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Adanse

Pre-colonial kingdom in modern Ghana From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Adanse or Adansi is one of the earliest Akan states, located in the southern part of present-day Ashanti Region, Ghana. Widely regarded in oral tradition as a spiritual and ancestral homeland of many Akan polities, Adansi was an early center of gold production, regional trade, and clan-based governance. Traditionally considered the eldest among the five principal Akan states (Akan Piesie Anum), it played a foundational role in the formation of later polities such as Denkyira, Akyem, Assin, and the Asante Empire.[3][4][5]

Quick Facts Adansi State, Status ...
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Etymology

The name Adanse derives from the Akan word adanseɛ, meaning “builders”. According to F. K. Buah, the Adansi earned this name because they were the first Akan people to construct permanent homes and shrines, distinguishing them as cultural pioneers in statecraft and architecture.[6] This interpretation is supported by Asante traditions, which remember the Adansi as “those who build houses,” emphasizing their legacy in establishing the architectural styles later adopted by successor states.[7]

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History

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Origins and settlement traditions

Oral traditions describe Adanse as the spiritual and cultural origin of Akan civilization, often calling it the place where “God created the world” and where the art of building (adanseɛ) first began[6]. The town of Adansemanso is remembered as a sacred ancestral settlement by lineages such as Asona and Bretuo[8]. Evidence suggests that Adansemanso was continuously occupied, with initial settlement beginning as early as the 5th century CE according to oral and environmental traditions[9], and from the 9th century CE based on radiocarbon dating and archaeological material including early ironworking and building remnants[10].

Akan gold production and trade networks

Further information: Begho

From the 12th century onward, gold from the forest belt was extracted by Akan communities and traded regionally to Wangara merchants, who transported it north to Sahelian centers such as Bonduku, Wagadugu, and Bouna for further redistribution along trans-Saharan trade routes to Timbuktu, Djenné, and the Maghreb[11]. While the Akan were not directly involved in trans-Saharan trade, their gold production sustained the system through regional exchanges at market towns like Begho, where it was traded for salt, cloth, copper alloys, and enslaved persons[12].

Adansemanso and early urbanism

By the 13th century, Adansemanso had become a large and complex settlement, its ruined mounds extending over one square kilometre—"probably the largest ancient town in the central forest area of Ghana".[13] Excavations uncovered "linear mounds of collapsed house rows" over 100 metres long and multiple superimposed clay house floors, indicating continuous rebuilding and long-term habitation on the same sites. [14]

In oral tradition, it is remembered as one of the “five original great towns of the Akan” and “the center of the universe”.[15] Archaeological surveys confirm that it was already populous in the 9th century and reached its main period of occupation between the 13th and 15th centuries. [15] Iron and gold production played a major role in the town’s economy, with large slag deposits and brass gold weights found on-site, and there is also possible—though inconclusive—evidence of glass production.[13][15]

Outside the town was a large asensie—a cemetery where funerary pots and terracotta figurines were used to commemorate the elite dead.[15] The town appears to have been abandoned in the late 16th or early 17th century, with very few foreign goods such as tobacco pipes present in the archaeological layers. [16] Oral and historical accounts link this decline to the migration of wealthy abirempon families, who moved north and established new centers of power, spreading Adansemanso’s cultural legacy across the central forest zone. [15]

Accany in early European accounts

Further information: Great Akan

By the early 16th century, European sources such as Duarte Pacheco Pereira (1505–1508) referenced interior gold traders identified as the Haccanys (Akani), Cacres (Akrokerri), Andese, and Souzos—groups linked to the forested gold-rich zones of what would later be known as Adansi. These groups were collectively called “Accanists,” and the region they operated from was termed “Accany” or “Arcania” by Europeans. It was praised for supplying exceptionally pure gold, known on the coast as “Akan sica.” [17]

Further records also note a significant level of political organization in the inland territories. In 1517, a report described envoys from the “King of the Akani” arriving at Elmina to report on a conflict with a neighboring group referred to as the Atis, likely a Portuguese rendering of the Etsii. By 1548, officials recorded “civil wars among the Akani,” indicating internal rivalries and a dynamic political landscape. These accounts depict the interior not as a tribal backwater but as a structured world of rulers, messengers, and coordinated military and commercial systems. Terms such as “King of the Akani” and “Kingdom of Arcany” reflect early European acknowledgment of centralized governance among inland Akan polities.[18]

Later sources reinforce these impressions. A 1629 Dutch map labeled the region as “Acanni,” describing its people as “the most principal merchants who trade gold with us”.[19] Dutch envoy Heerman Abramsz, writing in 1679, referred to the “great country of Accanien” inland from Elmina, while Dutch cartographer Muller identified a town called Alance—believed to refer to Adansi—as a significant settlement in the “Kingdom of Arcania”[20]. Scholars such as Boahen, Daaku, and Fage concur that “Accany” referred specifically to the Adansi region, particularly the gold-rich Ofin River basin, which they regard as one of the earliest centers of organized Akan governance. [21]

Political power and economic dominance

At its height, Adansi emerged as the dominant political and economic force in the Ofin–Pra basin. Its domain included gold-rich towns such as Akrokerri, Dompoase, and Fomena, which operated as semi-autonomous centers bound by common cultural and political institutions. The state exercised control over extensive auriferous lands, where all gold mining activities were conducted under royal authority. The Adansehene retained rights over all discovered nuggets and was entitled to one-third of the gold extracted from stool lands.[22]

Early Adansi functioned as a confederation of towns, held together by shared traditions and symbolic instruments of unity. The sacred sword Afenakwa, introduced by Awurade Basa, embodied this cohesion.[23] However, the matrilineal system of inheritance, which passed the sword between various lineages and towns, diluted centralized power. This dynamic shifted when the ruler of Fomena secured permanent possession of the sword, solidifying Fomena’s status as the political capital of Adansi.[23]

The kingdom's prosperity was largely underwritten by gold revenue. During the reign of Awurade Basa, Denkyira remained a tributary state. In 1659, his son Apea Brenya was sent to collect a gold payment from the Denkyirahene worth £96,000—a remarkable sum for the era.[22] This wealth supported a structured administration led by the Sanaahene, who managed the state treasury and ensured financial continuity.[22]

Instability and fragmentation of Accany

By the late sixteenth century, the Adansi-led confederation was experiencing growing instability, fueled by commercial rivalries and political struggles among the constituent Akan states.[24] The death of Awurade Basa, King of Akyase and symbolic creator of the Afenakwa sword, triggered succession disputes and internal conflicts over political dominance.

As competition over trade routes and control of goldfields intensified, external pressure from Denkyira, then based at Nibanso on the Oda River, further weakened Adansi’s cohesion. By the 1640s, attacks by Denkyira and later incursions from the rising Asante Empire destabilized the region, prompting the migration of Asona clans and other Adansi groups eastward into the Akyem hills.[24] This migration culminated in the Adanse–Denkyira War around 1659, which broke Adansi’s power and paved the way for the emergence of new polities beyond the Pra River.

Decline and subjugation to Denkyira

Main article: Denkyira

In or around 1659, Adansi was decisively defeated by Denkyira under the leadership of Boamponsem. This victory was so thorough that contemporary Dutch sources reported that "Adansi had quietly disappeared".[25] Prior to this, Denkyira had been subject to Adansi, and the shift in power marked a key political transformation in the Ofin-Pra basin. Notably, Denkyira's capital of Abankeseso was founded by refugees fleeing Adansi authority.[25]

Migrations after Adansi's fall

Main article: Akyem

Following the defeat of Adansi by Denkyira in the mid-17th century, waves of migrants from the fallen kingdom dispersed eastward and southward across the forest zone. According to oral traditions and historical accounts, segments of the Asona clan relocated from the Adansi heartland to establish new settlements such as Akropong, Abonse, and later Akyem Abuakwa.[26]

The early rulers of Akyem Abuakwa, notably Ofori Panin and his predecessors, are remembered in Adansi traditions as having carried with them many of the sacred political institutions, including the veneration of Odomankoma and the structures of matrilineal governance.[26] In this way, Adansi’s political, religious, and cultural legacy continued to influence the evolution of Akan states well into the 18th and 19th centuries.

Colonial encounters and Treaty of Fomena

Main article: Treaty of Fomena

In 1873, Adansi chief Kobina Obeng sought independence from the Ashanti Empire due to the region's proximity to the British protectorate, located just north of the Pra River. During the same year, British forces under Sir Garnet Wolseley invaded the Ashanti capital of Kumasi, deposed Kofi Karikari, and imposed military pressure on the Ashanti polity. When Mensa Bonsu assumed the throne in late 1874, he made considerable efforts to reassert Ashanti authority over its former dependencies. Over the course of several years, he succeeded in restoring control over most territories, with the notable exception of Kwahu.[27]

The Treaty of Fomena was signed in February 1874 between the Ashanti Empire and the British Empire in the town of Fomena.[28] The agreement was intended to end hostilities following the British military campaign in the Ashanti region. As part of the treaty’s terms, the Ashanti were required to pay 50,000 ounces of gold as war indemnity and to renounce claims over several southern territories. These concessions significantly weakened Ashanti political and military power and marked a turning point in the empire’s gradual decline.[29]

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Geographical extent and territorial boundaries

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Precolonial territories

During the height of its power in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Adansi state occupied a strategic and resource-rich zone in the forest belt of southern Ghana, situated between the Pra and Ofin river basins. Its precolonial territory stretched northward to the forested settlements of Bekwai, Kokofu, and Dwaben, which later became core parts of the Asante polity. To the south, Adansi was bounded by the Pra River, marking its frontier with Denkyira and serving as a corridor to the coastal trade routes. The eastern boundary extended toward Asante Akim and the approaches to Kwahu, while its western limits reached into the gold-rich hills bordering early Twifo and other western Akan settlements.

Within this expansive region, it encompassed several major towns and clan settlements, including Fomena (the traditional capital), Akrokerri, Dompoase, and New Edubiase, as well as ancestral villages such as Ayaase, Abadwam, and Kokoblante. Obuasi, now famous for its gold mining, was already known for gold production in the precolonial period. The territory functioned as a decentralized confederation of autonomous but culturally linked settlements, governed by a network of clan leaders under the overarching authority of the Adansehene. These settlements were tied together through shared kinship, spiritual tradition, and participation in regional gold trade networks.[30][31]

Present-day Adansi

Obuasi is a town in the southern Ashanti Region and serves as the capital of the Obuasi Municipal District, located just south of Kumasi.[32] With a population of 168,641 according to Ghana’s 2010 Population and Housing Census, Obuasi is the second-largest urban settlement in the region and the eighth-largest nationwide.[33][34] It is the largest contemporary settlement of the Adansi people.

Situated on the railway line from Kumasi to Sekondi, it is known for its Obuasi Gold Mine,[35] now one of the nine largest on Earth, gold having been mined on the site since at least the seventeenth century.

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Architectural and political foundations

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Architectural heritage

Main article: Asante Traditional Buildings
Thumb
English officers selecting quarters in the chief's palace at Fomena

Oral traditions identify the Adansi as the first Akan group to develop elegant, durable architecture—including shrines, royal compounds, and rectangular clay dwellings—setting a model that later Akan states such as Asante, Denkyira, and others would follow.[36]

Archaeological studies of early sites like Adansemanso reveal long-term occupation, evidence of rectangular compound layouts, and the presence of early urban planning, which distinguished Adansi from other contemporary forest societies.[37] These settlements were not only practical but symbolic: sacred objects such as the Afenakwa sword, royal stools, and ceremonial regalia were enshrined within palatial compounds to signify political legitimacy and divine authority.[22]

According to oral traditions recorded by scholars, rulers such as Asare Nyansa emphasized the construction of permanent towns and formalized governance through councils (Abagua) based in elaborately built royal courts.[7] Traditions from Akrokerri also attribute the establishment of sacred buildings and early written symbols to divine origins, further reinforcing Adansi's reputation as a foundational center of Akan statecraft and religious authority.[38]

Political development

According to historians, Adansi served as the ancestral and cultural homeland of the major Akan matrilineal clans, including Asona, Bretuo, Oyoko, Agona, and Aduana. These groups originated from villages such as Kokobiante, Sodua, Ayaase, and Abadwam.[30] From these settlements emerged a complex network of semi-autonomous townships—such as Kaase, Amakom, Tafo, and Wonoo—that would later form the political foundation of the Asante Confederacy.

Many of these settlements were initially independent principalities organized around clan leaders and sacred kingship. The concept of Aman (plural of oman, or state) as practiced in these Adansi settlements became the prototype for the later Amantuo states like Kumawu, Mampon, and Dwaben.[39] These early examples of organized governance, military cohesion, and settlement planning underscore Adansi's foundational role in shaping the political landscape of the Akan forest zone.

Religion, governance, and cultural identity

Adansi culture shares many elements with the broader Akan world. Religious life centered on the veneration of deities such as Asase Ya/Afua (Earth goddess) and Tano (Ta Kora) (river god), alongside ancestral reverence.[40][22]

Unlike centralized Akan states such as Denkyira and Asante, Adansi’s cohesion was rooted in shared spiritual foundations—particularly the worship of Bona, a tutelary deity with a shrine at Patakoro. This religious structure reinforced a decentralized system in which each town retained autonomy and mobilized collectively only in times of war. The proverb “Adanse nkotowa nkotowa obiara da ne ben” ("each Adansi town is like a crab that sleeps in its own hole") reflects this clan-based independence.[41]

Political authority was exercised through the Adansehene, who ruled in consultation with divisional chiefs and elders.[42] Sacred objects such as the Afenakwa sword served as emblems of ritual legitimacy and unity, though its authority rotated among clans, reinforcing Adansi’s non-centralized governance.[43]

Oral tradition was preserved through royal oaths, stool rituals, funeral dirges, and drumming, which functioned as vessels of collective memory and historical continuity.[44]

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Legacy

Adansi is remembered not only for its historical independence and role in gold mining but also as a civilizational origin for many Akan states. Oral histories and written accounts place Adansi at the center of Akan cultural and political identity. Today, it remains a key traditional area within the Asante Kingdom and the Republic of Ghana.[45][46][47]

See also

Sources

  • Anquandah, James (2013). "The People of Ghana: Their Origins and Cultures". Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana (15): 1–25. ISSN 0855-3246. JSTOR 43855009. Retrieved 23 April 2025.
  • Boaten, Kwasi (1971). "The Asante Before 1700". Institute of African Studies Research Review. 8 (1): 50–65. Retrieved 25 April 2025.
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References

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