Near the end of the nineteenth century, the British exiled
King Prempeh from the hinterlands of the Gold Coast (present day Ghana), in an attempt to
assume power. By 1900, still not gaining dominance, the British sent a governor to
the city of Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti, to demand the Golden Stool, described as
"the Ark of the Covenant of the Ashanti people." The Golden Stool was the
supreme symbol of the sovereignty and independence of the Ashantis--an aggressive and
warlike people who inhabit the dense rain forests of what is now the central portion of
Ghana, West Africa.
Yaa Asantewa (1850-1921) was present at the meeting with the British governor, Lord
Hodgson, and the Ashanti leaders. When the Ashanti kings made no reply to Hodgson's
demands she chastised them and vilified them for their cowardice. Her speech found
an African audience and stirred up the men when she said, "If you men of Ashanti will
not go forward, then we will. We the women will. I will call upon my fellow
women. We will fight the white men until the last of us falls on the
battlefields."
The Ashantis, led by Yaa Asantewa, fought bravely and gallantly. The British sent
1400 soldiers with guns to Kumasi, eventually capturing Yaa Asantewa and other leaders and
sent them into exile. The war with the British started in 1805 and ended a century
later. Yaa Asantewa's War was the last major war led by an African woman.
Yaa Asantewa's name and bravery will always be remembered. According to Dr. John
Henrik Clarke, "Because her agitation for the return of Prempeh was converted into
stirring demands for independence, it is safe to say that she helped to create part of the
theoretical basis for the political emergence of modern Africa."
SOURCES:
African Warrior Queens, by John Henrik Clarke
Ghana: A History for Primary Schools, by E.A. Addy
