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Ahyiamu-‘A Place of Meeting’: an Essay on Process and Event in the History of the Asante State

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

T. C. McCaskie
T. C. McCaskie
Affiliation:
Centre of West African Studies, University of Birmingham
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Extract

The present paper is one in a series of essays on the political economy of the West African forest kingdom of Asante (Ashanti), now located in the Republic of Ghana. In general terms it surveys and explores aspects of the crucial issue of control over subjects and land within the Asante social formation. At the broadest level, it seeks to offer a description of fluctuations in the ability of central government in Kumase to mediate and to preside over the distribution of these resources between the foundation of the state in the early eighteenth century and the present day. It is argued that until approximately the middle of the nineteenth century the history of Asante is the history of the embedding, expansion and triumph of central government control. Thereafter, for a number of reasons that are discussed, matters changed. In terms of these changes the crucial decade was the 1880s, and the paper demonstrates how, in the closing stages and the immediate aftermath of the civil war (1883–8), a revolutionary reversal was effected in the general developmental thrust of Asante history. That is, at a meeting in Kumase in 1888, and at an oath-taking ceremony at Ahyiamu in the following year, the historic control of central government over subjects and land was challenged and substantially liquidated. That the implications of this revolutionary change were distorted in a number of ways was due to the imposition of British colonial rule at the close of the nineteenth century. The remainder of the paper attempts briefly to demonstrate how, in the twentieth century, and in the context of changing socio-political conditions, the battle over resources between central government in Kumase and its opponents remains a live and complex issue.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 25 , Issue 2 , April 1984 , pp. 169 - 188
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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References

1 Manhyia Record Office, Kumase (henceforth MRO), Civil Record book 3, 24 Oct. 1927 to 22 June 1928, in re Kwadwo Nketia vs. Kwabena Dumfe; evidence of Boankra odekuro Kwabena Gyima, 14 June 1928. The present paper is dedicated, with great gratitude, to two men who have recently died. Akyempemhene cheneba Boakye Dankwa (1895–1982) and Meyer Fortes (1906–83) in very different ways profoundly influenced my views of Asante culture.

2 McCaskie, T. C., ‘Office, land and subjects in the history of the Manwere fekuo of Kumase: an essay in the political economy of the Asante state’, Journal of African History, XXI, ii (1980), 189–208CrossRefGoogle Scholar; ‘State and society, marriage and adultery: some considerations towards a social history of pre-colonial Asante’, Journal of African History, XXII, iv (1981), 477–494Google Scholar: ‘Accumulation, wealth and belief in Asante history: I, to the close of the nineteenth century’, Africa, LIII, i (1983), 23–43Google Scholar; ‘R. S. Rattray and the construction of Asante history: an appraisal’, History in Africa, X (1983), 187–206.Google Scholar The following recent contributions are important in the present context: Wilks, I., ‘The golden stool and the elephant tail: an essay on wealth in Asante’, in Dalton, G., ed., Research in Economic Anthropology, II (1979), 1–36Google Scholar; Arhin, K., ‘Rank and class among the Asante and Fante in the nineteenth century’, Africa, LIII, i (1983), 1–22.Google Scholar

3 Lonsdale, J., ‘States and social processes in Africa: a historiographical survey’, African Studies Review, XXIV, ii-iii (1981), especially 180.Google Scholar

4 On the role of the British see Ward, W. E. F., ‘Britain and Ashanti, 1874–1896’, Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana (henceforth THSG), XV, ii (1974), 131–164Google Scholar; Agbodeka, F., African Politics and British Policy in the Gold Coast 1868–1900 (London and Evanston, 1971)Google Scholar; Lewin, T., ‘The structure of political conflict in Asante, 1875–1900’, Ph.D. thesis, Northwestern (1974)Google Scholar; ibid., Asante before the British: the Prempean Years, 1875–1900 (Kansas, 1978)Google Scholar; Aidoo, A. A., ‘Political crisis and social change in the Asante kingdom 1867–1901’, Ph.D. thesis, UCLA (1975).Google Scholar

5 The following should be added to the references in footnote 2 above. Wilks, I., Asante in the Nineteenth Century: the Structure and Evolution of a Political Order (Cambridge, 1975)Google Scholar; ibid., ‘Land, labour, capital and the forest kingdom of Asante: a model of early change’, in Friedman, J. and Rowlands, M., eds., The Evolution of Social Systems (London, 1978), 487–534Google Scholar; Arhin, K., ‘Peasants in nineteenth century Asante’, Current Anthropology, XXIV, iv (1983), with a comment by McCaskie, , 471–480CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Klein, A. N., ‘The two Asantes: competing interpretations of slavery in Akan-Asante culture and society’, in Lovejoy, P. E., ed., The Ideology of Slavery in Africa (Beverly Hills and London, 1981), 149–168.Google Scholar For the classic statements of the confederal position see Rattray, R. S., Ashanti Law and Constitution (Oxford, 1929)Google Scholar and Fortes, M., Kinship and the Social Order: thelegacy of Lewis Henry Morgan (London, 1969).Google Scholar

6 MSS of R. S. Rattray, Royal Anthropological Institute, London; MSS of M. Fortes, African Studies Centre, Cambridge University. I am most grateful to the late M. Fortes for affording me access to manuscripts not on public deposit. I should also like to thank I. Wilks and T. Lewin for allowing me to consult their oral data. Copies of my own fieldnotes may be consulted at the Centre of West African Studies, University of Birmingham.

7 For accounts of Kumase-aman relations see McCaskie, T. C., ‘The paramountcy of the Asantehene Kwaku Dua Panin (1834–67): a study in Asante political culture’, Ph.D. thesis, Cambridge (1974)Google Scholar and Wilks, , Asante.Google Scholar Unique material is to be found in MRO (Kumase), ‘The history of Asante’, a manuscript prepared by a committee of traditional authorities under the chairmanship of Asantehene Osei Agyeman Prempe II, n.d. but in the 1940s (cited henceforth as Prempe II, Asante). Kumase-Dwaben relations are dealt with in the letters of Freeman, Brooking, Chapman and Wharton in Methodist Mission Archives, London (henceforth MM A). Discussion of the 18305 rebellion is to be found in Riis, A., ‘The journey of Riis to Kumasi, 1839–40’, Magazin fürdie neueste Geschichte der Evangelischen Missions- und Bibel-Gesellschaften, III (1840), 92 ff. and 216–235.Google Scholar

8 On Bron-Ahafo see Dunn, J. and Robertson, A. F., Dependence and Opportunity: Political Change in Ahafo (Cambridge, 1973)Google Scholar and Arhin, K., ed., Brong Kyempim: Essays on the Society, History and Politics of the Brong People (Legon, 1979).Google Scholar An important note is Wilks, I., ‘A letter from J. Ebelt to Asantehene Nana Agyeman Prempe’, Asantesɛm, v (1976), 29–30.Google Scholar Relevant primary material is contained in National Archives of Ghana, Kumase (henceforth NAG), File 0.104, ‘Ahafo lands and Ahafo villages formerly serving Kumasi’. On Adanse see MRO (Kumase), ‘A history of the immigrants from Takyiman’, n.d. For some discussion see McCaskie, ‘Paramountcy’.

9 MRO (Kumase), File 183/35, ‘Dadease native affairs’, 17 April 1950 to 18 August 1954 and ibid., ‘Juaben affairs’, n.d. but pertaining to the 1950s.

10 See MRO (Kumase), letter files on the affairs of Kuntanase, Nkawe Panin, Nyinahin, Antoa, Obo and Odumase and Fortes MSS, ‘Law and constitution’ files. There is also suggestive material in Rhodes House (Oxford), MSS Brit. Emp. s. 344, Harper Papers, and MSS Afr. s. 593, Duncan-Johnstone Papers.

11 The seminal statements are Wilks, I., ‘Aspects of bureaucratization in Ashanti in the nineteenth century’, Journal of African History, VII, ii (1966), 215–232CrossRefGoogle Scholar; ibid., ‘Ashanti government’, in Forde, D. and Kaberry, P., eds., West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century (London, 1967), 206–238Google Scholar; Hagan, G., ‘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’, THSG, XII, i (1971), 43–62.Google Scholar See too Arhin, K., ‘The structure of Greater Ashanti (1700–1824)’, Journal of African History, VIII, i (1967), 65–85CrossRefGoogle Scholar and ibid., ‘The financing of the Ashanti expansion (1700–1820)’, Africa, XXXVII, iii (1967), 283–291.Google Scholar

12 This periodization is evidenced in the stool histories (1–215) collected by the Institute of African Studies (IAS), Legon, in further stool histories collected by the Asante Collective Biography Project (ACBP), and by remarks in Prempe II, Asante. An aspect of this matter is treated in McCaskie, T. C., ‘The affairs of the palace and the affairs of Gyaman (1818–1819)’Google Scholar, forthcoming.

13 Important primary materials are MRO (Kumase), File 166/32/V2, ‘Mampong native affairs’; NAG (Accra), File 231/2, ‘The dispute between Mampong and Jamasi’; ‘The traditional history of Ashanti Mampong’, MS prepared by Agyeman-Duah, J., 1959Google Scholar; Fortes MSS, and especially interviews with ex-Mamponhene Kwaku Dua Mampon; Rattray MSS and his Ashanti Law; interviews with Mampon royals (1965–79) conducted by I. Wilks and T. C. McCaskie. Some of the issues are treated in McCaskie, T. C., ‘The affairs of the oman of Mampon: an essay in the regional history of the Asante state’, Asantesem, XIIGoogle Scholar, forthcoming.

14 Prempe II, Asante; MRO (Kumase), File 18/46, ‘The Tena Family, Mampong’; Ias (Legon), AS/CR 47, ‘A typescript document entitled the Mampong-Tana clan affairs’ (1946).

15 The details are summed up in ACBP/28: Yaadom, Kwaadu, Asantesem, XI (1979), 5–13.Google Scholar

16 Idem and ACBP/54: Adoma Akosua, ibid. 14–17.

17 McCaskie, , ‘Paramountcy’, especially 136–141.Google Scholar An important new source is the diary of G. Chapman, which I am preparing in a critical edition for publication by Crossroads Press.

18 There is a huge amount of primary material on Adonten. Key items are MRO (Kumase), Civil Enquiry on Disputes, 4 April 1935 to 22 Feb. 1939, in re Obaapanin Akua Kwaadu and J. P. K. Appiah vs. E. O. Asafu Adjaye, commenced 9 May 1938; Prempe II, Asante; IAS (Legon), AS/CR 41, ‘Proceedings of the Kumasi traditional council in re Agyeman Badu vs. Kwaku Mensah, commenced 16 November 1964’; NAG (Accra), ADM 11/1338, ‘Report on the enquiry into the tribal organisation of the Adonten Abrempon of Kumasi’, 24 March 1925 (a variant copy of this is filed in the Rattray MSS). Useful histories of some of the relevant stools (Adonten, Antoa, Amakom, Kwamo, Akyawkurom) are to be found in the IASAS series. Adonten in the twentieth century is discussed in Tordoff, W., Ashanti under the Prempehs 1888–1935 (Oxford, 1965), 230 ff.Google Scholar I am grateful to W. Tordoff for allowing me to consult some of the materials on Adonten that he gathered in Kumase in the 1950s.

19 Prempe II, Asante is the best account. But there are numerous references in the items cited in the preceding footnote.

20 For Kwaaten Pete's career see ACBP/52: Pete, Kwaaten, Asantesem, x (1979), 31–36.Google Scholar For background see Wilks, , Asante, 250–251 and 333 ff.Google Scholar For a traditional account, in addition to the materials cited in footnote 18, see ‘Uproar in the Kumase council of chiefs, 1777’, Asantesem, VII (1977), 43–44.Google Scholar

21 There are numerous materials in MRO (Kumase) concerning disputes between Adontenhene John Kwame Frimpon and the office holders of the Adonten fekuo in which these debts are mentioned. For some general insight into the longevity of disputes see Kyerematen, A. A. Y., Inter-state Boundary Litigation in Asante (Cambridge and Leiden, 1971).Google Scholar

22 In addition to materials already cited see in supplement ACBP/28: Kwaadu Yaadom, loc. cit. and Wilks, I., ‘A note on career sheet ACBP/28: Kwaadu Yaadom’, Asantesem, XI (1979), 54–56.Google Scholar These revise the dynastic history published in Wilks, Asante.

23 IASAS/39 and 40: Bantama; Prempe II, Asante has the fullest account of the executions and confiscations; General State Archives, The Hague (henceforth GSA), WIC 115, Erasmi to the Council of Ten, Elmina, 3 August 1760 gives an indication of Adu Gyamera's power; for the abdication of Asantehene Kusi Obodom and discussion of the matter see Public Record Office, London (henceforth PRO), T. 70/31, Mutter to Committee, Cape Coast, 21 January 1765, Fynn, J. K., Asante and Its Neighbours 1700–1807 (London, 1971)Google Scholar and ibid., ‘The reign and times of Kusi Obodom, 1750–64’, THSG, VIII (1965), 24–32Google Scholar; further discussion is to be found in Wilks, , Asante, 332Google Scholar and Kyerematen, A. A. Y., ‘Ashanti royal regalia: their history and functions’, D.Phil, thesis, Oxford (1966).Google Scholar

24 McCaskie, ‘Manwere’.

25 ACBP/52: Pete, Kwaaten, Asantesem, x (1979), 31–36.Google Scholar

26 The incautious reader might adduce a misleading ‘evolutionary’ perspective from Wilks, ‘Bureaucratization’, ‘Ashanti government’ and Asante. I have selected Wilks as the exemplar of this impression, but only because his work is so distinguished. Many others – including myself – have permitted the creation of the same impression. Clearly, a non-central government perspective is needed. K. Arhin has consistently called for this, but thus far has produced only a little work in substantiation of his plea. Some discussion of the issues is to be found in McCaskie, ‘Accumulation’.

27 Much of the new ‘social history’ fails to confront the issue of ‘power’. See Judt, T., ‘A clown in regal purple: social history and the historians’, History Workshop, VII (1979), 66–93CrossRefGoogle Scholar and the ensuing debate in this and other journals.

28 Arhin, K., ‘The pressure of cash and its political consequences in Asante in the colonial period’, Journal of African Studies, III, iv (1976–1977), 453–468 and especially 454–455.Google Scholar See also ibid., ‘State intervention in the Asante economy’, Universitas, III, iii (1974)Google Scholar, pagination misplaced; ibid., ‘Rank’; McCaskie, ‘Accumulation’. My original formulation was in McCaskie, ‘Manwere’.

29 See Dunn, and Robertson, , DependenceGoogle Scholar; Birmingham, W., Neustadt, I. and Omaboe, E. N., A Study of Contemporary Ghana, I, The Economy of Ghana and II, Some Aspects of Social Structure (London, 1966 and 1967)Google Scholar; Kotey, R. A., Okali, C. and Rourke, E. E., eds., The Economics of Cocoa Production and Marketing (Legon, 1974)Google Scholar; Beckman, B., Organising the Farmers: Cocoa Politics and National Development in Ghana (Uppsala, 1976).Google Scholar For some useful statistics see Kay, G. B., ed., The Political Economy of Colonialism in Ghana (Cambridge, 1972).Google Scholar

30 NAG (Accra), ADM 11/1338, ‘Report on…the Adonten Abrempon’, evidence of Kwasi Apea Nuama (‘Chief Nuamah’).

31 McCaskie, , ‘Accumulation’ and ‘Manwere’Google Scholar; Arhin, , ‘Rank’.Google Scholar

32 For the most recent statement see Terray, E., ‘Contribution à une étude de 1'armée asante’, Cahiers d'Études africaines, LXI-II, xvi, 1–2 (1976), 297–356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

33 For Katamanso see Reindorf, C. C., History of the Gold Coast and Asante (Basel, 1895), Appendix C, ‘The Leaders or Influential Men engaged in the Battle of Dodowa or Akantamansu…’, 352–353.Google Scholar On the council of Kumase see, conveniently, Ramseyer, F and Kühne, J., Vier Fahre in Asante (Basel, 1875), 274–275.Google Scholar For discussion see McCaskie, , ‘Paramountcy’, 76–82Google Scholar, Wilks, , Asante, 405–407Google Scholar, and ibid., ‘Asante officialdom: a further note on rank’, Asantesɛm, VII (1977), 19–21.Google Scholar

34 Thus far, very little work has been done on ‘cohort groups’ and ‘political generations’ although the data are available. See Rice, J., ‘Cohort groups in Asante, ca. 1870’, Asantesem, III (1975), 21–23.Google Scholar

35 See ACBP/20: Koko, Owusu, Asantesem, IV (1976), 5–10Google Scholar; for Owusu Koko's armed retainers see MMA (London), West to General Secretaries, Cape Coast, 9 June 1862; for eyewitness accounts of the election of 1867 see Instituut voor Taal-, Land-en Volkenkunde, Leiden, MS H-sog, De Heer, P., Aanhangsel: Journale gehouden te Commassee door eenen tapoeier (1866–1867)Google Scholar and Rottmann, W., ‘Mose der Koransier’, Der Evangelische Heidenbote (1892), 76–78Google Scholar; for discussion see McCaskie, , ‘Paramountcy’, 290–296Google Scholar; and Wilks, , Asante, 361–368Google Scholar; for Owusu Koko's attempt to succeed as Asantehene see Basel Mission Archives, Basel (henceforth BMA), diary of F. Ramseyer, entries for October 1871 (this material does not appear in any of the published versions); for the events of 1883–4 see Prempe, II, Asante, Further Correspondence, C. 4477 (1885)Google Scholar, Young to Derby, Accra, 11 July 1884, BMA (Basel), Ramseyer to Basel, n.p., 23 July 1884, and Lewin, , Asante, 73.Google Scholar Oral tradition recounts that Kofi Kakari was killed by Asamoa Kyekye of the dwebisofoc. I am grateful to Akyempemhene cheneba Boakye Dank wa for discussions concerning Owusu Koko.

36 See MMA (London), Freeman, T. B., ‘Ms. of an unpublished book on Asante and Dahomey’, c. 1860Google Scholar; a version of this was published in The Western Echo, Cape Coast (1886); Mss, Bonnat, cahier 15, ‘Moeurs et coutumes de l'Achanty’, Kumase (19 September 1871), 4–5Google Scholar; Gros, J., Voyages, aventures et captivité de J. Bonnat chez les Achantis (Paris, 1884).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

37 Bonnat, loc. cit. is very good on justice (and includes a unique account of a capital penalty for bestiality). For some discussion see McCaskie, , ‘Adultery’.Google Scholar

38 The Bonnat MSS reproduce a seating plan of the court at Apremoso, and discuss the plea process in detail.

39 Bowdich, T. E., Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee (London, 1819), 296.Google Scholar

40 Ibid. 249.

41 See McCaskie, , ‘Accumulation’Google Scholar and Wilks, , ‘Golden Stool’.Google Scholar

42 McCaskie, , ‘Paramountcy’ and ‘Manwere’.Google Scholar

43 The process is very well illustrated – and I am preparing a paper on the matter – by the career of Domakwaehene/Akyeamehene Kwame Poku Agyeman.

44 See Ramseyer, F. and Kühne, J., Four Years in Ashantee (London and New York, 1875), 124CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Prempe, II, Asante.Google Scholar

45 For a notorious instance on 5 August 1872 see Bonnat MSS, Cahier 12, entries for 3 and 5 August 1872. On that date the following palace servants were promoted – Yaw Bosommuru Tia (to Manwere Mmagyegyefuohene), Kwaku Bosommuru Dwira (to Akomfodehene and Nyameanihene), Mensa Kukuo (to Pampasohene) and Saben (to Atipinhene). For some discussion see Wilks, , ‘Asante Officialdom’.Google Scholar

46 Prempe, II, Asante.Google Scholar

47 McCaskie, ‘Paramountcy’ and ‘Manwere’Google Scholar have the fullest details.

48 The best accounts are Wilks, , AsanteGoogle Scholar and Lewin, , Asante.Google Scholar

49 See McCaskie, , ‘Paramountcy’; Aidoo, , ‘Political crisis’;Google Scholaribid., ‘ The Asante succession crisis, 1883–8 ’, THSG, XIII, ii (1972), 163–180; ibid., ‘Order and conflict in the Asante empire: a study in interest group relations’, African Studies Review, xx, i (1977), 1–36.Google Scholar

50 See Prempe, II, Asante and The Gold Coast Times, Cape Coast (7 September 1883).Google Scholar For discussion see McCaskie, , ‘Paramountcy’, Wilks, Asante and Lewin, Asante.Google Scholar

51 For some account see Wilks, I., ‘Dissidence in Asante politics: two tracts from the late nineteenth century’, in Abu-Lughod, I., ed., African Themes: Northwestern University Studies in Honor of Gwendolen M. Carter (Evanston, 1975), 47–63.Google Scholar

52 Lewin, Asante deals with the political interventions of Sawuahene and Bekwaehene in this period.

53 MMA (London), Terry-Coppin, W., ‘Journal of a visit to Ashanti in 1885’.Google Scholar His remarks are borne out by Freeman, R. A., Travels and Life in Ashanti and Jaman (London, 1898).CrossRefGoogle Scholar Freeman was first in Kumase in December 1888; on his second visit in early 1889 he noted some improvement in the condition of Kumase.

54 Agyeman Prempe's own account is in MRO (Kumase), The history of the Ashanti kings and the whole country itself (commenced 6 August 1907)Google Scholar and in ‘Ms. fragment on the history of Asante’ (7 August 1922)Google Scholar, on deposit in Research Centre for African Affairs Library (ex Padmore Library), Accra. Useful material is to be found in National Archives, Victoria, Mahé, Seychelles, File Series CSS/2.

55 The fullest account of Saaman Akyampon's theft is in Prempe II, Asante. Its implications are discussed in McCaskie, T. C., ‘Accumulation, wealth and belief in Asante history: II, the twentieth century’, Africa, forthcoming.Google Scholar

56 The fullest account is Lewin, Asante.

57 The Gold Coast Echo, Cape Coast (26 July 1888) and Further Correspondence, C. 5615, 1888, Griffith to Knutsford, Christiansborg (20 August 1888).

58 MRO (Kumase), Civil Record Book 4, in re Osei Yaw vs. Yaw Bredwa, commenced 5 July 1928, evidence of Pampasohene Osei Yaw. Osei Yaw conflates several developments here. Asantehene Mensa Bonsu (‘Nana Bonsu’) was destooled but not dead; Kwaku Dua Kuma (‘Nana Agyeman Kofi’) is confused with Agyeman Prempe. But it is clear from the remainder of the case that Osei Yaw is talking about Agyeman Prempe. For general context on this case see McCaskie, ‘Adultery’, especially 492–4 and ACBP/34: Nkyera, Yaw, Asantesɛm, v (1976), 10–13.Google Scholar

59 Prempe II, Asante. Supplementary details are in Lewin, ‘Structure’, vol. II and in my interviews with I. K. Agyeman, W. Boaten and Boakye Dankwa (Kumase, 1975–6 and 1979).

60 Rattray, , Ashanti Law, 135.Google Scholar

61 MRO (Kumase), Osei Yaw vs. Yaw Bredwa, loc. cit., evidence of Atene Akotenhene Yaw Bredwa.

62 Ibid., evidence of Bantamahene Kwame Kyem.

63 Ibid., evidence of Adonten Kyidomhene Yaw Duodu.

64 MRO (Kumase), Kyidom Clan Tribunal, Minute Book I, 11 Jan. 1928 to 28 Aug. 1929, in re Kwasohene Kwadwo Nketia vs. Nyameanihene Kwabena Dumfe (commenced 27 March 1928), evidence of Kwasohene Kwadwo Nketia.

65 Idem.

66 Fortes MSS, court of CCA (Kumase), before Capt. J. R. Dickinson in special session, in re Nyameanihene Kwabena Dumfe vs. Kwasohene Kwadwo Nketia (commenced 31 March 1930), evidence of Boankra odekuro Kwabena Gyima. I am grateful to M. Fortes for the opportunity to read a number of reports by Dickinson; unusually, for a British official, Dickinson seems to have had some real comprehension of monetary issues like aviunnyade (death duties).

67 Prempe II, Asante and McCaskie, interviews with Boakye Dankwa (Kumase, 1975–6).

68 Prempe, II, AsanteGoogle Scholar; McCaskie, , interviews with I. K. Agyeman (Kumase, 1975–6)Google Scholar; Lewin, , ‘Structure’, vol. II, especially 210–211Google Scholar; MRO (Kumase), ‘Village affairs: Asokore’, 1935–9; Rattray MSS, unpublished material on Kumawu.

69 The context of these matters is discussed in the cases cited in footnotes 64 and 66 above. New materials on the arraignment and death of Ata Panin and Ata Kuma are in G. Chapman's diary, entries for 7, II and 14 February 1844 (see footnote 17 above).

70 There are letters concerning Anyinasu in MRO (Kumase), File 101/12, ‘Corres pondence on Kumasi claims to land’ (1931–6). Some account is to be found in Lewin, , ‘Structure’, vol. II, 257–258.Google Scholar See too ACBP/26: Boaten, Kwame, Asantesɛm, VIII (1978), 12–21.Google Scholar I am grateful to W. Boaten for conversations about his family, and to I. Wilks for allowing me to consult his interviews with the descendants of Kwame Boaten.

71 See, representatively, Lewin, , Asante, 138.Google Scholar The matter is not discussed in Wilks, Asante or in Aidoo's work on this period.

72 Prempe, II, AsanteGoogle Scholar and MRO (Kumase), Civil Record Book 3, 24 Oct. 1927 to 22 June 1928, in re Kwadwo Nketia vs. Kwabena Dumfe, evidence of Boankra odekuro Kwabena Gyima.

73 McCaskie, , ‘Accumulation’, especially 26.Google Scholar

74 Still the best summary is Tordoff, , AshantiGoogle Scholar, but his is essentially a politicoadministrative rather than a sociological account.

75 See Fuller, F., A Vanished Dynasty: Ashanti (London, 1921), 216Google Scholar; Harper Papers, loc. cit., ‘Some notes on Coomassie stools and on the Coomassie council” (24 April 1923).Google Scholar

76 Minutes of the First Session of the Ashanti Confederacy Council, Kumase, 6 to 17 June 1935, especially 6.Google Scholar For context see Triulzi, A., ‘The Asantehene-in-council: Ashanti politics under colonial rule 1935–50’, Africa, XLII, ii (1972), 98–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

77 Rattray, R. S. played a notable part in formulating the decentralist view. See McCaskie, ‘Rattray’.Google Scholar

78 McCaskie, T. C., ‘The history of the Manwere Nkoa at Drobonso’, Asantesem, VI (1976), 33–38Google Scholar and ‘Manwere’.

79 MRO (Kumase), in the circuit judge's court, Kumase, 14 February 1935; ‘Peminase concession’, enquiry no. 224.

80 There is no comprehensive account of the NLM. For some discussion see Austin, D., Politics in Ghana, 1946–60 (Oxford, 1970).Google Scholar My own understanding has been greatly enlarged by conversations with Baffuor Akoto, perhaps the most prominent leader of the NLM.

81 As appeared evident from a number of conversations in which I took part in Ghana in 1983.

82 For my understanding of this matter I am grateful to W. Boaten, Boakye Dankwa, I. K. Agyeman and Baffuor Akoto. Interesting details are contained in Brown, J. W., ‘Kumasi 1896–1923: urban Africa during the early colonial period’, Ph.D. thesis, Wisconsin (1972).Google Scholar

83 Wilks, , ‘Dissidence’, McCaskie, , ‘Accumulation’Google Scholar, and the very interesting piece by Arhin, K., ‘Some Asante views of colonial rule: as seen in the controversy relating to death duties’, THSG, XV, i (1974), 63–84.Google Scholar

84 NAG (Kumase), File 113/1908, Kwabena Nketiaetc. to CCA, Kumase, 14 February 1908.

85 Ibid., Kofi Sraha etc. to CCA, Kumase, II October 1930.