Akan

By Michelle Gilbert, Robert O. Lagacé, and Ian Skoggard

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The Akan are Twi-speaking people living between the Volta river and the Atlantic coast in southern and central Ghana and in southeastern Cote d'Ivoire. They include the Akwamu, the Akwampim (Akuapem), the Akyem (Akim), the Asen-Twifo, the Ashanti (Asante), the Fanti (Fante), the Kwahu, and the Wasa. The Ashanti mostly live in Ashanti Province in south central Ghana. The Fanti live in southern Ghana, between Winneba, Takoradi, and Obuasi. The Akuapem, Kwahu, Akyem, and Akwamu groups live in southeast Ghana, north of Accra. The Brong live north of the Ashanti and the Agni and Baule groups live in the Cote d'Ivoire.

This region has a tropical climate with an annual mean temperature of 27 degrees Celsius. There are two distinct seasons, a rainy season from about April to November, and a dry season the rest of the year. The average annual rainfall around Kumasi is 130 cm, but there are considerable annual variations. [IS]

In 1995 there were 7,000,000 Akan living in Ghana, constituting 44 percent of its population. The Fanti are the largest group numbering 4,300,000, followed by the Ashanti Twi (1,170,000) and Akuapem Twi (230,000). [IS]

The Akan share a common language, known as Twi. Twi is a tonal language belonging to the Akan branch of the Kwa subfamily of the Niger-Congo family of languages. Its dialects are mutually intelligible. Twi has a Roman alphabet developed by European missionaries and is an official literary language used for education through university. Around half of the population is literate. [IS]

The historian Eva Meyerowitz (1993) documents a steady migration of Twi-speaking people from the Niger bend south to the Ghanaian coast beginning around 1000 AD with the Gbon people whose original kingdom, Dyala, was destroyed by Islamized Saharan Berbers. Gbon refugees made their way south, eventually reaching the Upper Volta region, where they founded the Bono kingdom and later the surrounding kingdoms of Bona, Djomo, Bonda, and Kpon (later center of the Kumbu kingdom.) By the mid-1300s small Twi-speaking states appeared on the coast. The Portuguese first arrived in 1471 and later built a trading post at Elmina in 1486. Drawn by the trading activity on the coast, descendants of the defunct Bonda and Kumbu kingdoms settled along the north-south trade routes connecting the coast to the Niger bend region. The Queen mother of the Bonda founded the Akyerekyere kingdom along one trade route, which became a clearinghouse for goods from the coast. A prince of the former Kumbu royal house founded the Akumu-Akoto kin gdom on another trade route. The Portuguese referred to this latter kingdom as the 'Acanes,' hence the name Akan. Emigrants from Akumu-Akoto founded a second city-state to the east, called Akwamu. Emigrants from Akwamu in turn founded the Asantemanso kingdom in the Kumasi region. Mande-speaking immigrants conquered the Akyerekyere kingdom and later the Asantemanso kingdom to become the dominant power in the region, the Denkyira. In 1701, the Asantemanso under the leadership of Osei Tutu (d. 1717) rebelled and defeated the Denkyira.

The Ashanti formed a confederacy of Akan groups, who acknowledged the authority of the Kumasi Stool. Under Osei Tutu's successor, Opoku Ware (1717-1764), the Confederacy conducted wars of expansion defeating the Wankyi (1711-12), Takyiman (Bono)(1722-3) and Akyem (1742). By the end of Opoku Ware's reign the Greater Asante covered an area nearly the size of present-day Ghana and included the states of Mampon, Beckwa, Insuta, Juabin, Kokofu, Adansi, Akropong Manasu, Asanti Akim, Awiku, and Mamponsu. Subsequent rulers, Osei Kwadwo (1764-1777) and Osei Tutu Kwame (1804-1823) strengthened their control of the region by bureaucratic and ideological means. Senior office holders were put in charge of various functions such as gold production, roads, porters, and the kola and ivory trades. Osei Tutu's head priest Anokye had devised a new system of authority symbolized by the Golden Stool, which was superimposed on the authority of the clans. Later another royal symbol, the Golden Elephant Tail, was added representing wealth. Now Big Men (ABEREMPON) could acquire wealth and power outside of the clan system. However, all acquired wealth was subject to a heavy death duty (AWUNNYADE) and ultimately returned to the King's treasury. The Dutch, Danes, and British followed the Portuguese to the Gold Coast. By the nineteenth century, the British were the dominant European power in the region and in 1827, British-led forces defeated an Ashanti army at Katammanso. In 1831, the British and the Ashanti signed a peace treaty that opened up all ports to trade. The Bond of 1844 gave British authorities jurisdiction over criminal matters in the districts surrounding the forts, however, an attempt to exact a poll tax in the surrounding districts failed. In 1868 Fanti clan leaders and educated elite convened to write the Mankessim Constitution and form the Fanti Confederacy. The leaders were quickly arrested and imprisoned for sedition. By 1872 the British had complete control of the coast after taking over the Dutch and Danish forts. When they did not recognize Ashanti sovereignty in the area, the Ashanti invaded. In 1874, British forces launched a counteroffensive and sacked Kumasi. In 1883 a general uprising led to the overthrow of the Ashanti chi ef Mensu Bonsu and four years of civil war (1884-1888). A faction representing mercantile interests prevailed, although an Imperial faction regained power in the following decade. This led to another war with the British, who again attacked Kumasi in 1895 and captured the Ashanti king and chiefs. The king and chiefs were exiled and in 1901 the whole region was declared a British possession.

The colonial period saw the rapid expansion of cocoa-growing by farmers in the south and by the 1920s the Gold Coast was producing more than half of the world's supply of cocoa. Other exports included gold, timber and manganese. Wealth created by trade led to improvements in infrastructure and education, which transformed the old social order. After World War II a series of riots set in motion constitutional reforms which eventually led to Ghana's Independence in 1957. Since then political power has swung back and forth between civilian and military rule. [IS]

Akan territory is divided into two quite different ecological zones, northern and southern. The northern zone is drier and is characterized by a Savannah-forest type of vegetation, with stunted trees scattered over large expanses of grasslands. The natural vegetation of the southern zone consists of high forest, but little virgin forest now remains. The most common vegetation today is that of the cultivated plots of cacao (cocoa) trees and the natural growth of brush on formerly cultivated land. [ROL]

The Akan are almost all forest dwellers; the exceptions are a few outlying groups northward in the savanna and eastward in the hills and valley of the Volta River. The basic Akan pattern of settlement is extremely variable but, in the main, is one of towns each centered on the palace of its chief. Attached to these towns, but away from them in less densely inhabited land, are villages and farms, some large and long lasting and others little more than clusters of the houses of single small families. The houses in the larger towns, constructed of materials that can last for several years before they crumble, are set along permanent roads. The dwellings in the villages are made of less durable materials and are typically arranged with no plan and no clearly marked center, being merely clusters of the houses of kin. [MG] Data are not readily available concerning the average population size of the Akan communities, but it is clear that during recent years there has been a marked increase in the number of towns and in their size. In 1911 only Kumasi, the Ashanti capital, had a population of more than 2,000. By 1948 as many as 40 towns exceeded this number. Kumasi itself is estimated to have had a population of about 10,000 in the nineteenth century; this had increased to over 70,000 by 1948. [ROL]

The different ecological zones have given rise to contrasting types of agriculture. In the north the main subsistence and cash crop is yams, followed by guinea corn; by 1950 there still had not been any large-scale development of export crops. In the south, a much larger variety of subsistence crops are grown, especially yams, cocoyams, manioc, and maize. Also, there has been widespread development of major commercial crops such as the kola-nut and cocoa, which has become the main economic activity in the southern zone. In former times, until the end of the nineteenth century, farm work was done by servile labor: slaves, pawns, and various kinds of servants. Today sharecropping and hired labor are the most prevalent, although domestic peonage is still common. [ROL]

The Kumasi Central Market is among the largest in West Africa and lies at the center of a vast market region. Traders, wholesalers, distributors, transporters, and retailers make up a complex network of exchanges, which are bolstered by a variety of kin, ethnic, and local ties. Commodity chiefs control the wholesale end of the business regulating prices. In the early nineteenth century men moved into commercial farming, leaving women to run the markets. [IS]

The Ashanti are noted for their expertise in a variety of specialized crafts. These include weaving, woodcarving, ceramics, and metallurgy. Weaving is a highly developed craft, with dozens of standardized and named textile designs. Weaving in cotton and silk is of a technically and aesthetically high order, and much commerce is built around it. Woodcarvings have also become a valuable commodity, especially with the rise of the tourist trade in the late twentieth century. Woodcarving is divided into many branches, each with its own specialists. Among the major products are wooden sculptures of outstanding artistic quality, talking-drums (NTUPANE), and the famous wooden "stools," which are symbolic and ritual objects rather than items of furniture.

One of the most specialized crafts is metallurgy. Traditionally, Ashanti metal smiths worked in iron, brass, bronze, silver, and gold. Agricultural implements and other metal utensils were made of iron. Using a lost-wax process, smiths cast brass and bronze gold weights (MRAMMUE) of geometric, human, or animal forms. Although these objects are now mainly of interest to art collectors, their original function was practical; they were standard weights used to measure gold dust. [ROL]

There were early cultural and commercial links with the empires of the southern Sahara. The major commodities exchanged were gold from the Akan region and salt from the Sahara. The main Akan trading town was Bighu (Bitu) with links to Jenne on the Niger bend. Trade in gold and slaves formed the commercial basis of the traditional Ashanti state. Kola-nuts were also exported to the north. Today cocoa is Ghana's main export commodity. [IS]

Men and women share in labor, but both may own farms and houses and both may provide the labor for them. With respect to crafts, only pottery making is a female activity; the others are restricted to male specialists. Even in the case of pottery making, only men are allowed to fashion pots or pipes representing anthropomorphic or zoomorphic figures. [MG]

Land was the unalienable possession of the clan--actually the clan's ancestral spirits were considered the true owners of the land and the tribal land's living occupants only trustees or tenants. Security of tenure was based on working the land. Abandoned land reverted to the stool. Rights to land were inherited matrilineally. Today Akan have the right to sell land although leasing seems to be the preferred arrangement. [IS]

All Akan groups recognize matrilineal descent. The basic group is the clan, of which there are eight; they are dispersed among the many kingdoms. Members of a subclan tend to occupy a single town or village. The clan is an exogamous group. It is comprised of constituent groups that may be referred to as lineages, but these do not form any kind of segmentary lineage system, lineages being attached to others by propinquity and the power and wealth of the host lineage. Although there has been much confusion in accounts of the Akan peoples between matriliny and matriarchy, authority within clans and lineages is held firmly by men, succession being from a man to his brother or to his closest sister's son.

A child inherits his or her blood from the mother, and character or temperament from the father. Maternal blood ensures the child's membership in the ABUSUA (clan or lineage); paternity bestows membership in one of nine other groups or categories. Although some accounts claim the Akan descent system is one of double descent, this view appears to be based on a misreading of the actual roles of the two lines of descent. [MG]

There are groups in which membership is transmitted patrilineally, but these are neither exogamous nor corporate groups; nor are jural or political rights or duties derived from paternal descent. What is involved is the concept of NTORO; the male transmitted NTORO (spirit) which forms a unique spiritual bond between father and son. Following this principle, every person belongs to one of a limited number of named quasi-ritual categories, the ntoro divisions. Members of the same ntoro division are required to observe certain taboos, perform certain rituals, and are believed to have some common personality characteristics. [ROL]

Consistent with the emphasis on matrilineal descent is the fact that the system of kinship terminology is of the Crow type. [ROL]

Marriage is expected to be exogamous, and is extremely simple. There is no bride-wealth, the union being effected by the transfer of rum or other drink and some money from the groom to the bride's immediate family. Divorce is extremely easy and may be initiated by either men or women. The most usual causes are adultery and the barrenness of wives.

Legitimacy is important both for inheritance and to define a person as having, or not having, slave ancestry. It demands not only a proper marriage, however short, but also a recognized pater: he gives the child his own spiritual identity and his or her name; he admits his responsibility for the child's education, and he has the expectation that the child will carry out the father's funerary rites. [MG]

The passing of the 1884 Marriage Ordinance Act attempted to set a standard for monogamous marriage and spousal inheritance of self-acquired property. Conflict over inheritance often ended up in court where officials tried to determine whether or not a spouse was a true and therefore legal wife. Women began to organize in the 1950's to change the distinction between ‘wife’ and ‘non-wife’ in order to protect the interests of women and children. The results were the passage of the Maintenance of Children Bill in 1965 and a new divorce law in 1971. [IS]

Domestic organization long remained one of the most ambiguous aspects of Akan social structure. It was Fortes who finally delineated the key structural principles and processes through his research in the 1940s in the communities of Asokore and Agogo. He distinguished three major household types each based on a different residence pattern. First are households grouped around a minimal matrilineage, such as a woman and her sister or daughters, or a man and his sister or sister's son. Such households are based on duolocal residence, with a husband and wife living apart in different domestic units; about 62 percent of the households in Agogo were of this type.

Second are households consisting of a man, his wife, and their children, sometimes including other kinsfolk; this type of patrilocal or virilocal unit constituted about 22 percent of the households in Agogo. Finally, there are households made up of combinations of the previous types (e.g. a man, his wife, and children) plus his sister's children. Often these reflect an avunculocal residence pattern. The matrilineal domestic group is usually preponderant in the larger communities, while virilocal or patrilocal households are the most common type in small farming villages or hamlets. But all three "types" should be viewed simply as phases in a domestic cycle. In the early years of marriage, residence is predominantly duolocal, but with the passage of time this could shift to avunculocal or patrilocal/virilocal. Thus the composition of a domestic group would evolve over time. [ROL]

Despite being jurally matrilineal, inheritance is to some extent divided between sister's children and a man's own children. The basic principle is that lineage-inherited property goes to sisters' children, and property acquired with the help of a man's wife and children is distributed among the latter at his death. [MG]

The localized matrilineage tracing descent from a known common female ancestor for a period of 10 to 12 generations is the basic unit for political, legal, and ritual purposes. Succession and inheritance rules stress sex, generation, and age, with men having precedence over women, "brothers" over "sisters' sons," and senior over junior. [ROL]

The Akan practiced slavery, obtaining slaves from northern slave dealers, usually Muslims. War captives, criminals, persons who opposed local chiefs, and many local ritual leaders were also enslaved. Slaves were used for domestic and field labor, for sale to traders across the Sahara and Atlantic, and as sacrifices to royal and other ancestors. In the middle of the nineteenth century, slaves amounted to half of the population in many towns. [MG]

The several Akan peoples each consist of a single kingdom ruled by a king, OMANHENE (lit. "state-chief"). The king comes from whatever clan provides the royal line in a particular kingdom, and is chosen in rotation from one of this clan's kingly lineages (there are often other, non-kingly, lineages within a royal clan). He is elected by various officials, of which the most important is the OHEMMAA (or similar terms; lit. "woman-chief" and usually translated in the literature as "queen-mother") although she is typically not the actual mother but a senior woman of the clan, who "knows" genealogy and may have her own court and be assisted by various officials. Criteria for the selection of a king include assumed competence, general personality, and the fact that kingly lines usually rotate in providing the king. Once selected, the king is "enstooled"-that is, seated upon the stool of kingship. His former status is annulled symbolically, his debts and lawsuits are settled, his clothing and personal possessions st ored; he is then symbolically reborn and given the identity of one of his forebears. He assumes the royal name and title borne by that previous ruler.

A king has his palace, in which work members of his court. Details vary considerably, but, in general, the royal officials comprise several categories: those from the royal clan itself; those representing the remainder of the people; and ritual officials, drummers, and others who were considered the "children" of the king, being recruited from many sources, including royal slaves, and often observing patrilineal descent. The king is a sacred person. He may not be observed eating or drinking and may not be heard to speak nor be spoken to publicly (speaking only through a spokesman or "linguist," OKYEAME). He is covered from the sky by a royal umbrella, avoids contact with the earth by wearing royal sandals, and wears insignia of gold and elaborate and beautiful cloth of royal design. In the past, an Akan king held power over the life and death of his subjects and slaves. These powers were eroded during colonial rule, but today an Akan king remains extremely powerful, representing his people both politically an d ritually and acting as a focus for the identity of his kingdom. By far the most powerful is the king of Ashanti, who has the largest of all the Akan kingdoms, the Asantehene at Kumasi. [MG]

The two major kinds of offenses were the violation of tribal taboos and household cases. The family head (ABUSUA PANIN) adjudicated the later and chiefs the former. A public declaration of a forbidden oath by the plaintiff had the immediate effect of bringing a chief in to adjudicate the dispute. Murder and assault were capital crimes, and suicide a capital sin. Incest and adultery were also abhorred and at one time were capital crimes. Capital punishment included death by beheading, strangulation, or clubbing. Mutilation and public ridicule were other sanctions employed. Extra-clan offenses were avoided at all costs. Expulsion from the clan avoided blood feuds and in most cases resulted in the offender's enslavement. [IS]

The long, complex history of the Akan peoples is one of internecine conflicts and, since the eighteenth century, of opposition to the encroachment of various colonial powers: the Dutch, Portuguese, Danish, French, and English. In addition, there have been continual threats from the Islamic peoples of the southern Saharan fringe. Essentially all these conflicts have been over monopolies in trade, first across the Sahara with northern Africa and, in later centuries, across the Atlantic with the countries of Europe and the Americas.

Warfare has historically been a central institution, a means of extending territory and controlling external trade. The Akan state was typically divided into five or six military formations or "wings," each under the authority of a wing chief. Beneath the wing chiefs, who are chosen by the king, are the chiefs of the main towns of a kingdom. The latter are from the town's ruling line. [MG]

Indigenous Akan religion is based upon the worship of a High God, various spirits or deities, and ancestors. The High God-known as Onyame, Onyankopon, and by other names-is the Creator, now otiose; Asase Yaa, the goddess of the earth, accompanies him. The ancestors live in the land of the dead and may demand offerings, in the past including those of slaves.

The Akan have largely been Christian since the nineteenth century, except for most kings, who have had to retain their indigenous religious status and practices. European Christian missions were highly successful, bringing not only Christianity but also education, and most Akan have been literate for a long time. Islam has a long history among the Akan, having been introduced by early traders from the north. Royalty made use of Muslim scribes for court duties. The Akan have a long history of "prophets" of many kinds-Christian, Muslim, and "heathen"-and of separatist Christian movements. All these various forms of religious belief and activity exist side by side, and most people have recourse to all of them, according to their particular needs and wishes. [MG]

Spirits or deities are many, and the living can communicate with them through prayer, sacrifice, and possession. Each has its own OSOFO, or priest; an OKOMFO is a living spirit medium who interprets the words of a spirit who is consulted to remove sickness and human disasters. [MG]

The royal ancestors are at the heart of the ritual protection of a kingdom. They are "fed" at shrines in the form of blackened stools of wood and kept in the "stool rooms" in palaces and houses. Traditionally, the stools were anointed with human blood, gunpowder, and spider webs, and given alcoholic drink; human sacrifices are no longer made. Each kingdom and town has, or had in past years, an annual purification ritual, known as ODWIRA, in which the king, the office of kingship, the kingdom, and the town are purified of the pollution of the preceding year; this is often known in the literature as a "yam festival." [MG]

Music is performed at puberty ceremonies, funerals, and national festivals. The Akan sing songs to offer personal praise, insult, or commentary. Drumming is based on the tonal Twi language and can be used to transmit messages over long distances. The Akan also have a rich tradition of proverbs and folklore. [IS]

Sickness is attributed to organic causes, preordained destiny, angry ancestors, witchcraft, and anti-social behavior. Herbalists have reliable cures for organic illnesses. Herbalists with knowledge of witchcraft and priests deal with psychosomatic illnesses. Warren (1973, no. 29) makes an interesting point that social stress can weaken a person's natural resistance to any one of a number of internal malarial and intestinal parasites, resulting in illness. The priest seeks to identify and remedy the social disturbance that causes the stress. [IS]

At death one's blood (MOGYA) turns into a ghost (SAMAN) and enters the spirit world (SAMANDO) where it awaits reincarnation. One's life or spiritual force (OKRA) returns to God (NYANKOPON). One's ntoro remains behind to care for and protect one's patrikin. The funeral consists of five stages: i) washing the corpse, ii) pre-burial mourning, iii) internment, iv) post-burial mourning, and v) periodic mourning. At death the family is notified and the corpse is washed three times. This is followed by three (formerly seven) days of mourning, which includes fasting and the singing of funeral dirges. The body is interred and a public mourning for friends and relatives ensues, involving dancing and drumming. Observances are made on the 8th, 15th, 40th and 80th day and first anniversary after death. [IS]

Documents referred to in this section are included in the eHRAF Collection of Ethnography and are referenced by author, date of publication, and eHRAF document number.

There are 45 documents in the Akan file. Most of the works are on the two major Akan groups, the Ashanti (22 documents) and Fanti (8 documents). Thirteen documents refer to two or more Akan groups. Overviews of Akan culture can be found in Warren (1986, no. 29) and Danquah (1945, no. 50). Meyerowitz (1974, no. 52) wrote on the early history of the Akan peoples up to 1701. Wilks (1993, no. 28) covers some of this earlier period but writes mostly about the Greater Asante (1701-1901). In the 1920s, the British anthropologist R. S. Rattray published in three volumes the classic ethnography on the Ashanti (Rattray 1923, no. 1; 1927, no. 2; 1929, no.3). Sarbah (1968, no. 47) and Hayford (1970, no. 45) wrote important histories of the colonial period regarding the relations between Britain and the Fanti and Ashanti, respectively. Both of these works contain excellent discussions of Fanti and Ashanti political institutions and customary law, as does another work by Sarbah (1904, no. 18) on the Fanti and Busia (1951, no. 6) on the Ashanti. Studies of different Akan communities are found in Fortes (1950, no. 5) on the Ashanti, Warren (1975, no. 54) on the Techiman-Bono, and Danquah (1928, no. 19) on the Akeym. Steel provides a historical demography of the Ashanti in the first half of the 20th century (1948, no. 9). Specific accounts of historical events are found in Allman (1990, no. 57) on the failed Ashanti National Liberation Movement and Austin (1996, no. 38) on the 1883 overthrow of the Ashanti king Mensa Bonsu. Political studies include Wilks's examination of the extent of the Greater Asante territory in the 18th and 19th centuries (Wilks 1992, no. 40) and McCaskie (1983, no. 30) discussion of the meaning of wealth and accumulation in Ashanti culture. Arhin (1983, no. 35) discusses whether or not precolonial Ashanti society was a peasant society. McLeod (1981, no. 39) discusses Ashanti material culture. Rattray also wrote on Ashanti proverbs (Rattray 1916, no. 14) and Akan folktales. Other studies in oral culture are Yankah's study of Akan proverbs (Yankah 1989, no. 55), Arhin's study of Ashanti praise poems (Arhin 1986, no. 34), Mensa-Bonsu's study of Ashanti oaths (Mensa-Bonsu 1989, no. 33), and Nketia's study of Akan funeral dirges (Nketia 1955, no. 53). Discussions of Akan religion include studies of witchcraft by Debrunner (1961, no. 51) and Field (1940, no. 23), and Field's related study on mental health and spirit possession (1970, no. 27). Johnson (1932, no. 24) and Ross (1979, no. 46) write about Fanti military organization. Other Fanti studies include Ffoulkes early study of Fanti family (Ffoulkes 1908, no. 10) and marriage (Ffoulkes 1909, no. 11), Kronenfeld's study of changes in Fanti kinship terminology (Kronenfeld 1991, no. 36), and Vercruijsse's study of the impact of the market on Fanti domestic organization (Vercruijsse 1972, no. 48). Abu (1983, no. 31) and Okali (1983, no. 37) examine kinship and social change among the Ashanti. Studies that focus on Ashanti women are Clark's work on women traders (Clark 1989, no. 32; 1994, no. 58), Sarpong's study of nubility rites (Sarpong 1977, no. 42), and Arhin's discussion of women's positions in military and political organizations (Arhin 1983, no. 43). Vellenga (1983, no. 44) discusses the history of marriage customs and law in the Gold Coast and Ghana. [IS]

For more detailed information on the content of the individual works in the file, see the abstracts in the citations preceding each document.

The culture summary is compiled from the works of three authors, Michelle Gilbert [MG], Robert O. Lagacé [ROL], and Ian Skoggard [IS]. Michelle Gilbert's complete article, "Akan," can be found in the Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Vol. 9. 1995. John Middleton and Amal Rassam, eds. Boston, Mass.: G. K. Hall & Co. Robert O. Lagacé's complete article, "Twi" is from Sixty Cultures: A Guide To The HRAF Probability Files. 1977. Robert O. Lagacé, ed. New Haven, Conn.: Human Relations Area Files, Inc. Ian Skoggard is entirely responsible for the selection and editing of the above works.

• Aborigine Protection Society--668

• ABUSUA--matrilineal blood-clan--613, 614

• ASAFO--military company--701

• ASANTHENE--King of the Ashanti--643

• chop money--422

• golden stool--royal throne--643, 352

• GYASI--701

• KRA--life soul--774

• linguist--political spokesman--537, 631

• NKWANKWAA--young men--561

• NTAM--oath--782, 641

• NTORO--patrilineal spirit-clan--613, 614

• OHEME OHENE--chief--631

• OHEMMA--queen mother, or wife of chief--890, 643, 631 OMAHENE--chief or king-643, 631

• OMAN--autonomous political community--631

• pawn--426

• stool--principal political office--631 --personality-soul-828

Busia, K. A. The Position of the Chief in the Modern Political System of Asante. London: Oxford University Press, for the International African Institute. 1951

McCaskie, T. C. State and Society in Pre-Colonial Asante. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. 1995

McLeod, M. D. Ashanti. London: British Museum Publications,for the Trustees of the British Museum. 1981

Service, Elman R. Profiles in Ethnology. New York: Harper & Row. 1971

Rattray, R. S. Ashanti. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1923

Rattray, R. S. Religion and Art in Ashanti. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1927

Rattray, R. S. Ashanti Law and Constitution. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1929

Warren, Dennis M. The Akan of Ghana: An Overview of the Ethnographic Literature. Accra: Pointer Limited

Wilks, Ivor. Assante in the Nineteenth Century. London and New York: Cambridge University Press. 1975