Akan people

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Akans
Akanfo
24 Akan people.jpg

1st row: Vesey, Ansah Sessarakoo, Asantewaa, Cugoano, Prempeh I, Casely-Hayford
2nd row: Wharton, Capitein, Ofosu-Appiah, Aggrey, Padmore, McKay
3rd row: Joe Casely-Hayford, Boateng, Agyeman, Elba, Annan, Bamford-Addo
4th row: Awuah, Jr, Kuffour, Kingston, Takyi-Mensah, Mensah-Bonsu, Essien
Total population
c. 25 million (est.)[N 1][1]
Regions with significant populations
 Ghana 13.5 Million
 Ivory Coast 9 Million
Elsewhere 2.5 Million
Languages

Akan • Akan languages
Religion

Gye nyame.png Akan religion • Irreligion • Christianity
Related ethnic groups

Kwa-speaking groups in West Africa
Footnotes
  1. ^ CIA World Factbook population total suggests 20 million. Sources vary widely about the population.[citation needed]

The Akan people are an ethnic group of West Africa predominantly in Ghana, and the Ivory Coast. Ethnic Akans are the largest group in both countries and have a population of roughly 25 million people.[1]

The Akan language (also known as Twi-Fante) is a group of dialects within the Kwa group of languages.[2] and is in the Atlantic–Congo group within the Niger-Congo phylum. Also included under the term "Akan" are the Bia languages (in which case it is common to speak of "Akan languages", as a group of languages).

Subgroups of the Akan proper include: Asante, Akuapem and Akyem (the Asante, Akuapem and Akyem dialects are together known as Twi), Agona, Kwahu, Wassa, Fante (Fanti or Mfantse: Anomabo, Abura, Gomua) and Brong. Subgroups of the Bia-speaking groups include: the Anyin, Baoulé, Chakosi (Anufo), Sefwi (Sehwi), Nzema, Ahanta and Jwira-Pepesa.

Contents

Origin and ethnogenesis [edit]

17th Century Akan Terracotta – Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Akan people are believed to have migrated to their current location from Canaan and Nubia then eastern Sahara Desert and central Sahel into the forested region in West Africa between the 10th and 12th centuries. Many Akans tell their history as it started in the forested region of West Africa as this is where the ethnogenesis of the Akan as we know them today happened.[3][4][5]

The kingdom of Bonoman was established as early as the 11th century as a trading state between the Akan and their neighbors, especially those from Djenné, Timbuktu, Bornu among others.[6]

Between the 12th and 13th centuries a gold boom in the Akan area brought wealth to numerous Akan peoples.[7]

During different phases of the Kingdom of Bonoman groups of Akans migrated out of the area to create numerous states based predominantly on gold mining and trading of cash crops.[8][9] This brought wealth to numerous Akan states like Akwamu which stretched all the way to modern Benin,[10] and ultimately led to the rise of the most well known Akan empire, the Empire of Ashanti.[11]

History [edit]

Further information: Bonoman, Denkyira, Ashanti Empire, and Gold Coast (region)
Akan Empire of Ashanti army engaged in Warfare and Military Combat with the British forces under the command of Coll. Sutherland, July 11th 1824[12]

From the 15th century to the 19th century the Akan people dominated gold mining and trading in the region and, from the 17th century on, they were among the most powerful groups in west Africa.[13][14]

Akan Jungle Warfare,
The Third Anglo-Empire of Ashanti War.
 The Graphic 1874[12]

This wealth in gold attracted European traders. Initially the Europeans were Portuguese but, eventually the Dutch and British joined in the quest for Akan gold. Groups such as the Benin Empire in modern day Nigeria and states in Central Africa would serve as intermediaries who waged wars on neighboring states in their geographic area to capture people and sell them as slaves to Europeans (Portuguese) who subsequently sold the enslaved people along with guns to Akans states in exchange for Akan gold.[15] Akan gold was also used to purchase slaves from further up north via the Trans-Saharan route. The Akan purchased slaves in order to help clear the dense forests within Akanland.[15] About a third of the population of many Akan states were enslaved people. The Akans went from buyers of slaves to selling slaves as the dynamics in Akanland and the New World changed. Thus, the Akan people played a considerable role in supplying Europeans with slaves for the trans-Atlantic slave trade,[16] the Akan later issued an apology to the descendents of slaves for the role some of its people may have played in the slave trade.[17]

Akan people, especially the Ashanti, fought against European colonists to maintain autonomy including many Anglo-Ashanti wars: the war of the Golden Stool, and other similar battles.[13][14][18]

By the early 1900s all of Akanland was a colony or protectorate of the British while the Akan lands in the Ivory Coast was under the French. On 6 March 1957, following the decolonization from the British under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah, Akanland (today Southern Ghana) was joined to British Togoland, and the Northern region, Upper East region and Upper West region of the Gold Coast to form Ghana.[19] Ivory Coast gained independence on 7 August 1960.

Akan subgroups and ethnic identity [edit]

Map of ethnic groups in Ivory Coast: the territories inhabited by Kwa-speaking groups (Akan) are shown in green.

The Akan people comprise the following subgroups: Abbe, Abidji, Aboure, Adjukru, Ahafo, Ahanta, Akuapem, Akwamu, Akye, Akyem, Alladian, Anyi, Aowin, Ashanti, Assin, Attie, Avatime, Avikam, Baoule, Brong, Chokosi, Coromantee, Denkyira, Ebrie, Ehotile, Evalue, Fante, Kwahu, M'Bato, Ndyuka, Nzema, Sefwi, and Wassa.[1][20]

The identity of an Akan nation or ethnicity is expressed by the term Akanman. The Akan word ɔman (plural aman), which forms the second element in this expression, has a meaning much of "community, town; nation, state". It has been translated as "Akanland".[21]

Culture [edit]

Akan Kente cloth

Akan culture is one of the traditional matrilineal cultures of Africa.[22] Akan art is wide-ranging and renowned, especially for the tradition of crafting bronze goldweights, using the lost-wax casting method. The Akan culture reached South America, Caribbean, and North America.[23]

Some of their most important mythological stories are called anansesem, literally meaning "the spider story", but in a figurative sense also meaning "traveler's tales". These "spider stories" are sometimes also referred to as nyankomsem: "words of a sky god". The stories generally, but not always, revolve around Kwaku Ananse, a trickster spirit, often depicted as a spider, human, or a combination thereof.[24]

Elements of Akan culture also include, but are not limited to:[25][26][27][28][29]

Concepts of Akan philosophy and inheritance [edit]

  • Abusua (mogya) – What an Akan inherits from his mother
  • Ntoro – What an Akan gets from his father, but one does not belong to a Ntoro; instead one belong to one's Abusua
  • Sunsum – What an Akan develops from interaction with the world
  • Kra – What an Akan gets from Onyame (God)[30]

Matrilineality [edit]

Many but not all of the Akan still[31] practice their traditional matrilineal customs, living in their traditional extended family households. The traditional Akan rural economic and political organization is based on matrilineal lineages, which are the basis of inheritance and succession. A lineage is defined as all those related by matrilineal descent from a particular ancestress. Several lineages are grouped into a political unit headed by a chief and a council of elders, each of whom is the elected head of a lineage – which itself may include multiple extended-family households.

Public offices are thus vested in the lineage, as are land tenure and other lineage property. In other words, lineage property is inherited only by matrilineal kin.[31][32] Each lineage controls the lineage land farmed by its members, functions together in the veneration of its ancestors, supervises marriages of its members, and settles internal disputes among its members.[33]

The political units above are likewise grouped into eight larger groups called abusua, similar to clans in other societies: Aduana, Agona, Asakyiri, Asenie, Asona, Bretuo, Ekuona and Oyoko. The members of each such abusua are united by their belief that they are all descended from the same ancient ancestress – so marriage between members of the same group (or abusua) is forbidden, a taboo on marriage. One inherits, or is a lifelong member of, the lineage, the political unit and the abusua of one's mother, regardless of one's gender or marriage. Members and their spouses thus belong to different abusuas, with mother and children living and working in one household, but their husband/father living and working in a different household.[31][32]

According to one source[34] of information about the Akan, "A man is strongly related to his mother's brother (wɔfa) but only weakly related to his father's brother. This must be viewed in the context of a polygamous society in which the mother/child bond is likely to be much stronger than the father/child bond. As a result, in inheritance, a man's nephew (his sister's son) (wɔfase) will have priority over his own son. Uncle-nephew relationships therefore assume a dominant position."[34]

"The principles governing inheritance stress sex, generation and age – that is to say, men come before women and seniors before juniors."... When a woman’s brothers are available, a consideration of generational seniority stipulates that the line of brothers be exhausted before the right to inherit lineage property passes down to the next senior genealogical generation of sisters' sons. Finally, "it is when all possible male heirs have been exhausted that the females" may inherit.[34]

Certain other aspects of the Akan culture are determined patrilineally rather than matrilineally. There are 12 patrilineal Ntoro (spirit) groups, and everyone belongs to his or her father's Ntoro group, but not to his family lineage and abusua. Each Ntoro group has its own surnames,[35] taboos, ritual purifications and forms of etiquette.[32] A person thus inherits one's Ntoro from one's father, but does not belong to his family.

A recent (2001) book[31] provides an update on the Akan, stating that some families are changing from the above abusua structure to the nuclear family.[36] Housing, childcare, education, daily work, and elder care etc. are then handled by that individual family, rather than by the abusua or clan, especially in the city.[37] The above taboo on marriage within one's abusua is sometimes ignored, but "clan membership" is still important,[36] with many people still living in the abusua framework presented above.[31]

Akan influence [edit]

Elements of Akan culture can generally be seen in many geographic areas. Specific elements of Akan culture are especially seen in neighboring West African peoples and some Central African populations. Akan culture has also been historically important in the New World, where Akan names are or were common,[38] for example among the Coromantins of Jamaica, and the descendants of the Akwamu in St. John.

Notable Akans [edit]

Among the most notable Akan people are Kwame Nkrumah who started the pan-African movement which liberated many states from European Colonialism. Kofi Annan (born April 8, 1938) is the first Sub-Saharan African to head the UN organization and was awarded the Nobel Prize. Others of Akan origin include Arthur Wharton was the first black professional footballer in the world;[39] Paul Cuffee, who was of Ashanti origin, built a lucrative shipping empire and by the first years of the nineteenth century was one of the wealthiest men in the United States.[40] His largest ship, the 268-ton Alpha, was built in 1806, along with his favorite ship of all, the 109-ton brig Traveller.

See also [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Akan
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Akan

Endnotes [edit]

  1. ^ a b c ""Cote d'Ivoire", CIA - The World Factbook". Cia.gov.  "Akan 42.1%" of a population of 22.0 million. ""Ghana", CIA - The World Factbook". Cia.gov. Retrieved 2012-08-24.  "Akan 45.3%" of a population of 24.6 million
  2. ^ Languages of the Akan area: papers in Western Kwa linguistics and on the linguistic geography of the area of ancient. Isaac K. Chinebuah, H. Max J. Trutenau, Linguistic Circle of Accra, Basler Afrika Bibliographien, 1976 - pp. 168
  3. ^ "Atlas of the Human Journey". The Genographic Project. Retrieved 2011-01-01. 
  4. ^ The Akan diaspora in the Americas Oxford University Press, 2010 - Social Science
  5. ^ Ghana: The Bradt Travel Guide, Bradt Travel Guides, 2007 - 416 pages
  6. ^ The Techiman-Bono of Ghana:an ethnography of an Akan society Kendall/Hunt Pub. Co., 1975
  7. ^ Title: Africa a Voyage of Discovery with Basil Davidson, Language: English Type: Documentary Year: 1984 Length: 114 min.
  8. ^ Africa from the 12th to the 16th century Joseph Ki-Zerbo, Djibril Tamsir Niane, James Currey, 1997, 294 pp.
  9. ^ Indigenous medicine and knowledge in African society. Psychology Press, 2007 - Health & Fitness.
  10. ^ "Akwamu - Encyclopedia Article and More from". Merriam-Webster. 2010-08-13. Retrieved 2011-11-13. 
  11. ^ Africa: a Voyage of Discovery with Basil Davidson, Documentary, 1984, 114 minutes.
  12. ^ a b Anglo-Ashanti wars
  13. ^ a b "Africa Gallery". Penn Museum. Retrieved 2011-11-13. 
  14. ^ a b The African heritage, Volume 3 Zimbabwe Pub. House, 1999 - History - 180 pages
  15. ^ a b "History of the Ashanti People", Modern Ghana.
  16. ^ Henry Louis Gates Jr. "Ending the Slavery Blame-Game". Archived from the original on 23 April 2010. Retrieved 2012-03-26. 
  17. ^ http://www.modernghana.com/news/102692/1/ghana-apologizes-to-slaves-descendants.html
  18. ^ Non-western theories of development: regional norms versus global trends, Harcourt Brace College Pub., 1999, 179 pp.
  19. ^ "United Nations member States - General Information". Un.org. Retrieved 2011-11-13. 
  20. ^ "Online Twi Dictionary - The Akan People". twi.bb. Retrieved 2011-11-13. 
  21. ^ Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana, Volumes 7–9, p. 28
  22. ^ Ghana: The Bradt Travel Guide, Philip Briggs, Katherine Rushton Bradt Travel Guides, 2007, 416 pp.
  23. ^ "Man Ray, African art, and the modernist lens", Wendy Grossman, Martha Ann Bari, Letty Bonnell, International Arts & Artists, 2009 - Photography, 183 pp.
  24. ^ A Treasury of African Folklore: the oral literature, traditions, myths, legends, epics, tales, recollections, wisdom, sayings, and humor of Africa, Crown Publishers, 1975, 617 pp.
  25. ^ Facets of Ghanaian culture African Studies, Jerry Bedu-Addo, 1989. 68 pp.
  26. ^ Akan Weights and the Gold Trade, Longman, 1980. 393 pp.
  27. ^ Sankofa: African thought and education, P. Lang, 1995, 236 pp.
  28. ^ Simultaneity in signed languages: form and function, John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2007, 355 pp.
  29. ^ The Rough Guide to West Africa, Penguin, 2008, 1360 pp.
  30. ^ L'homme, Volume 7 École pratique des hautes études (France). Section des sciences économiques et sociales École pratique des hautes études, Section des sciences économiques et sociales, 1967
  31. ^ a b c d e de Witte, Marleen (2001). Long Live the Dead!: changing funeral celebrations in Asante, Ghana. Published by Het Spinhuis. ISBN 90-5260-003-1.
  32. ^ a b c Busia, Kofi Abrefa (1970). Encyclopædia Britannica, 1970. William Benton, publisher, The University of Chicago. ISBN 0-85229-135-3, Vol. 1, p. 477. (This Akan article was written by Kofi Abrefa Busia, formerly professor of Sociology and Culture of Africa at the University of Leiden, Netherlands.)
  33. ^ Owusu-Ansah, David (Nov1994). http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field%28DOCID+gh0048%29, "Ghana: The Akan Group". This source, "Ghana", is one of the Country Studies available from the US Library of Congress. Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/61M7J7JwT on 31Aug11.
  34. ^ a b c ashanti.com.au (before 2010). http://ashanti.com.au/pb/wp_8078438f.html, "Ashanti Home Page". Archived at WebCite http://www.webcitation.org/5xVwnX0ie on 28Mar11.
  35. ^ de Witte (2001), p. 55 shows such surnames in a family tree, which provides a useful example of names.
  36. ^ a b de Witte (2001), p. 53.
  37. ^ de Witte (2001), p. 73.
  38. ^ "Kwasi Konadu, "The Akan Diaspora in the Americas" (Oxford UP, 2010)". Newbooksinafroamstudies.com. 2011-06-09. Retrieved 2011-11-13. 
  39. ^ The Cultural bond: sport, empire, society By J. A. Mangan
  40. ^ Hornsby, Alton (2011). Black America: A State-by-State Historical Encyclopedia. p. 391. ISBN 978-0313341120. 

References [edit]

  • Antubam, Kofi, Ghana's Heritage of Culture, Leipzig, 1963.
  • Kyerematen, A. A. Y., Panoply of Ghana, London, 1964.
  • Meyerowitz, Eva L. R., Akan Traditions of Origin, London, c. 1950.
  • Meyerowitz, Eva L. R., At the Court of an African King, London 1962
  • Obeng, Ernest E., Ancient Ashanti Chieftaincy, Tema (Ghana), 1986.
  • Bartle, Philip F. W. (January 1978), "Forty Days; The AkanCalendar". Africa: Journal of the International African Institute (Edinburgh University Press), 48 (1): 80–84.
  • For the Akan, the first-born twin is considered the younger, as the elder stays behind to help the younger out.
  • "Kente Cloth." African Journey. webmaster@projectexploration.org. 25 September 2007.
  • Effah-Gyamfi, Kwaku (1979), Traditional History of the Bono State, Legon: Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana.
  • Effah-Gyamfi, Kwaku (1985), Bono Manso: an archaeological investigation into early Akan urbanism (African occasional papers, no. 2) Calgary: Dept. of Archaeology, University of Calgary Press. ISBN 0-919813-27-5
  • Meyerowitz, E. L. R. (1949), "Bono-Mansu, the earliest centre of civilisation in the Gold Coast", Proceedings of the III International West African Conference, 118–20.

External links [edit]

Akan states of Gold Coast
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