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Slavery in Africa existed well before the Europeans first arrived.
Tribes were at a constant state of war and the winners would take the losers as their slaves.
Empires were created or defeated and as a result slavery became a major commercial Enterprise.
But how and when did African slaves start becoming a trade commodity to the European slave traders?
Which African Kingdom provided the most slaves for the transatlantic slave trade?
Who were the Ashanti? Hello I'm Colin Heaton former soldier, Marine Corps
scout sniper, history professor, historian and book author and we will answer these
questions and other issues on this segment of Forgotten History [Music]
The natural resources and wealth of these West African regions was immense which brought European
interest. But it was the never-ending volume of slaves that established what was perhaps the
most lucrative business in early modern history. Slavery was a long-standing tradition in the
Ashanti Empire with slaves typically taken as captives in warfare or on raiding parties.
The Ashanti Empire was the largest slave owning and slave trading state in West Africa during
the Atlantic slave trade. Between the 10th and 12th centuries A.D the ethnic Akan people migrated into
the forest belt of southern Ghana and established several Akan states. These were Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo,
the Assin-Denkyira-Fante Confederacy, Mankessim Kingdom in present-day central region, Akyem-Akwamu-
Akuapem-Kwahu present day eastern region and Greater Accra, and Ahanta-Aowin-Sefwi=Wassa present day western region.
The Ashanti Empire also pronounced "Asante" was an Akan state that
lasted as a unified empire between 1701 and 1901 in what is now modern-day Ghana and was expanded
from the Ashanti region to include most of Ghana as well as parts of the Ivory Coast and Togo.
Prior to that it was a collection of isolated smaller kingdoms that often warred with each
other and also conducted trade with each other as well as with the Muslims to the north and east.
The name Asante means "because of war". The word derives from the two words; "Esa" meaning "war"
and "nti" meaning "because of". This name comes from the Asante's origin as a kingdom created to
fight the neighboring Denkyira Kingdom. Before the Ashanti Kingdom interacted
with the Europeans it had a flourishing trade with other African States due to their wealth.
Trade with European states began after contact with the Portuguese beginning in 1415. The gold
mines in the Sahel region created their immense wealth and made them the regional superpower.
This wealth was what caught the attention of Portuguese expeditionary forces.
The first expeditions were sponsored by Prince Henry of Portugal who founded a center for
seamanship around 1420 and earned himself the title of "The Navigator". This was their first
contact with the sub-Saharan kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, Benin, Songhai and Kongo, well known to the
Muslims who had also derived their slave trade but they were almost unknown to the Europeans.
Mali, an Islamic state whose capital Timbuktu was a major economic and cultural center, controlled the
gold trade. The arrival of the Portuguese brought about a dramatic shift in the flow of African gold.
Now rather than going overland by Caravan to North Africa as in the days of Mansa Musa, gold
could be transported directly to Lisbon and Western Europe, but it was slaves, that was
where the real money was. Arab merchants had sought slaves in West Africa as early as the
8th century and they continued to act as middlemen when the Europeans arrived. Portugal used African
slaves as early as 1497 in the sugarcane fields on the islands it took over off the African Coast.
When the other European nations became aware of the Portuguese success, it became a free-for-all.
All of the European powers eventually established a trading posts along the coast, upwards of 13
million blacks would eventually be shipped from West African ports to work plantations in North
and South America as well as the Caribbean over the next 300 years by France, Holland, Britain,
Spain, and Portugal, the last two nations taking almost 90 percent of all the slaves. Due to the
Ashanti Empire's contacts with the Europeans, their military prowess, wealth, architecture, sophisticated
social and military hierarchy, culture, and continuous interaction with the Europeans
the Ashanti Empire has been extensively studied and has more historic records written by Europeans,
primarily the British, and other authors than any other indigenous culture of sub-Saharan Africa.
The Ashanti Kingdom was quite unique and was built upon a system of meritocracy,
as for example the king was elected by the various tribal chiefs who were themselves elected.
There was no hereditary line of succession. A man was selected based upon competence and
ability yet even a king could be impeached. An impeachment occurred during the reign of Kusi
Obodom the grand nephew of Osei Tutu who had been king of Ashanti in 1701. His removal was
caused by their failed invasion of Dahomey in 1764. He was succeeded by Osei Kwadwo who ruled
until 1774 and he greatly expanded the harvesting of slaves for the European markets by military
conquest and treaties with neighboring tribes who paid tribute with slaves. Therefore constant
warfare and territorial expansion reduced domestic discontent. Victory acquired the kingdom more land
and wealth and the Europeans acquired more slaves. Tribal councils much like a parliament were held
frequently to discuss the issues of the day and the running of the kingdom. The king did not make
treaties, the councils did and the king could object or accept but he did not have the final
word. Should a king enter into a treaty negotiation that had to be debated within the tribal council
as well, and they used a majority voting method to approve or disapprove then the matter was settled.
There were two groups much like the British House of Lords and Commons. In true egalitarian fashion
the queen or "Ohenemaa" was a critical factor within the Ashanti political system. As the most powerful
female she had to be consulted regarding the appointment of a new tribal chief or even a king
say if she should be widowed, and she had the right to make appointments even to those who were to be
elected. The queen settled disputes involving women and was involved in decision making alongside the
Council of Elders and chiefs. Not only did she participate in the judicial and legislative
process, but she was also involved in the making and unmaking of war and the distribution of
land. The Ashanti legal system is also worth noting as it had many parallels to some modern legal
systems, such as in a murder trial intent must be established. If the homicide was accidental the
killer simply paid compensation to the lineage of the deceased. Another law was quite extraordinary
as well such as an insane person could not be executed in the absence of responsible intent
except for murder or cursing the king; in the case of cursing the king drunkenness
was a valid defense. Capital crimes also included murder, incest within the family or male line and
intercourse with a menstruating woman, rape of a married woman and adultery with any of the wives
of a chief or the king. Assaults or insults towards a chief or the court or the king also carried the
possibility of the death penalty. Under the law domestic slaves still had basic rights
as well and could intermarry with free people including their masters. They had the right to be
treated fairly. Treaties were a critical part of their government system and to their credit the
Ashanti tried negotiations before going to war in most cases. If they won they imposed treaties
as ratified by the councils. Therefore the Dutch, Spanish, British, and Portuguese were the first
to make treaties with the Ashanti to acquire gold, Ivory, slaves ,and agricultural products.
The growing European empires needed workers and the West African slaves were the best able
to handle the climate of South America and the Caribbean which was very similar to their own. The
Royal African Company was created by businessmen in London in concert with James Stewart the Duke
of York as the largest shareholder and his brother King Charles II and also Edward Colston who was a
member of parliament created in 1660. This company's sole purpose was for the trade in gold and later
slaves. Their ships sailed from Bristol, Liverpool and London to collect slaves. In the 1680s this was
comprised of merchants and bankers who jumped on board with their Investments who also transported
about 5,000 enslaved people a year to markets, primarily in the Caribbean across the Atlantic.
Many of these British slaves were branded with the letters DOY for its Governor, the Duke of York
who succeeded his brother on the throne in 1685 becoming King James II. Other slaves were branded
with the company's initials or AC on their chests. Historian William Pettigrew has stated that this
company quote; "shipped more enslaved African women men and children to the Americas than any other
single institution during the entire period of the transatlantic slave trade," end quote. After becoming
insolvent in 1708 the company survived until 1752 when its assets were transferred to the new Africa
Company of Merchants. Part of this operation included the Company of Royal Adventurers.
Starting in the late 17th century during the time that the British started their active
slave trade the Ashanti king Osei Kofi Tutu I and his advisor, Okomfo Anokye established
the Ashanti Kingdom with their symbol being the golden stool. They were ruthless in their conquest
of neighboring tribes and began a lucrative slave trade with the Europeans in conjunction with their
traditional trading partners the Muslims. Osei Tutu oversaw the exponential expansion creating
the empire, building up his army by introducing new organizational methods, table of ranks, command
and control and creating Africa's most effective indigenous military fighting force up to that time.
He needed them to harvest slaves. Between 1672 and 1731 the Royal African Company benefited
from this dynamic and they alone transported 187, 697 enslaved people on company-owned ships in 653
voyages to English colonies in the Americas. Of those transported 38,497 enslaved people died en
route. The total for the century of this company's existence in all of its incarnations meant that
between 400,000 and 500,000 African slaves were taken by this group
to the Caribbean and North America out of the 13 million known to have been transported by all the
European nations. The Europeans greatly benefited from their arrangements with
the Ashanti as they did not have to risk their men and supplies going inland to gather slaves.
The treaties with the Ashanti ensured a steady stream of free labor at little cost and danger.
A slave purchased locally could be sold for upwards of one thousand times profit in the
new world making the business a very lucrative endeavor. McCarthy the former British military
governor in West Africa primarily Senegal and Sierra Leone was an Irishman and was on
the Abolitionist anti-slavery rage trying to stop the harvesting of slaves which prompted
a massive Ashanti Revolt sparking that war. After his death in 1824 the Ashanti kept McCarthy's head
as a gold-rimmed drinking cup. The British while instituting their enforcement of the abolition of
the West African slave trade made treaties with the coastal peoples such as the Fante and the Ga
who were the targets of Ashanti slavers, and they came to rely upon British protection. From 1806
until 1896 the Ashanti state was in a perpetual state of war involving expansion or defense of
its domain. With the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade seriously crippling their economy and
their treaties with British and other European slave trading companies in distress, the Ashanti
needed other sources of income. The Ashanti then decided to attack the British colonies in West
Africa to make up for the losses and acquire new territory and hopefully still sell slaves to the
Spanish and Portuguese who still applied that trade despite the U.S and British embargoes. The
Ashanti waged bloody wars; as a result of their impressive performance against the British, in
retaliation the British forces later burnt and sacked the Ashanti capital of Kumasi, freed their
slaves, and after the final Ashanti defeat at the Fifth aAnglo-Ashanti War the Ashanti Empire became
part of the Gold Coast Colony on 1 January 1902. It gained independence in 1957 as the nation of
Ghana. The Ashanti Kingdom had built this immense wealth from many sources but by being the largest
suppliers of slaves to the European colonial empires they also created destruction and a
cultural and ethnic diaspora spanning much of West Africa which is still being felt today.
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