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Image:Nana_Prempeh_I.jpg|Prempeh I - King of Asante

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Personal Background

In the 18th and 19th centuries the Ashanti people occupied what is known today as southern Ghana. The [Ashanti Empire] by the 1800s had grown to become a strong centralized state even with encroaching European imperialism. 1807 saw the abolition of slavery by the British, declining trade interactions and territorial disputes which climaxed and led to warfare in the 1820s. The British Force fought and lost to Ashanti in 1824 but later made peace in 1831 and avoided further clashes for the next 30 years. In 1874 The British had declared the Gold Coast which was located south of Asante a colony. In 1888 the Asante enstooled sixteen-year-old Agyemang Prempeh I as king of the Asante, he assumed the stool name [Nana Kwaku Dua III]. Prempeh's kingship was beset by the gravest difficulties from the very onset of his reign. Despite his youth, he showed great diplomatic ability. He tried to restore the vanished glories of his empire and defend its independence against British interference in its internal matters regarding the exile of some rebels and the succession of some towns including Mampong and Kwahu and also against British intentions of bringing Asante under its protectorate. When Prempeh I was asked by the British to accept a protectorate over his state, he rejected it and politely yet firmly stated in his reply that the Governor had misjudged the situation. The old Asante confederation in what is today central Ghana had several clashes with the British forces on the coast, and the legendary wealth of the Asante had been diverted to the south. In addition, competition within the royal family was increasingly fierce. [Asantehemaa Yaa Akyaa], Prempeh I’s mother and queen mother since 1884, had through strategic political marriages built the military power to secure the Golden Stool for her son. Prempeh I was driven by the belief that the Ashanti Empire should remain a sovereign power independent of British control and with the assistance of Asantehemaa Yaa Akyaa and his own advisers, he began an active campaign of national reunification. The British authorities and well-established missionary corps of the Gold Coast viewed the reunification of the Asante with great anxiety. The British offered to take the [Ashanti Empire] under their protection, but Prempeh I refused each request. In one of his famous replies Prempeh stated, "My kingdom of Asante will never commit itself to any such policy of protection; Asante must remain independent as of old, and at the same time be friends with all white men."

Prempeh's Capture and Exile

By 1895 Prempeh had formed an alliance with Samori Ture, a dynamic Muslim warrior who had conquered large neighboring regions, resisting British and French forces and establishing new trade routes. But the success of Prempeh’s reunification efforts and his extraordinary diplomatic talents and charisma, noted by his supporters and detractors alike, ironically set the stage for his eventual exile. On January 20, 1896, British authorities referring to a debt incurred twenty years earlier invaded Kumasi and arrested Prempeh I, his mother Asantehemaa Yaa Akayaa, his father, the heir apparent (Prempeh's younger brother) and several important Asante chiefs. Women, children, and attendants were also taken captive by the British. Black British troops who were perceived as more resilient in the tropics were brought from the British West Indies to join the invading force. Loyal chiefs were prepared to fight yet another war to protect Prempeh I their Asantehene, and the [Golden Stool] however, Prempeh, offered no resistance. He said to his chiefs, "My chiefs, I would ask you to remember in the past days of civil war in Kumase how it was very difficult to restore peace. . . . I would rather surrender to secure the lives and tranquility of my people and countrymen.” Prempeh and the other captives were taken to the coast and detained at Elmina Fort until in 1897 they were moved to Freetown, Sierra Leone. Even at such a distance, Prempeh exerted great influence, a fact that perplexed the British authorities. In 1900 he and the other captives were exiled to the Seychelles and kept at what became known as “Asante Camp”. This place was situated on Mahe, the largest of the islands that are collectively called Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Africa. The camp originally called Le Rocher, used to be a huge plantation owned by a French man called Thorny Adam. The estate was covered with coconut trees, mango, bread fruit and orange trees to mention a few, to the east was the ocean and also a two-storey villa which was built by Le Rocher. Prempeh I was assigned the villa, and 16 new wooden houses with sandy floors and roofed with corrugated iron-sheets were built and allocated to the various Asante chiefs and their dependants. Though detained in a villa and camp, Prempeh made an effort to educate himself in English and to make certain that the children received education, professional training, and employment as well. He nominally converted to Christianity, and he worked to promote the health, welfare, and happiness of all in the camp, making sure that peace and order reigned.

Prempeh's Comeback

By the early 1920s, a number of civil organizations agitated for Prempeh’s return and began pressuring The British. AT this time his mother, father, brother, and all but a few of the chiefs from the original group of captives had died. The British authorities, perceiving less threat in Prempeh's return to Ghana than in resisting international pressure, released Prempeh and fifty-four others captives. When they left the Seychelles on September 12, 1924 and arrived in Kumase on the morning of November 12, thousands of Asante were on hand to greet their king. Prempeh I returned to Kumase as a private citizen, however, the people petitioned the British government to reinstate him as king and in 1926 he was enstooled as king of Kumase state. Once again Prempeh I was the occupant of the Golden Stool, the Asantehene, who by tradition was the king of the Asante nation. Prempeh received every respect due royalty until his death in 1931. He was succeeded by Prempeh II. In retrospection, Prempeh I's diplomatic solution proved to be pragmatic given the military superiority of the British administration and also subsequent encounters with Africans. Under colonial rule, bound by their traditions and the strength of their leaders, they preserved some of their autonomy. The Asante sense of dignity and unity prevailed then and still prevails to this day, as they play a vital role in the political, economic and social life of present-day Ghana.

Foot Notes

Topics in West African History, by A. Adu Boahen, Jacob F. Ade Ajayi, and Michael Tidy. Addison-Wesley, 1987.

African Glory, by J. C. Degraft-Johnson. Black Classic Press, 1986

The Downfall of Prempeh: A diary of life with the native levy in Ashanti 1895-96, by Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell Baden-Powell of Gilwell

An Outline of Asante History, by Osei Kwadwo

The Smithsonian Institute Magazine

State and Society in Pre-colonial Asante, by T.C. McCaskie, 1995

Welcome to Manhyia Archives - http://www.manhyiaarchives.org/index.php

External links

http://www.ashanti.com.au/pb/wp_c168f63a.html
http://www.manhyiaarchives.org/index.php
http://pinetreeweb.com/bp-prempeh-01.htm
http://www.geographia.com/ghana/
Ghana, A Historical Interpretation, by J. D Fage, Uinversity of Wisconsin Press, 1959