African History Lecture Notes – 26th February 2004

Subject: final lecture on the West African Slave Trade, focusing on the Asante kingdom
Note that the spelling ‘ashanti’ is also sometimes used

In the 19th Century, the Asante kingdom was the largest and most complex of all West African states, and it is a salutary tale, as the kingdom not only profited greatly from the slave trade, but also was able to recover after its end

Originating as a people probably in the 13th or 14th Century, in what is now Central Ghana, the Asante were a forest-dwelling people

Before the arrival of the Europeans, they lived mostly in dense, primary tropical rainforest
-	their main means of productions was hunting and gathering
-	agriculture was very difficult as land was difficult to clear – the trees were difficult to cut down

South of the forest is the Birrim river, where there was the largest deposits of  washable gold in sub-Saharan Africa – no mining necessary, extraction was cheap. They were part of an international trade network – stretching across the Sahara to the Mediterranean

The Asante traded with the Wangara across the desert; it was unusual to have a non-agriculturally developed society involved in long-distance international trade

The Portuguese arrived in 1492, establishing themselves at ‘El Mina’, - the title of which reveals their knowledge of the gold
- the Gold trade consequently turned round through 180, to trade with the Portuguese on the coast instead of via the Sahara, as shorter distance trade was much easier to conduct

In return for the Gold, the ‘proto-Asante’ wanted people; slaves, and the Portuguese provided: bringing them from areas which are now the Congo, Nigeria, Gabon etc

The people were needed to clear the forests, to create an agricultural community and surplus

Anthropologists have noted how slaves were rapidly ‘naturalised’, through various kinship mechanisms and so on, in Asante society – making it assimilative, incorportative

Because of this, the never experienced a slave insurrection, a clever piece of social engineering, based around a matrilineal system – no concept of bastardry, illegitimacy, so male slaves could be easily incorporated, domesticised

By 1600, an agricultural revolution had taken place, competitive state building and economies of scale were the result

The Asante were part of a broader group know as the Akan, who were united linguistically by Twi, a range of mutually intelligible dialects
- the Asante came to dominate the Twi groups; after the Adanse and later the Dentura ruled temporarily in the 17th Century

The Slave trade begins – the Gold Coast regions switches from being a net importer of slaves to an exporter
- in return, they now want guns and ammunition, and they are able to demand these because they are a monopoly power – the Portuguese influence has been replaced by a plurality of most European powers

The weaponry and ammunition was used to create the most efficient army in pre-colonial Africa, dominating a huge area of the West African savannah as their hinterland
- in doing so, they acquired control over the 2nd major commodity – slaves, and they became the largest exporter of them into the Atlantic

The Asante kingdom became rich, expanded their territory and underwent revolutions in government that resulted in a complex, effective monarchy
- the ‘fly in the ointment’ for the Asante kingdom was another Twi group, the Faante

The Faante were a group that occupied the coastal region – between the traders and the Asante
- the resisted attempted at Asante incorportation as they profited as being middlemen, forming European alliances

The Asante wanted to reduce them to subjects, and tried many times to conquer them in the period 1776-1831 – the never succeeded, partly because the Faante had European (especially British) support, as an Asante monopoly would damage European interests

The slave trade ended as it began – unilaterally, by the Europeans
- thus, one of the main economic bases of Asante society was removed – a seemingly crippling blow – Dahomey, for example, was never able to recover

The Asante, however, persisted, partly because of the dependency on slavery was not total – Gold was still traded, including, now, reef gold mined from the ground, where extraction became more intense

Gold was needed as guns and ammunition (essentials of statecraft) still needed to be bought

Yet, a gap still existed, and it was filled by the Kola nut
- a stimulant which grows wild in Asante territory – they themselves use it in a moderated, mild way

It became significant as an export at the end of the 19th Century due to events in Nigeria
- the Northern states were united in an Islamic kingdom, an exceptionally puritanical one, where Kola was the only stimulant permitted
- in return, things like leatherwork, cloth and salt were traded

This meant that trade with the Europeans could be more purely in weaponry, a virtual ‘freebie’, as kola was very inexpensive to collect

The Asante in 1831 gave up attempts to rule the Faante, and treaties were signed, as the conflict was expensive and unnecessary now the slave trade had declined

British and Asante military standoff persisted in 1830-1870, ending when the British, and Europeans in general, became more aggressive imperially – a series of invasions in 1873, 1876 and 1900/1 reduced the Asante kingdom to a British protectorate