Ashanti–Fante War

The Ashanti–Fante War (1806–1807) was fought between the Ashanti Confederacy and the Fante Confederacy of present-day Ghana.

The Ashanti Confederacy was a major African kingdom on the Gold Coast. Rivalry between the Ashanti and Fante was long held but grew much more serious in the beginning of 19th century. The British were usually allies of the Fante, and the Dutch of the Ashanti.

The war began when the Asantehene of the Ashanti charged some people with robbing graves. The Fante promptly gave refuge to the accused, who were people from Assin, and Osei Bonsu thus sent an army against the Fante. At Abora, four miles from Cape Coast, a battle was fought, in which the Ashanti were able to capture their own people charged for robbing the grave - this was their victory. However, the Fante were but a handful compared to the Mighty Ashanti army and still managed to see off the thousand men sent awaiting for a thousand more to come. A British agent representing the African Company of Merchants at Cape Coast sheltered the accused grave robbers, whilst the Ashanti went on to attack the fort at Kormantine (Fort Amsterdam) of their old allies the Dutch. The British then tried to make friends with the Ashanti, and Colonel Torrane, who was in charge at Cape Coast, most treacherously handed an old and blind Assin king called Kwadwo Otibu to the Asantehene, although he knew the old man would be killed; which he was.

See also

• Ashanti Empire
• Ga-Fante War

References

• Adu Boahen: Politics in Ghana, 1800 - 1874. In: History of West Africa, London 1974, ISBN 0-582-64552-2.