Asante Kingdom
In 2024 the Asante in Ghana commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Sagrenti War, and celebrate the 25th anniversary of the enstoolment of king Otumfuo Osei Tutu II. During this special year, a number of artefacts looted or extorted by the British during the colonial wars were returned to the royal family at the Manhyia Palace Museum in Ghana.
On this occasion the Library of the African Studies Centre has updated its 2002 web dossier about the Asante Kingdom. It was originally published at the tercentenary of diplomatic relations between Ghana and the Netherlands, and remained popular ever since.
The dossier has now been updated with more recent titles from the library catalogue, extended with titles from the broader UL catalogue and new web resources, and for all titles links to the catalogue have been made available. The introduction has been updated and extended with some background on the Sagrenti War and the returned artefacts.
If you wish to receive updates on new titles about this topic, subscribe to the ASCL Library alert service and indicate "Asante Kingdom" under free search terms.
Introduction | The Asante in independent Ghana | History of the Asante Kingdom | Asante kingship and chieftaincy | European-Asante relations | Web resources
Introduction
The Asante, the largest ethnic group in present-day Ghana, were one of the Akan-speaking peoples who settled in the forest region of modern Ghana between the 11th and 13th centuries. The separate Asante chiefdoms were united by Osei Tutu in the 1670s, and in 1696 he took the title of Asantehene (king) and founded the Asante empire.
His nation rapidly became more powerful by forming alliances with neighbouring peoples, leading to the formation of the Asante Union around 1700. He built a capital, Kumasi, and created the legend of the Golden Stool to legitimize his rule. The throne became the symbol of Asante authority.
By 1750 the Asante Empire was the largest and most powerful state in the region. The empire's wealth and prosperity was based on mining and trading in gold and slaves. The Asante also became famous for woodcarvings, furniture, and their brightly coloured woven cloth, called kente. The kingdom continued to expand until, under King Osei Bonsu (1801-1824), Asante territory covered nearly all of present-day Ghana.
During the nineteenth century, the Asante fought several wars against British colonial power but a series of defeats gradually weakened and reduced the territory. After the arrest and exile of Nana Prempeh I in 1896 and a final uprising in 1900, led by the Queen Mother Yaa Asantewaa, the Asante were defeated. The British annexed their lands in 1902 and the empire was declared a Crown Colony.
The exiled king, Nana Prempeh I, was allowed to return to Kumasi in 1924 and was reinstated as the occupant of the Golden Stool in 1926. When he died in 1931 the Golden Stool passed to his nephew Nana Osei Agyeman Prempeh II. In 1970 the latter was succeeded by his nephew, Nana Opoku Ware II. The present king, Osei Tutu II, is the nineteenth Asantehene.
In Asante, the family line is matrilineal - inheritance passes from the mother to her children. The Golden Stool is also passed down matrilineally, to one of the king's maternal nephews. The Asante king's influence exists alongside the modern democracy and his position and that of the traditional chiefs are entrenched in the 1957 Constitution. In return, the king and all the paramount chiefs have had to cede political power to the central government.
The king's position is still widely revered. His main function lies in fostering Asante culture. Since his ascension in 1999, the present king has attempted to revitalize his nation and to use its resources to promote education, health services, industry, and international partnerships and cooperation.
Recently, a new step in the relationship between Ghana and the United Kingdom has been taken in the form of the return of a number of gold artefacts to the Asante royal family. These royal regalia are a symbol of the power of the Asante and have great spiritual significance, as they are believed to be invested with the spirits of the royal ancestors. The majority of these objects were looted or extorted during the Asante-British wars, and in particular during the Sagrenti War of 1874, when the British conquered Kumasi, and looted and demolished the royal palace.
The return followed a long period of discussions and negotiations between Ghanaian and British officials. The artefacts include 17 objects from the Victoria & Albert Museum, and 15 from the British Museum. The artefacts have been returned on loan for a period of three years, as a solution to British legal restrictions, that prevent museums from permanent restitution of items in their collections. Simultaneously, the Fowler Museum at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in the United States, has voluntary returned 7 artefacts in their possession, permanently.
The subject of museums returning objects that other countries lay claim to is controversial. Nevertheless, European and American museums have returned several items over the past few decades, after finding out, or being confronted with, evidence that they had been looted, stolen, or extorted.
Original introduction (2002) modified and expanded by Germa Seuren, 2024
The Asante in independent Ghana
Ashanti : splendeurs et traditions au Ghana / Raymond Lehideux-Vernimmen. 
Paris : L'Harmattan, 2019.
Divine rulers in a secular state/ Timo Kallinen.
Helsinki : Finnish Literature Society / SKS, 2016.
Engaging modernity : Asante in the twenty-first century / Kwasi Ampene and Asantehene Sanaahene Kwadwo Nyantakyi III.
[Ann Arbor, Michigan] : Maize Books, An imprint of Michigan Publishing 2016.
Religion and chieftaincy in Ghana : an explanation of the persistence of a traditional political institution in West Africa / Louise Müller
Berlin [etc.] : Lit Verlag 2013.
Okomfo Anokye and nation-building in Ghana : a reflection on ancestors, myth and nation-building / Yaw Sarkodie Agyemang
In: Drumspeak : international journal of research in the humanities (, n.s., vol. 2, no. 3, p. 150-177) (2009)
'Akwantemfi': 'in mid-journey': an Asante shrine today and its clients / T.C. MacCaskie
In: Journal of religion in Africa (, vol. 38, no. 1, p. 57-80) (2008)
An Asanteman-World Bank heritage development initiative in promoting partnership with Ghanaian traditional leaders / Kwame A. Labi Alex B. Asiedu, and Brempong Osei-Tutu.
In: Africa today (2008), vol. 55, no. 4, p. 3-26 : foto's, krt., tab
The performance of litigation: Asante custom and the Juaben court / Beverly J. Stoeltje.
In: Research review (2006), n.s., vol. 22, no. 1, p. 47-61
What's tourism got to do with it? : the Yaa Asantewa legacy and development in Asanteman / Lynda R. Day.
In: Africa today (2004), vol. 51, no. 1, p. 99-113
Le royaume asante (Ghana) : parenté, pouvoir, histoire : XVIIe-XXe siècles / Gérard Pescheux.
Paris : Karthala, 2003.
Ghana : hier et aujourd'hui = yesterday and today / Christiane. Falgayrettes
Paris : Musée Dapper 2003.
Imagining architecture II: treasure storehouses and constructions of Asante regional hegemony / Janet Berry Hess.
In: Africa today (2003), vol. 50, no. 1, p. 27-48 : ill., foto's, krt
Een intercultureel filosofische studie naar het bewustzijn van Ashanti volkshoofden in Ghana / Louise Müller
[S.l. : s.n.] 2002.
A handbook on Asante culture / Osei Kwadwo
Suame-Kumasi : O.Kwadwo Enterprise 2002.
Het wereldbeeld van de Ashanti's (1701-2000) / Louise Müller
[S.l. : s.n.] 2002.
Negotiable property : making claims on land and history in Asante, 1896-1996 / Sara Berry.
In: Contested terrains and constructed categories : contemporary Africa in focus (2002), p. 213-232
The quills of the porcupine : Asante nationalism in an emergent Ghana / Jean Marie Allman
Madison, Wisc. [etc.] : University of Wisconsin Press 1993.
On mentally mapping Greater Asante: a study of time and motion / by Ivor Wilks.
In: The journal of African history (1992), vol. 33, no. 2, p. 175-190 : fig
Art and patronage in Ashanti : [paper] presented at the twenty-first annual meeting of the African Studies Association, Baltimore, Maryland, November 1-4, 1978 / Marion Johnson.
Baltimore, Ma. : African Studies Association, 1978.
History of the Asante Kingdom
Asante, Kingdom of Gold : Essays in the History of an African Culture/ T. C. McCaskie.
Durham, North Carolina : Carolina Academic Press, 2015.
The enduring puzzle of patriliny in Asante history : a note and a document on 'ntɔrɔ' T.C. MacCaskie
In: Ghana studies , vol. 18, no. 1, p. 162-173 (2015)
Local knowledge: an Akuapem Twi history of Asante / Tom C. McCaskie.
In: History in Africa : a journal of method (2011), vol. 38, p. 169-192
The persistence of Asante chieftaincy under colonial rule : explanations of an enigma/ Louise Müller
In: Africana studia : revista internacional de estudos africanos , no. 15, p. 61-85 : foto's (2010)
Examining text sediments: commending a pioneer historian as an 'African Herodotus' : on the making of the new annotated edition of C.C. Reindorf's 'History of the Gold Coast and Asante' / Heinz Hauser-Renner.
In: History in Africa : a journal of method (2008), vol. 35, p. 231-299
Military capability and interstate warfare in eighteenth-century Ghana : reinterpreting the Asante triumph in the 1722-23 Bono war / Kwabena Adu-Boahen.
In: Drumspeak : international journal of research in the humanities (2008), n.s., vol. 1, no. 1, p. 44-78
Denkyira in the making of Asante, c. 1660-1720 / T.C. McCaskie.
In: The journal of African history (2007), vol. 48, no. 1, p. 1-25 : krt
'Kola is God's gift' : agricultural production, export initiatives & the kola industry of Asante & the Gold Coast c. 1820-1950 / Edmund Abaka.
Athens, OH ; Oxford ; Accra : Ohio University Press ; Currey ; Woeli, 2005.
Labour, land and capital in Ghana : from slavery to free labour in Asante, 1807-1956 / Gareth Austin.
Rochester, NY : University of Rochester Press, 2005. - Rochester studies in African history and the diaspora.
The legendary Komfo Anokye of the Asante Kingdom / Kwame Dwoben Poku Afriyie.
Mamprobi-Accra : Oriental Bookshop Agency, 2005.
Centre, limite, frontière dans le royaume Asante précolonial / Gérard Pescheux.
In: Journal des africanistes (2004), t. 74, fasc. 1/2, p. 180-201 : krt
Kumase: ambience of urbanity, tradition and modernity / Wilhelmina Joseline Donkoh.
In: Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana (2004), n.s., no. 8, p. 167-183
'Sakrobundi ne Aberewa': Sie Kwaku the witch-finder in the Akan world / by T.C. McCaskie.
In: Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana (2004), n.s., no. 8, p. 82-135
The Asante conquest of Ahafo in the 18th century : a historical legacy / by Kwame Osei Kwarteng.
In: Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana (2002), n.s., no. 6, p. 59-66
Children for death: money, wealth, and witchcraft suspicion in colonial Asante / William C. Olsen.
In: Cahiers d'études africaines (2002), vol. 42, cah. 167, p. 521-550 : tab
Asante identities : history and modernity in an African village, 1850-1950/ T.C. MacCaskie.
Bloomington [etc.] : Indiana University Press ; Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, 2000.
I will not eat stone : a women's history of colonial Asante/ Jean Marie Allman and Victoria Tashjian.
Oxford : James Currey // Portsmouth, N.H. [etc.] : Heinemann [etc.], 2000.
Antecedents of Asante culture / by Kofi Darkwah.
In: Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana (1999), n.s., no. 3, p. 57-79
The last will and testament of Kofi Sraha: a note on accumulation and inheritance in colonial Asante / T.C. McCaskie.
In: Ghana studies (1999), vol. 2, p. 171-181
The slave kingdoms / directed by Nicola Colton. - 1 videodisc
Part of: Wonders of the African world / writer: Henry Louis Gates, Jr ; producer Jonathan Hewes ; series producer Ben Goold. - [S.l.] : Wall to Wall Television, cop. 1999.
Unity and progress: Asante politics revisited / Ivor Wilks.
In: Ghana studies (1998), vol. 1, p. 151-179
The cloth of many colored silks : papers on history and society, Ghanaian and Islamic in honor of Ivor Wilks / ed. by John Hunwick and Nancy Lawler.
Evanston, Ill. : Northwestern University Press, 1996.
Kumase in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (1700-1900) / A.A. Anti.
Accra : Damage Control, 1996.
'No elders were present': commoners and private ownership in Asante, 1807-96 / by Gareth Austin.
In: The journal of African history (1996), vol. 37, no. 1, p. 1-30
Rounding up spinsters: gender chaos and unmarried women in colonial Asante / by Jean Allman.
In: The journal of African history (1996), vol. 37, no. 2, p. 195-214
The Asante kingdom : illustrated Asante history / written by J.J. Opoku-Amponah.
Legon : J.J. Opoku-Ampomah, 1995.
The fall of the Asante Empire : the hundred-year war for Africa's Gold Coast / Robert B. Edgerton.
New York [etc.] : The Free Press, 1995.
State and society in pre-colonial Asante / T.C. McCaskie.
Cambridge [etc.] : Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Monetization and the Asante State / Kwame Arhin.
In: Money matters : instability, values and social payments in the modern history of West African communities / ed. by Jane I. Guyer. - Portsmouth, N.H. : Heinemann (1995), p. 97-110 : tab
Spirituality, gender, and power in Asante history / by Emmanuel Akyeampong and Pashington Obeng.
In: The international journal of African historical studies (1995), vol. 28, no. 3, p. 481-508
An outline of Asante history / [Osei Kwadwo]
Wiamoase-Ashanti : O. Kwadwo, 1994.
Le pouvoir, le sang et la mort dans le royaume asante au XIXe siècle / Emmanuel Terray.
In: Cahiers d'études africaines (1994), vol. 34, cah. 136, p. 549-561
L'hégémonie asante sur l'Abron Gyaman: 1740-1875 : plus d'un siècle de domination et de résistance / par René Allou Kouame.
In: Africa : rivista trimestrale di studi e documentazione (1992), a. 47, n. 2, p. 173-183 : krt
Islamic talismanic tradition in nineteenth-century Asante / David Owusu-Ansah.
Lewiston, N.Y. [etc.] : Edwin Mellen Press, 1991.
Mobility in pre-colonial Asante from a historical perspective / Akosua Perbi.
In: Research review (1991), n.s., vol. 7, no. 1/2, p. 72-86
La légitimité du pouvoir dans le monde akan / par Emmanuel Terray.
In: Hemispheres : studies on cultures and societies (1990), no. 7, p. 181-188
Trade, accumulation and the State in Asante in the nineteenth century / Kwame Arhin.
In: Africa : journal of the International African Institute (1990), vol. 60, no. 4, p. 524-537 : tab
Asante in the nineteenth century : the structure and evolution of a political order / [by] Ivor Wilks. 
Cambridge [etc.] : Cambridge University Press, 1989.
Il Sanwi e l'impero asante: dati e ipotesi per una storia delle relazioni politiche (c. 1715-1843) / di Pierluigi Valsecchi.
In: Africa : rivista trimestrale di studi e documentazione (1989), a. 44, n. 2, p. 175-210 : krt
Asante: human sacrifice or capital punishment? : an assessment of the period 1807-1874 Clifford Williams
In: The international journal of African historical studies , vol. 21, no. 3, p. 433-441 (1988)
The early state in africa : the Asante case / Naomi Chazan.
In: The early State in African perspective : culture, power and division of labor / ed. by S.N. Eisenstadt, Michel Abitbol, Naomi Chazan. (1988), p. 60-97
The emergence of capitalist relations in South Asante cocoa-farming, C. 1916-1933 / Gareth Austin.
In: The journal of African history (1987), vol. 28, no. 2, p. 259-279 : krt
The state and islamization in 19th century africa : Buganda absolutism versus Asante constitutionalism / David Owusu-Ansah.
In: Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs. Journal (1987), vol. 8, no. 1, p. 132-143
Early Asante and the struggle for economic and political control on the Gold Coast, 1690-1700 / Emmanuel H.P.M. Kreike.
Amsterdam : Universiteit, 1986.
Elmina and Greater Asante in the nineteenth century / Larry W. Yarak.
In: Africa : journal of the International African Institute (1986), vol. 56, no. 1, p. 33-52
Komfo Anokye of Asante : meaning, history and philosophy in an African society T.C. MacCaskie
In: The journal of African history , vol. 27, no. 2, p. 315-339 : tab (1986)
Power And Dynastic Conflict in Mampon / T.C. McCaskie.
In: History in Africa : a journal of method (1985), vol. 12, p. 167-185
Ahyiamu - 'a place of meeting' : an essay on process and event in the history of the Asante state / T.C. McCaskie.
In: The journal of African history (1984), vol. 25, no. 2, p. 169-188
Le raid d'Ebiri Moro contre Kumasi, la capitale ashanti / Claude-Hélène Perrot.
In: Cultures et développement : revue internationale des sciences du développement (1984), vol. 16, no. 3/4, p. 537-552
Accumulation, wealth and belief in Asante history : I, To the close of the nineteenth century : II, The twentieth century / T.C. McCaskie.
In: Africa : journal of the International African Institute (1983), vol. 53, no. 1, p. 23-43// vol. 56, no. 1 (1986), p. 3-23
Islamic influence in a forest Kingdom : the role of protective amulets in early 19th century Asante / D. Owusu-Ansah.
In: Transafrican journal of history (1983), vol. 12, p. 100-133
R.S. Rattray amd the construction of Asante history : and appraisal T.C. MacCaskie
In: History in Africa : a journal of method , vol. 10, p. 187-206 (1983)
The social character of slavery in Asante and Dahomey / Boniface I. Obichere.
In: Ufahamu : journal of the African Activist Association (1982), vol. 12, no. 3, p. 191-205
The dente oracle, the Bron Confederation, and Asante : religion and the politics of secession / D.J.E. Maier.
In: The journal of African history (1981), vol. 22, no. 2, p. 229-243
State and society, marriage and adultery : some considerations towards a social history of pre-colonial Asante / T.C. MacCaskie.
In: The journal of African history (1981), vol. 22, no. 4, p. 477-494
The two Asantes : competing interpretation of slavery in Akan-Asante culture and society / A.N. Klein.
In: The ideology of slavery in Africa / ed. by P.E. Lovejoy (1981), p. 149-167
Asante military institutions / Kwame Arhin.
In: Journal of African studies (1980), vol. 7, no. 1, p. 22-30
Office, land and subjects in the history of the Manwere Fekuo of Kumase : an essay in the political economy of the Asante state / T.C. McCaskie.
In: The journal of African history (1980), vol. 21, no. 2, p. 189-208
The rule of law in Asante, a traditional Akan State / George P. Hagan.
In: Présence africaine : revue culturelle du monde noir (1980), no. 113, p. 193-208
Time and the calendar in nineteenth-century Asante : an exploratory essay / T.C. McCaskie.
In: History in Africa : a journal of method (1980), vol. 7, p. 179-200
The expansion of the Fante and the emergence of Asante in the eighteenth century / James Sanders.
In: The journal of African history (1979), vol. 20, no. 3, p. 349-364
The golden stool and the elephant tail : an essay on wealth in Asante / Ivor Wilks.
In: Research in economic anthropology : a research annual : vol. 2 / ed.: George Dalton. - Greenwich, Conn. : JAI press (1979), p. 1-36
Long-distance trade and the formation of the state : the case of the Abron kingdom of Gyaman / E. Terray.
In: Toward a Marxist anthropology : problems and perspectives / ed. by S. Diamond (1979), p. 291-320
Asantesem : the Asante Collective Biography Project bulletin / Thomas C. McCaskie. ed.: Ivor Wilks
Evanston, Ill. : Northwestern University, Program of African Studies, 1977.
Order and conflict in the Asante empire : a study in interest group relations / Agnes Akosua Aidoo.
In: African studies review : the journal of the African Studies Association (1977), vol. 20, no. 1, p. 1-36
Contribution à une étude de l'armée asante / Emmanuel Terray.
In: Cahiers d'études africaines (1976), vol. 16, no. 61/62, p. 297-356
The pressure of cash and its political consequences in Asante in the colonial period, 1900-1940 / Kwame Arhin.
In: Journal of African studies (1976), vol. 3, no. 4, p. 453-468
Ashanti region of Ghana : an annotated bibliography, from earliest times to 1973 / S. A. Afre.
Boston, Mass. : Hall, 1975.
Asante seminar ... : proceedings of meetings held at the Northwestern University ...-... / Asante Collective Biography Project.
Evanston, Ill. : Northwestern University, Program of African Studies, 1975.
Dissidence in Asante politics : two tracts from the late nineteenth century / I. Wilks.
In: African themes / ed. by Ibrahim Abu-Lughod (1975), p. 47-63
The early history of the Akan states of Ghana/ Eva L.R. Meyerowitz.
London : Red Candle Press, 1975.
The rise and fall of the Asante / E.A.A. Oroge.
In: Tarikh (1974), vol. 5, no. 1, p. 31-45
The structure of greater Ashanti : another view / J.K. Fynn.
In: Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana (1974), vol. 15, no. 1, p. 1-22
Asante and Akyem relations 1700 - 1831 / J.K. Fynn.
In: Research review (1972), vol. 9, no. 1, p. 58-83
The diffusion of Ashanti political art / R.A. Bravmann.
In: African art and leadership / ed. by D. Fraser and H.M. Cole (1972), p. 153-171
Trade routes in Asante before the colonial period / Kwasi Boaten.
In: Ghana social science journal (1972), vol. 2, no. 2, p. 109-116
Asante and its neighbours, 1700-1807 / J.K. Fynn. 
London ; Evanston, Ill. : Longman ; Northwestern University Press, 1971. - Legon history series /
The Asante before 1700 / Kwasi Boaten.
In: Research review (1971), vol. 8, no. 1, p. 50-65
Ghana / P.C. Ozanne.
In: The African iron age / ed. by P.L. Shinnie (1971), p. 36-65
A history of the Gold Coast of West Africa/ A.B. Ellis.
London [etc.] : Curzon Press, 1971.
Inter-state boundary litigation in Ashanti / A.A.Y. Kyerematen.
Leiden ; Cambridge : Afrika-Studiecentrum ; African Studies Centre, 1971.
Political bi-polarity in nineteenth century Asante / Ivor Wilks.
[Edinburgh : Centre of African Studies, Edinburgh University], 1970.
Ashantee and the Gold Coast : being a sketch of the history, social state and superstitions of the inhabitants of those countries with a notice of the state and prospects of Christianity among them/ John Beecham and G E. Metcalfe.
London, 1968.
The financing of the Ashanti expansion (1700-1820) / Kwame Arhin.
In: Africa : journal of the International African Institute (1967), vol. 37, no. 3, p. 283-291
The structure of greater Ashanti (1700-1824) / Kwame Arhin.
In: The journal of African history (1967), vol. 8, no. 1, p. 65-85
Aspects of bureaucratization in Ashanti in the nineteenth century / I. Wilks.
In: The journal of African history (1966), vol. 7, no. 2, p. 215-232
The influence of habitat and trade on the policies of Oyo ad Ashanti / P. Morton-Williams.
In: African notes : bulletin of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan (1966), vol. 4, no. 3, p. 39-52
Ashanti east of the Volta / M. Johnson.
In: Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana (1965), vol. 8, p. 53-59
A history of the Gold Coast and Ashanti from the earliest times to the commencement of the twentieth century / W. Walton Claridge.
London : Cass, 1964.
La structure du pouvoir chez les Ashanti de la période de transition / A. Zajaczkowski.
In: Cahiers d'études africaines (1963), vol. 3, no. 12, p. 458-473
The Ashanti confederacy / W. Tordoff.
In: The journal of African history (1962), vol. 3, no. 3, p. 399-417
The northern factor in Ashanti history / by Ivor Wilks.
Accra : Institute of African Studies, University college of Ghana, 1961.
History of the Gold Coast and Asante : based on traditions and historical facts comprising a period of more than three centuries from about 1500 to 1860/ Carl Christian Reindorf.
Basel [etc.] : Basel Mission Book Depot [etc.], 1951.
Asante kingship and chieftaincy
The return of a king to Seychelles / directed by Ivor Agyeman-Duah. - 1 videodisc (40 min.)
Accra : Centre for Intellectual Renewal 2015.
Telling the tale of Osei Bongu: an essay on the making of Asante oral history / Tom McCaskie.
In: Africa : journal of the International African Institute (2014), vol. 84, no. 3, p. 353-370 : krt., tab
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0001972014000394 (Restricted access)
Legitimacy and importance of the traditional authority in Africa : K.A. Appiah's approach and its critique / Krysztof Trzciński.
In: Africana bulletin (2010), no. 58, p. 47-74
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II : the king on the golden stool / Kojo Yankah and with a forew. by Kwame Donkoh Fordwor.
Accra-North : Unimax Macmillan, 2009.
Prempeh II and the making of modern Asante / Mary A. Seiwaa Owusu. 
Accra : Woeli Pub. Services, 2009.
Warrior queen/ directed by Hezekiah Lewis. - 1 videodisc (22 min.)
[Los Angeles] : UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, 2009.
The life and afterlife of Yaa Asantewaa / T.C. McCaskie.
In: Africa : journal of the International African Institute (2007), vol. 77, no. 2, p. 151-179
'The history of Ashanti kings and the whole country itself' and other writings / Nana Agyeman Prempeh I by Otumfuo and ed. by A. Adu Boahen ... [et al.].
Oxford [etc.] : Oxford University Press for the British Academy, 2003. - Fontes historiae africanae = Sources of African history.
Yaa Asantewaa and the Asante-British War of 1900-1 / A. Adu Boahen and ed. with editor's note by Emmanuel Akyeampong.
Accra ; Oxford : Sub-Saharan Publishers ; Currey, 2003.
Asante queen mothers: precolonial authority in a postcolonial society / Beverly J. Stoeltje.
In: Research review (2003), n.s., vol. 19, no. 2, p. 1-19
Chiefs know their boundaries : essays on property, power, and the past in Asante, 1896-1996 / Sara S. Berry.
Westport, Conn. ; Oxford : Heinemann ; James Currey, 2001. - Social history of Africa /
The just king : the story of Osei Tutu Kwame Asibe Bonsu / Fredericka Dadson & Wilhelmina Donkoh.
Accra : Woeli Publishing Services, 2000.
The consuming passions of Kwame Boakye : an essay on agency and identity in Asante history / T.C. McCaskie.
In: Journal of African cultural studies (2000), vol. 13, no. 1, p. 43-62
The Golden Stool at the end of the nineteenth century: setting the record straight / T.C. MacCaskie
In: Ghana studies , vol. 3, p. 61-96) (2000)
Long live the Queen! : the Yaa Asantewaa centenary and the politics of history / Lynda R. Day.
In: Ghana studies (2000), vol. 3, p. 153-166
The role of Nana Yaa Asantewaa in the 1900 Asante War of Resistance / Arhin Brempong.
In: Ghana studies (2000), vol. 3, p. 97-110
Yaa Asantewaa in the Yaa Asantewaa War of 1900: military leader or symbolic head? / Albert Adu Boahen.
In: Ghana studies (2000), vol. 3, p. 111-135
Yaa Asantewaa's War of Independence: honoring and ratifying an historic pledge / Pashington Obeng.
In: Ghana studies (2000), vol. 3, p. 137-152
Christianity, modernity and the weight of tradition in the life of Asantehene Agyeman Prempeh I, c. 1888-1931 / Emmanuel Akyeampong.
In: Africa : journal of the International African Institute (1999), vol. 69, no. 2, p. 279-311
Un musée royal au début du XIXe siècle en Ashanti: l'Aban / Claude-Hélène Perrot.
In: Cahiers d'études africaines (1999), vol. 39, cah. 155/156, p. 875-884 : ill
'Akwankwaa': Owusu Sekyere Agyeman in his life and times / T.C. MacCaskie
In: Ghana studies , vol. 1, p. 91-122) (1998)
Unsettled accounts: stool debts, chieftaincy disputes and the question of Asante constitutionalism / by Sara Berry.
In: The journal of African history (1998), vol. 39, no. 1, p. 39-62
'Konnurokusem': kinship and family in the history of the Oyoko Kòkòò dynasty of Kumase / by T.C. McCaskie.
In: The journal of African history (1995), vol. 36, no. 3, p. 357-389 : geneal
A portrait of Otumfuo Opoku Ware II as a young man / Ivor Wilks
Accra : Anansesem Publications 1995.
Power and chieftancy in an Asante province: a view from Banda / by Ann B. Stahl.
Toronto : [African Studies Association], 1994.
Forests of gold : essays on the Akan and the kingdom of Asante / Ivor Wilks.
Athens : Ohio University Press, 1993.
The demise and enthronement of the Asantehene : political aspects of Asante kingship / Shozo Akutsu.
In: Senri ethnological studies (1992), no. 31, p. 503-534 : fig., geneal., tab
Asantehene Agyeman Prempe I, Asante history, and the historian / Joseph K. Adjaye.
In: History in Africa : a journal of method (1990), vol. 17, p. 1-29 : tab
The sacred stools of the Akan / Peter Sarpong and J.D. Okae
Tema : Ghana Publishing Corporation 1990.
Asantehene Agyeman Prempe I and British colonization of Asante : a reassessment / by Joseph K. Adjaye.
In: The international journal of African historical studies (1989), vol. 22, no. 2, p. 223-249
Death and the Asantehene: a historical meditation / by Thomas C. McCaskie.
In: The journal of African history (1989), vol. 30, no. 3, p. 417-444
Ancient Ashanti chieftaincy / Ernest E. Obeng.
Tema : Ghana Publishing Corporation, 1988.
The Asantehemaa's court and its jurisdiction over women : a study in legal pluralism / Takyiwaa Manuh
In: Research review , n.s., vol. 4, no. 2, p. 50-66 (1988)
The golden stool : studies of the Asante center and periphery / ed. by Enid Schildkrout and ass. by Carol Gelber.
New York, NY : American Museum of Natural History, 1987. - Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History
The Asante praise poems : the ideology of patrimonialism / Kwame Arhin.
In: Paideuma : Mitteilungen zur Kulturkunde (1986), vol. 32, p. 163-197
A note on the Asante akonkofo : a non-literate sub-elite, 1900-1930 / Kwame Arhin.
In: Africa : journal of the International African Institute (1986), vol. 56, no. 1, p. 25-31
Otumfuo Opuku Ware II (Asantehene celebrates Odwira festival / Emmanuel Kingsley Braffi
Kumasi : Mystic House 1985.
Chieftaincy, law and custom in Asante, Ghana / H.W. Kofi-Sackey.
In: Jahrbuch für afrikanisches Recht (1983), vol. 4, p. 65-79
The Asante Stool : vol. 1 en 2 / S.F. Patton.
Ann Arbor, Mich. [etc.] : University microfilms international, 1981.
Kwadwo Adinkra of Gyaman : a study of the relations between the Brong kingdom of Gyaman and Asante from c. 1800-1818 / K.A. Britwum.
In: A profile of Brong Kyempim / ed. by Kwame Arhin (1979), p. 68-79
Osei Bonsu and the political economy of the Asante empire / D. Smith., D. Robinson
In: Robinson, D., and D. Smith, Sources of the African past// case studies of five nineteenth-century African societies (1979), p. 161-198
Asante before the British : the Prempean years, 1875-1900 / Thomas J. Lewin. 
Lawrence : Regents Press of Kansas, 1978.
Prince Owusu-Ansa of Asante, 1823-1884 / Kofi Owusu-Mensa.
In: Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria (1978), vol. 9, no. 3, p. 23-44
Asante queen mothers in government and politics in the nineteenth century / Agnes Akosua Aidoo.
In: Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria (1977), vol. 9, no. 1, p. 1-13
Osei Tutu of Asante / [by] K. Yeboa Daaku.
London [etc.] : Heinemann, 1976.
Osséi Toutou fondateur de la confédération ashanti / Joseph Amegboh dit Barthélemy Elaud and avec la collab. de Françoise Ligier.
Paris [etc.] : ABC [etc.], 1976.
When did Osei Tutu die? / A. Adu Boahen.
In: Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana (1975), vol. 16, no. 1, p. 87-92
Kwadwo Adinkra of Gyaaman : a study of the relations between the Brong Kingdom of Gyaaman and Asante from c. 1800-1818 / K.A. Britwum.
In: Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana (1974), vol. 15, no. 2, p. 229-239
Akwamu Denkyira Akuapem and Ashanti in the lives of Osei Tutu and Okomfo Anokye / A.A. Anti.
Tema : Ghana Publishing Corporation, 1973.
The Asantehene-in-council : Ashanti politics under colonial rule, 1935-1950 / A. Triulzi.
In: Africa : journal of the International African Institute (1972), vol. 42, no. 2, p. 98-111
The symbols of Ashanti kingship / D. Fraser.
In: African art and leadership / ed. by D. Fraser and H.M. Cole (1972), p. 137-152
Ashanti bureaucracy: a study of the growth of centralized administration in Ashanti from the time of Osei Tutu to the time of Osei Tutu Kwamina Esibe Bonsu / George P. Hagan.
In: Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana (1971), vol. 12, p. 43-62
Prempeh I in exile / A. Adu Boahen.
In: Research review (1971), vol. 8, no. 3, p. 3-20
Ashanti under the Prempehs, 1888-1935 / William Tordoff.
London [etc.] : Oxford University Press, 1965.
The reign and times of Kusi Obodum, 1750-64 / J.K. Fynn.
In: Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana (1965), vol. 8, p. 24-32
The exile and repatriation of Nana Prempeh I of Ashanti (1896-1924 / W. Tordoff.
In: Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana (1960), vol. 4, no. 2, p. 33-58
The position of the chief in the modern political system of Ashanti : a study of the influence of contemporary social changes on Ashanti political institutions / [by] K.A. Busia.
London : Cass, 1951. - Cass library of African studies
The downfall of Prempeh : a diary of life with the native levy in Ashanti, 1895-'96 / by R.S.S. Baden-Powell and with a chapter on the political and commercial position of Ashanti by George Baden-Powell.
London : Methuen, 1896.
European-Asante relations
De betekenis van de Goudse pijp in de handel met de Ashanti en gouden Ashanti pijpen in de 19e eeuwse politiek / Ruud Stam.
Leiden : PKN, Stichting voor onderzoek historische tabakspijpen 2016.
The Fante and the transatlantic slave trade / Rebecca Shumway.
Rochester, NY : University of Rochester Press, 2011.
Serdadu Afrika di Hindia Belanda 1831-1945 / Ineke van Kessel and foreword Arthur Japin.
Jakarta : Komunitas Bambu, 2011.
Wolseley and Ashanti : the Asante war journal and correspondence of Major General Sir Garnet Wolseley 1873-1874 / ed. by Ian F.W. Beckett.
Stroud : History Press for the Army Records Society, 2009.
Zwarte Hollanders : Afrikaanse soldaten in Nederlands-Indie͏̈ / Ineke van Kessel and foreword Arthur Japin.
Amsterdam : KIT Publishers, 2005.
http://hdl.handle.net/1887/4758
Early Asante and European contacts / Peter Shinnie.
In: Journal des africanistes (2005), t. 75, fasc. 2, p. 25-42 : ill., krt
A provisional survey of nineteenth century photography on the Gold Coast and in Ashanti focussed on the Basel Mission collection, and with special reference to the images linked to the war of 1874 / Paul Jenkins.
In: Journal des africanistes (2005), t. 75, fasc. 2, p. 103, 257-280
The march to Coomassie / by G.A. Henty.
[S.l.] : Robinson Books, 2002.
The bureaucratization of traditional authority under colonial rule : the Asante stool treasuries, 1927-1944 / Mariano Pavanello, Arhin Brempong.
In: Ghana studies (2002), vol. 5, p. 159-175
Asante at the end of the nineteenth century: setting the record straight / Ivor Wilks.
In: Ghana studies (2000), vol. 3, p. 13-59
The negotiations for peace in the Gold Coast 1826 to 1831 / by Ole Justesen.
In: Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana (2000), n.s., no. 4/5, p. 1-54
The diaries of A.C. Duncan-Johnstone : a preliminary analysis of British involvement in the 'native courts' of colonial Asante / Victoria B. Tashjian.
In: Ghana studies (1998), vol. 1, p. 135-150
Diplomacy & diplomats in 19th century Asante / Joseph K. Adjaye.
Trenton, N.J. : Africa World Press, 1996.
L'écriture métissée de Marie-Joseph Bonnat dans son journal (1869-1874) / Christiane Owusu-Sarpong.
In: Journal des africanistes (1996), t. 66, fasc. 1/2, p. 225-254
Central and eastern Wangara: an indigenous West African perception of the political and economic geography of the Slave Coast as recorded by Joseph Dupuis in Kumasi, 1820 / Robin Law.
In: History in Africa : a journal of method (1995), vol. 22, p. 281-305 : krt
Consul Dupuis and Wangara : a window on Islam in early nineteenth-century Asante / Ivor Wilks.
In: Sudanic Africa : a journal of historical sources (1995), vol. 6, p. 55-72
Some Asante views of colonial rule : as seen in the con
troversy relating to death duties / Kwame Arhin.
In: Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana (1995), vol. 16, no. 2 = n.s., no. 1, p. 137-161
Asante and the Dutch, 1744-1873 / Larry W. Yarak.
Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1990.
A catalogue of Ashanti art taken from Kumasi in the Anglo-Ashanti war of 1874 / Martha J. Ehrlich
Ann Arbour, Mich : University Microfilms International, Dissertation information service 1988.
She who blazed a trail : Akyaawa Yikwan of Asante / Ivor Wilks
In: Life histories of African women / ed. by Patricia W. Romero. - London [etc.] : Ashfield Press, p. 113-139 : geneal., krt (1988)
Asante and the Dutch : a case study in the history of Asante administration, 1744-1873 / Larry William Yarak.
Ann Arbor, Mich. : University Microfilms International, 1986.
Lo Nzema fra egemonia Asante ed espansione europea nella prima meta del XIX secolo / Pierluigi Valsecchi.
In: Africa : rivista trimestrale di studi e documentazione (1986), vol. 41, no. 4, p. 507-544 : krt
Indigenous African diplomacy : an Asante case study / Joseph K. Adjaye.
In: The international journal of African historical studies (1985), vol. 18, no. 3, p. 487-503
Diplomacy and diplomats in nineteenth century Asante / Joseph K. Adjaye.
Lanham, MD : University Press of America, 1984.
Prince Owusu-Ansa and Asante-British diplomacy, 1841-1884 / [by] Kofi Owusu-Mensa.
Ann Arbor, Michigan : Univ. Microfilms International, 1984.
Drake's fake : a curiosity concerning a spurious visit to Asante in 1839 / T.C. McCaskei.
In: History in Africa : a journal of method (1984), vol. 11, p. 223-236
Asante and Britain in the nineteenth century : a study in Asante diplomatic practice / Joseph E. K. Adjaye.
Ann Arbor, MI : UMI, 1983.
An Asante embassy on the Gold Coast : the mission of Akyempon Yaw to Elmina, 1869-1872 / René Baesjou (ed.)
Leiden [etc.] : Afrika-Studiecentrum [etc.], 1979.
The location of administrative capital in Ashanti, Ghana, 1896-1911 / R.B. Bening.
In: The international journal of African historical studies (1979), vol. 12, no. 2, p. 210-234
Evolution of the administrative boundaries of Ashanti, 1896-1951 / R.B. Bening.
In: Journal of African studies (1978), vol. 5, no. 2, p. 123-150
Precolonial African diplomacy : the example of Asante / Graham W. Irwin.
In: The international journal of African historical studies (1975), vol. 8, no. 1, p. 81-96
Britain and Ashanti, 1874-1896 / W.E.F. Ward.
In: Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana (1974), vol. 15, no. 2, p. 131-164
The journalistic frontier in Africa / J.P. Ward.
Ann Arbor Mich. [etc.] : University microfilms international, 1971.
Ashanti, Juaben and M. Bonnat / Marion Johnson.
In: Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana (1971), vol. 12, p. 17-41
Coomassie and Magdala : the story of two British campaigns in Africa / With numerous illus. from drawings by Melton Prior.
Freeport, N.Y : Books for Libraries Press, 1971.
Gold Coast native institutions : with: Thoughts upon a healthy imperial policy for the Gold Coast and Ashanti / by J.E. Casely Hayford.
London : Cass, 1970. - Cass library of African studies.
The British colonial office approach to the Ashanti war of 1900 / S.C. Ukpabi.
In: African studies review : the journal of the African Studies Association (1970), vol. 13, no. 3, p. 363-380
Letters on the political condition of the Gold Coast : since the exchange of territory between the English and Dutch governments, on January 1, 1868 together with a short account of the Ashantee War, 1862-4, and the Awoonah War, 1866 / by Africanus B. Horton.
[London] : F. Cass, 1970. - Africana modern library.
The Ashanti War : a narrative / by Henry Brackenbury and with maps and plans by Harry Cooper.
London : Cass, 1968.
A vanished dynasty : Ashanti / by Sir Francis Fuller.
London : Cass, 1968. - Cass library of African studies
Travels and life in Ashanti and Jaman / with about one hundred illustrations by the author Richard Austin Freeman and from photographs.
London : Cass, 1967. - Cass library of African studies.
Mission from Cape coast castle to Ashantee / T. Edward Bowdich and ed. with notes and an introd. by W.E.F. Ward.
London : Cass, 1966.
The drums of Kumasi : the story of the Ashanti wars / Alan Lloyd.
London, 1964.
The panic element in nineteenth-century British relations with Ashanti / E. Collins.
In: Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana (1962), vol. 5, part 2, p. 79-144
The Ashanti question and the British : eighteenth century origins / M. Priestley.
In: The journal of African history (1961), vol. 2, no. 1, p. 35-59
The Ashanti war of 1900 : a study in cultural conflict / B. Wasserman.
In: Africa : journal of the International African Institute (1961), vol. 31, no. 2, p. 167-179
Report of the Select Committee of the Legislative Council appointed to make recommendation concerning Local Government in Ashanti / [chairman: W.H. Beeton]
[Accra : Government Printing Department], 1951.
The golden stool : some aspects of the conflict of cultures in modern Africa/ Edwin W. Smith and Frederick John Dealtry Lugard.
London, 1927.
In Ashanti & Beyond/ Allan Wolsey Cardinall.
London : Seeley [etc.], 1927.
Our days on the Gold Coast : in Ashanti, in the Northern Territories, and the British sphere of occupation in Togoland/ Lady Clifford.
London : J. Murray, 1919.
Report on the legislation governing the alienation of native lands in the Gold Coast colony Ashanti : with some observations on the Forest Ordinance, 1911 : presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of His Majesty/ H.Conway Belfield.
London : Stanionery Office, 1912.
The Ashanti campaign of 1900/ C.M. Armitage and A. F. Montanaro.
London : Sands, 1901.
The Ashanti Campaign of 1900/ Cecil Hamilton Armitage and Arthur Forbes Montanaro.
Place of publication not identified : publisher not identified, 1901.
Correspondence relating to the Ashanti war, 1900 : presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of his Majesty./
London : H.M.S.O., 1901.
Further correspondence relating to affairs in Ashanti : presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty./
London : H.M.S.O., 1896.
Two campaigns : Madagascar and Ashantee/ Bennet Burleigh.
London : Fisher Unwin, 1896.
History of the Gold Coast and Asante : based on traditions and historical facts, comprising a period of more than three centuries form about 1500 to 1860/ Carl Christian Reindorf.
Basel [etc.] : Missionsbuchhandlung [etc.], 1895.
Affairs of the Gold Coast and threatened Ashanti invasion : presented to both Houses of Parliament..../
London : H.M.S.O., 1881.
The Ashanti War : a narrative prepared from the official documents by permission of... Garnet Wolseley/ H. Brackenbury and Harry Cooper.
Edinburgh : Blackwood, 1874.
Further correspondence respecting Ashanti invasion : presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty./
London : Harrison, 1873.
Map of the British territories Gold and Slave Coasts, Western Africa : with portions of Ashanti, Dahome & Yoruba./ Ernst Georg Ravenstein.
London : T. Pettitt & Co., 1873.
A map of the Gold Coast and part of Ashanti./ Edward Stanford.
London : Edward Stanford, 1873.
Wyld's map of the British possessions on the Gold Coast and the territories of Ashanti and Fantee./ James Wyld.
London : James Wyld, 1873.
Eighteen years on the Gold Coast of Africa, including an account of the native tribes, and their intercourse with Europeans/ Brodie Cruickshank.
London : Hurst and Blacket, 1853.
Journal of various visits to the kingdoms of Ashanti, Aku, and Dahomi in Western Africa/ Thomas Birch Freeman and Harrison M. Wright.
[London] : Cass, 1844.
Aanteekeningen gehouden op eene reis van St. George Delmina naar Comassie, hoofdstad van het Ashantijnsche Rijk, en gedurende een kort verblijf aldaar : medegedeeld van wege het bestuur van 's Rijks-Museum van Natuurlijke historie te Leiden / door H.J. Pel.
[S.l. : s.n.], 1842.
http://books.google.com/books?id=3UhQAAAAcAAJ
Narrative of the Ashantee war : with a view of the present state of the colony of Sierra Leone/ Ricketts.
London, 1831.
Journal of a residence in Ashantee. Illustrated with a map and plates / Joseph Dupuis.
London : Printed for Henry Colburn, 1824.
Nouveau voyage dans l'intérieur de l'Afrique, ou relation de l'ambassade Anglaise, envoyée en 1820, au Royaume d'Ashantée, .../ William Hutton and Thorel de LaTrouplinière.
Paris, 1823.
Mission from Cape Coast castle to Ashantee, with a statistical account of that kingdom, and geographical notices of other parts of the interior of Africa/ Thomas Edward Bowdich.
London : Murray, 1819.
Online version
Voyage dans le pays d'Aschantie, ou Relation de l'ambassade : envoyée dans ce royaume par les anglais, .../ T.E. Bowdich.
Paris : De Gide fils, 1819.
Selected web resources
African Kingdoms
African Kingdoms is a website with a suite of resources for teachers planning to teach West African history, hosted by King's College London.
https://africankingdoms.co.uk/
Asante Gold Regalia
Article on the website of the British Museum on contested objects from the collection, focusing on Asante objects.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/about-us/british-museum-story/contested-ob...
Ashanti Stool Histories
The Ashanti Stool Histories, a two-volume, 1300-page collection is a history of the political offices developed within the Asante state from its beginnings as an upstart confederacy in the late 17th century to its height as a formidable 19th-century empire with a complex bureaucratic government. Originally existing primarily in oral form, the histories of these offices were collected and translated by Joseph Agyeman-Duah and were compiled by K. Ampom Darkwa and B. C. Obaka.
https://jstor.org/stable/al.ch.document.ae000192 (Restricted access)
History of the Asante Kingdom {The Kingdom of Gold}
Video on Asante history on the official channel for His Royal Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene the 16th occupant of the Golden Stool.
https://youtu.be/tf9d0fPLhFU
Manhyia Palace
Website of then Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II
https://manhyiapalace.org/
Rise of the Ashanti Empire
Videos exploring the history of the great Ashanti empire, in 2 episodes, by the Africa History Channel.
https://youtu.be/5OgUzmiff9Q (episode 1)
https://youtu.be/jgCaKaji5T8 (episode 2)
Making the Case for Object Repatriations
Virtual conversation with Dr. Kwame Tua Opoku, Retired United Nations Legal Advisor African Art in Western Museums.
https://youtu.be/UjZHKxnm9hE
Posted on 11 September 2024, last modified on 5 November 2024