheritance of property, offices and titles.<ref name="Family Life Among the Ashanti">{{cite web |url=https://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1991/2/91.02.04.x.html |title=Family Life Among the Ashanti |author=Peter Herndon |work=yale.edu |publisher=Yale University |access-date=1 August 2015}}</ref> However, some asante societies, like the Asante Bantama are patrilineal.<ref name="auto">{{cite web |title=Bantama: How Dagombas became warriors of Asanteman |url=Bantama: How Dagombas became warriors of Asanteman |website=Ghanaweb.com |publisher=GhanaWeb |access-date=3 December 2025}}</ref> In fact, the word 'bantama' means: 'my father gave it to me' <ref name="auto"/>. For the Asante Bantama, this patrilineal lineage determines inheritance rights, offices, and titles. Significantly for all of Asante, the Chief Warrior of Asante is always the chief of Bantama.<ref name="auto"/> As such, it is also true that the Asante inherit property from the paternal side of the family.<ref name="Family Life Among the Ashanti"/>

[[File:Ashanti soulwasher by Claire H.jpg|right|thumb|270px|Asante soulwasher {{small|(Ashanti Sunsum Washer)}}]]

In addition to the mother, the father's interaction continues in the place of birth after marriage.<ref name="Family Life Among the Ashanti"/>

Historically, an Asante girl was betrothed with a golden ring called "''petia''" ({{Gloss|I love you}}), if not in childhood, immediately after the puberty ceremony.<ref name="Family Life Among the Ashanti"/> They did not regard marriage "''awade''" as an important ritual event, but as a state that follows soon and normally after the puberty ritual.<ref name="Family Life Among the Ashanti"/> The puberty rite was and is important as it signifies passage from childhood to adulthood in that chastity is encouraged before marriage.<ref name="Family Life Among the Ashanti"/> The Asante required that various goods be given by the boy's family to that of the girl, not as a 'bride price', but to signify an agreement between the two families.<ref name="Family Life Among the Ashanti"/>

==== Asante womanhood ==== In the Asante culture, womanhood is marked by puberty rites termed ''bragoro''.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last=De La Gorgendière |first=Louise |title=Women's life stories and the next generation in Ghana: 'Educate a woman....' |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23166558 |journal=The International Journal of Anthropology |year=1999 |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=53–72 |jstor=23166558}}</ref> Bragoro is a long ceremony conducted for girls in the community from the ages of 13 to 20<ref name=":1">{{cite book |last=Sarpong |first=Peter |title=Girls' Nubility Rites in Ashanti |publisher=African Books Collective Ltd. |year=1991 |isbn=978-9964103651 |location=Oxford |pages=101}}</ref> after the onset of menstruation.<ref name=":0" /> ''Bragoro'' rites enable women to marry, showcase them to society, teach them how to be wives and mothers, and signify their coming of age.<ref name=":0" />

In the ''bragoro'' rites, girls' heads are shaved and dyed black.<ref name=":0" /> Every day during the rites, younger girls in the community feed the chosen girls boiled eggs, fish, and eto.<ref name=":2">{{cite journal |last1=Akyeampong |first1=Emmanuel |last2=Obeng |first2=Pashington |date=1995 |title=Spirituality, Gender, and Power in Asante History |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/221171 |journal=The International Journal of African Historical Studies |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=481–508 |doi=10.2307/221171 |jstor=221171|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Antwi |first1=Joseph Kofi |title=In Intersecting African Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Western Knowledge Systems: Moral Convergence and Divergence |last2=Okyere-Manu |first2=Beatrice |publisher=Cluster Publications |year=2018 |isbn=9781920620240 |location=Pietermaritzburg, South Africa |chapter=Bragro as an Akan African Indigenous Knowledge System pedagogical System: An ethical critique}}</ref> As well, older women in the community, called ''mmerewa'', teach the girls about marriage, motherhood, and morality. The ''mmerewa'' bathe the girls in a neighboring stream.<ref name=":0" /> Then, the ''mmerewa'' dress the new women in white cloth (''ntoma'') and gold jewelry.<ref name=":0" /> Afterward, the girls are showcased to the entire community with songs, dances, and praises.<ref name=":1" />

For the Asante, every color and object has cultural significance, which reflects the meaning of womanhood in Asante culture.

'''Ntoma/cloth'''

The white color of the ''ntoma'' (cloth) that the girls are dressed in signifies vitality, sanctity, victory, and purity.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3">{{cite web |date=May 8, 2018 |title=African Kente cloth: patterns, colors, and sacred meaning |url=https://nationalclothing.org/africa/64-ghana/279-african-kente-cloth-patterns,-colors,-and-sacred-meaning.html |website=national clothing.org}}</ref>

'''Gold jewelry'''

The gold/yellow color of the jewelry that the girls are adorned with signifies royalty, continuous life, and wealth.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> This is related to the matrilineal system of the Asante.<ref name=":2" /> Assuming she marries an Asante who is not from Asante Bantama, the matrilineal system of the Asante can culturally give women a sense of authority, continuity, and the right to become a breadwinner and make money.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4">{{cite journal |last=Clark |first=Grace |date=December 1999 |title=Mothering, Work, and Gender in Urban Asante Ideology and Practice |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/684049 |journal=American Anthropologist |volume=101 |issue=4 |pages=717–729 |doi=10.1525/aa.1999.101.4.717 |jstor=684049|url-access=subscription }}</ref> However, female agency is independent of lineage rights, and can manifest itself equally in patrilineal systems in Asante as well, such as a case where a father would be expected to look after his children and pass property to his children and his wife (rather than his nephews/nieces), instead of having no such responsibility in a purely matrilineal system. This is displayed in the roles of adult women in society, ''obaapanin'' (female elder), and the ''ohemaa'' (queen) stool, which are considered high ranks.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" />

'''Fish'''

In the ''bragoro'' rites, eating fish signifies the obtaining of wisdom and knowledge.<ref name=":1" /> Wisdom and Knowledge are seen as a keen part of womanhood for Asantes.<ref name=":2" /> In Asante royalty, the Asantehemaa (queen mother) is seen as the advisor of the Asantehene (king), full of wisdom and knowledge.<ref name=":2" /> This thought is carried through Asante culture and society to characterize the everyday woman, and convey a key aspect of Asante womanhood–being an advisor.<ref name=":2" />

{{clear left}}

===Law and legal system=== {{main|Ashanti Empire#Legal system|l1=Ashanti law and legal system}} In the cataloguing of Asante familial and legal systems in R.S. Rattray's ''Asante Law and Constitution'' Asante law specifies that sexual relations between a man and certain women are forbidden, even though not related by blood.<ref name="The Ashanti Legal System"/> The punishment for offense is death, although it does not carry quite the same stigma to an Asante clan as incest.<ref name="The Ashanti Legal System"/> Sexual relations between a man and any one of the following women is forbidden:<ref name="The Ashanti Legal System"/> # A half-sister by one father, but by a different clan mother;<ref name="The Ashanti Legal System"/> # A father's brother's daughter;<ref name="The Ashanti Legal System"/> # A woman of the same father;<ref name="The Ashanti Legal System"/> # A brother's wife;<ref name="The Ashanti Legal System"/> # A son's wife;<ref name="The Ashanti Legal System"/> # A wife's mother;<ref name="The Ashanti Legal System"/> # An uncle's wife;<ref name="The Ashanti Legal System"/> # A wife of any man of the same "company";<ref name="The Ashanti Legal System"/> # A wife of any man of the same guild or trade;<ref name="The Ashanti Legal System"/> # A wife of one's own slave;<ref name="The Ashanti Legal System"/> # A father's other wife from a different clan.<ref name="The Ashanti Legal System"/>

===Language=== {{main|Asante dialect}} [[File:Akan Greetings (Akwaba – Welcome; Ete sen – Hello).JPG|thumb|280px|right|Asante Twi greeting phrases; "''akwaba''" (welcome) and "''ɛte sɛn''" (how are you)]] thumb|An Asante Twi speaker The Asante people speak Asante Twi, which is the official language of the Ashanti Region and the main language spoken in Asante and by the Asante people.<ref name="Ashanti-Ashanti Twi">{{cite web|url=http://www.lsa.umich.edu/students/academicsrequirements/lsadegreesrequirements/languagerequirement/lesscommonlytaughtlanguages|title=Ashanti » Ashanti Twi (Less Commonly Taught Languages)|work=University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts|publisher=University of Michigan|access-date=2015-08-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160515045658/http://www.lsa.umich.edu/students/academicsrequirements/lsadegreesrequirements/languagerequirement/lesscommonlytaughtlanguages |archive-date=2016-05-15 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Ashanti » Ashanti Twi">{{cite web |url=http://ofm-tv.com/akan/twi.html |title=Ashanti » Ashanti Twi|work=ofm-tv.com |access-date=2015-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170430135512/http://ofm-tv.com/akan/twi.html |archive-date=2017-04-30 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Ashanti (Twi)">{{cite web |title=Ashanti (Twi) – Ashanti language |publisher=amesall.rutgers.edu |url=http://www.amesall.rutgers.edu/languages/128-akan-twi}}</ref><ref name="Multilingual Settings">{{cite book |title=Language The Alternation Strategies in Multilingual Settings |publisher=Peter Lang |year=2006 |isbn=0-82048-369-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zUHzglM3p7AC&q=Akan+Orthography+Committee&pg=PA100 |page=100}}</ref> Asante language is spoken by over 9 million ethnic Asante people as a first or second language.<ref name="Ashanti-Ashanti Twi"/><ref name="Ashanti » Ashanti Twi"/> The Asante language is the official language utilized for literacy in Asante, at the primary and elementary educational stage (Primary 1–3) K–12 (education) level, and studied at university as a bachelor's degree or master's degree program in Asante.<ref name="Ashanti-Ashanti Twi"/><ref name="Ashanti » Ashanti Twi"/><ref name="Ashanti (Twi)"/><ref name="Multilingual Settings"/>

The Asante language and Asante Twi have some unique linguistic features like tone, vowel harmony and nasalization.<ref name="Ashanti-Ashanti Twi"/><ref name="Ashanti » Ashanti Twi"/><ref name="Ashanti (Twi)"/><ref name="Multilingual Settings"/>

===Religion=== The Asante follow Akan religion and the Asante religion (a traditional religion which seems to be dying slowly but is revived only on major special occasions—yet is undergoing a global revival across the diaspora), followed by Christianity (Roman Catholicism and Protestantism) and Islam.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dix |first=Dom Gregory |title=The Shape of the Liturgy |edition=new |date=26 February 2015 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-567-66329-0 |page=417}}</ref>

Asante people received the religion of Islamic North Africa within their talismanic tradition, making amulets with Quranic citations, name of the Arabic angels or Jinn. Amulets were also set in the corners of houses or soaked in water to produce liquids for drinking and for washing that were believed to have thaumaturgical properties.<ref>{{cite journal|first1= Gerrit|last1= Bos|author-link1= Gerrit Bos|first2=Lawrence|last2=Conrad|author-link2=Lawrence Conrad|title=Medical and para-medical manuscripts in the Cambridge Genizah Collections|journal=Med. Hist. |date=October 1, 1995|volume= 39|issue=4|pages=516–518|doi= 10.1017/S0025727300060579|pmc=1037050|oclc= 8139058359|issn=0025-7273}} (here cited p. 516)</ref>

==Asante diaspora== {{Unreferenced section|date=December 2023}} The Asante live in the Ashanti Region, specifically in the capital of Kumasi, and, due to the Atlantic slave trade, a known diaspora of Asante exists in the Caribbean, mainly in Jamaica. During wars and conflicts with other Akan groups (such as the Fante Confederacy), a significant number of Asante people were captured and sold as slaves to the British. This caused a significant Asante influence among the enslaved people of Jamaica. Asante slaves were mainly sent to the West Indies, particularly Jamaica, Barbados, Netherlands Antilles, British Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, Guyana, Suriname, etc. Asante were known to be very opposed to both the Fante Confederacy and the British, as the Asante only traded with the Dutch in times of their ascension to becoming a hegemony of most of the area of present-day Ghana.

==Notable people of Asante origin== Coromantee, the English-language term for enslaved Akan people, came from the original name of the Dutch slave fort of Fort Amsterdam (Fort Kormantse). This was despite this fort being primarily occupied by the Dutch during its history and having no records of trade to Jamaica while being under Dutch ownership.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slavevoyages.org/tast/database/search.faces |title=Search the Voyages Database |work=slavevoyages.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150629182333/http://www.slavevoyages.org/tast/database/search.faces |archive-date=2015-06-29 }}</ref> But the Dutch had no jurisdiction there and the Cormantin people(not to be confused with the prisoners of the Fort), blocked Dutch trade until they paid huge sums of money. The locals population only favoured the British. They loved the British so much Cormantin chief gave his sister up to Richard Brew as his bride and concubine. In turn, many Asantes were sold to Jamaica from Fort Kormantse.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Castles & forts of Ghana|last=Anquandah, James.|date=1999|publisher=Ghana Museums & Monuments Board|isbn=2951390106|location=Atlante|oclc=41624572}}</ref> Evidence of Asante and Akan-day names and Asante and Akan-surnames (but mispronounced by the English), Adinkra symbols on houses, Anansi stories and the dialect of Jamaican Patois being heavily influenced by Twi, can all be found on the island of Jamaica. White planter Edward Long, like other planters before him, described "Coromantees" the same way that the British in the Gold Coast would the "Asantes", which was to be "warlike". Edward Long states that others around "Asantes" and "Coromantees" feared them the same way as they were feared in Jamaica and from the hinterlands of the Gold Coast.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=xr0NAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en_GB&pg=GBS.PP1|title=The History of Jamaica|year=1774|publisher=T. Lowndes, in Fleet-Street.}}</ref>

According to BioMed Central (BMC biology) in 2012, the average Jamaican has 60% of Asante matrilineal DNA and today Asante is the only ethnic group by name known to contemporary Jamaicans.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Interdisciplinary approach to the demography of Jamaica |journal=BMC Evolutionary Biology |publisher=BioMed Central |year=2012 |doi=10.1186/1471-2148-12-24 |last1=Deason|first1=Michael L. |last2=Salas |first2=Antonio |last3=Newman |first3=Simon P.|last4=MacAulay |first4=Vincent A. |last5=St a Morrison |first5=Errol Y. |last6=Pitsiladis |first6=Yannis P. |volume=12 |issue=1 |page=24 |pmid=22360861 |pmc=3299582 |bibcode=2012BMCEE..12...24D |doi-access=free}}</ref> Marcus Garvey and his first wife, Amy Ashwood Garvey, were of Asante descent.<ref>''Comparative studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East'', Vols 17-18, Duke University Press, 1997, p. 124.</ref> Also are Jamaican freedom fighters during slavery: Nanny of the Maroons (now a Jamaican National Heroine) and Jack Mansong or Three-finger Jack. "Nanny" is a corruption of the Asante word ''Nana'', meaning "king/queen/grandparent", and Mansong is a corruption of the Asante surname ''Manso'', respectively.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://jamaicans.com/tackys_rebellion/ |title=Tacky's Rebellion |work=jamaicans.com |date=26 March 2004 }}</ref>

==Gallery== <gallery caption="Ashanti cultural artifacts, regalia and other forms of symbolism"> File:Ashanti Empire Emblem.svg|Ashanti National Emblem of the Ashanti Region File:Fontomfrom-Orchester EthnM Berlin.jpg|Fontomfrom (Ashanti talking drum and drums) File:Brooklyn Museum 74.218.18 Weight.jpg|Ashanti Blowing Horn File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Zetel van een hoofd met ceremoniele en rituele betekenis TMnr 2526-1.jpg|Ashanti Stool Dwa File:Sprecherstäbe der Ashanti.jpg|Ashanti Regalia (Asante Gold plated spokesman rod and Asante combat stick) File:State Gifts Presentation Sword.JPG|20th Century Asante Akrafena (Ashanti Sword with Gold-ring pommel) File:Afrikaabteilung in Ethnological Museum Berlin 81.JPG|Ashanti Gold plated Shield </gallery>

==See also== * List of rulers of Asante * Momome

==References== {{reflist|2}}

==Literature== * Edgerton, Robert B. ''The Fall of the Asante Empire. The Hundred-Year War for Africa's Gold Coast''. New York, 1995 {{ISBN|0-02-908926-3}} * Kyeremateng, N.; Nkansa, K. ''The Akans of Ghana: their history & culture''. Accra: Sebewie Publishers, 1996 * Lloyd, Alan. ''The Drums of Kumasi''. London: Panther, 1964 * Obreng, Ernest E. ''Ancient Asante Chieftaincy''. Ghana Publishing Corporation, 1986 {{ISBN|9964-1-0329-8}} * Quarco, Alfred Kofi. ''The Language of Adinkra Symbols''. Legon, Ghana: Sebewie Ventures (Publications), PO Box 222, Legon, 1972, 1994 {{ISBN|9988-7533-0-6}} * Kevin Shillington. ''History of Africa''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995 (1989) * Warren, Dennis M. ''The Akan of Ghana: An Overview of the Ethnographic Literature''. Accra: Pointer, 1986

==External links== {{Commons category|Ashanti people|Ashantis}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080420110731/http://www.ashanti.com.au/ Asante People hand History] Profiles history and other aspects of the Asante. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20071024063513/http://lucy.ukc.ac.uk/EthnoAtlas/Hmar/Cult_dir/Culture.7880 Asante Page] at the Ethnographic Atlas, maintained at Centre for Social Anthropology and Computing, University of Kent, Canterbury * [https://www.pbs.org/wonders/Episodes/Epi3/3_wondr1.htm Asante Kingdom] at the Wonders of the African World, at PBS * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090310175839/http://library.webster.edu/netresearch/ashanti.html Asante Culture] contains a selected list of Internet sources on the topic, especially sites that serve as comprehensive lists or gateways * [https://www.africaguide.com/culture/tribes/ashanti.htm Africa Guide] contains information about the culture of the Asante * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930201745/http://www.archimedes.free-online.co.uk/ghana.htm Historical Notes and Memorial Inscriptions from Ghana]

{{Ashanti topics|expanded}}

{{RulersOfAsante}} {{Ashanti Region, Ghana}} {{Constituencies in Ashanti Region of Ghana}} {{Kumasi topics}} {{Akan topics}} {{Ethnic groups in Ghana}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Ashanti people Category:Ethnic groups in Ghana Category:West African people