Akan people

This article is about the meta-ethnicity and ethno-linguistic group Akan. For other topics, see Akan.

Not to be confused with Aka people.

Akan people

Total population
c. 24–25 million (est.)
Languages
Central Tano languages • English • French
Religion
Christianity • Islam • Akan religion
Related ethnic groups
Guang people, Ga-Adangbe, other Kwa peoples, Afro-Caribbean people mainly Afro-Jamaicans

The Akan (/ˈækæn/) people are a Kwa group living primarily in present-day Ghana and in parts of Ivory Coast and Togo in West Africa. The Akan speak languages within the Central Tano branch of the Potou–Tano subfamily of the Niger–Congo family. Subgroups of the Akan people include: the Adansi, Agona, Akuapem, Akwamu, Akyem, Anyi, Asante, Baoulé, Bono, Chakosi, Fante, Kwahu, Sefwi, Wassa, Ahanta, Denkyira and Nzema, among others. The Akan subgroups all have cultural attributes in common; most notably the tracing of royal matrilineal descent in the inheritance of property, and for succession to high political office. All Akans are considered royals in status, but not all are in royal succession or hold titles.

Origins and Oral traditions

Akan-inhabited forest zone shown within the broader landscape of African civilizations between 500 BCE and 1500 CE.

The Akan people trace their ancestral roots to the Bono region, located in the forest-savannah transition zone of present-day Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. Oral traditions and archaeological evidence identify this area—particularly ancient towns such as Begho and Bono Manso—as the cultural heartland from which the Akan emerged as a distinct ethnolinguistic group. Within this broader context, the Adansi region, situated between the Pra and Ofin rivers, is remembered as the cradle of early Akan political and spiritual institutions. Nearly all major forest polities—including Denkyira, Akyem, Assin, and the Asante Empire—claim ancestral descent from Adansi, where systems of kingship, sacred stools, and matrilineal clan governance were developed.

Akan oral traditions of origin are diverse but converge around themes of deep-rooted emergence within the region. These include symbolic narratives of emergence from holes in the earth, descent from the sky, and movement from earlier interior settlements. In Bono traditions, especially those preserved in Hani and Nsawkaw, ancestors are said to have emerged from a sacred hole in a plain called Nsesrekeseeso. Archaeological work at nearby Amowi confirms early habitation in the area, with occupation layers dating back to the 5th century CE. In Asante tradition, the divine figure Ankyewa Nyame is believed to have descended from the heavens to establish Asantemanso, where clans are said to have emerged around her; archaeological evidence supports settlement at this site as early as the 9th century CE.

The Fante maintain distinct migration traditions, recounting a southward movement from Bono-Tekyiman to the coastal plains, where they encountered the indigenous Etsii. Their settlement around the sacred rock at Mankessim laid the foundation for Fante political identity, reinforced through shared oral histories, stool names, and ritual observances across Fante states such as Edina, Komenda, and Anomabo.

While some 19th and early 20th-century European writers proposed distant origins—such as migrations from Egypt, the Ghana Empire, Mossiland and the broader Sahel region—these theories have been widely rejected by modern historians. Today, both oral tradition and archaeological research overwhelmingly support a local and regional origin for the Akan, rooted in the Bono-Adansi forest-savannah complex of Ghana and southern Côte d’Ivoire.

History

Kintampo Complex and Early Settlements

Main article: Kintampo Complex

The region later associated with Akan-speaking communities—particularly the Bono and Bono East areas of Ghana—was inhabited by prehistoric populations who established complex patterns of settlement and land use well before the rise of centralized Akan states. Among the most significant of these early cultures is the Kintampo Complex, which flourished between approximately 2500 and 1400 BCE.

Archaeological investigations at sites such as Kintampo, Ntereso, and Daboya have uncovered semi-permanent architecture, ground stone tools, polished axes, terracotta figurines, and evidence of early food production. These findings suggest that Kintampo communities practiced a mixed economy based on cultivation, animal husbandry, fishing, and foraging.

While there is no direct evidence linking the Kintampo tradition to later Akan societies, these early populations shaped the broader ecological and cultural landscape into which Akan-speaking groups would later move. The forest-savanna transitional zone provided conditions favorable for early iron-working and localized trade, which are evident in later sites in the Banda hills and Tain basin from the early centuries CE. These developments offer critical insight into the long-term human occupation of the area and form an important backdrop to the later emergence of Bonoman and other Akan states.

Formation of Bonoman

Main article: Bonoman

The emergence of Bonoman, with Bono Manso as its political center, marks one of the earliest identifiable phases in the formation of centralized Akan states. Located in the Tain basin and surrounding forest-savanna transition zone, Bono Manso likely developed as a regional settlement by the 11th or 12th century and began consolidating into a polity between the 13th and 14th centuries.

Oral traditions recorded at Techiman identify Bono Manso as the earliest Akan kingdom and describe it as the seat of the "Dua-duakwa hene mu hene" (king of many kings). The Bono monarchy maintained a decentralized political structure in which local chiefs and lineage heads retained authority within a wider confederacy.

Archaeological findings in the Bono Manso area support claims of early political organization. Excavations have uncovered evidence of iron-smelting furnaces, locally produced pottery, and domestic architecture, indicating a community with specialized production and a settled lifestyle.

Gold formed the economic backbone of Bono Manso, serving as both a domestic resource and a cornerstone of its external trade. Oral traditions and archaeological findings indicate that the region was actively engaged in gold production from an early period, facilitating exchange with trans-Saharan caravan networks and, in time, with European coastal merchants. This activity positioned Bono Manso within a wider system of regional commerce centered on West Africa’s major gold-producing zones. The Akan goldfield, in which Bono Manso was located, became one of the three principal goldfields in the region, alongside the Bambuk and Bure goldfields to the northwest.

Cast brass weights used to measure precise amounts of gold dust. These weights, developed as early as the seventeenth century, represent Akan craftsmanship and gold-based economies.

Begho and the Trans-Saharan Trade Network

Main article: Begho

Further information: Trans-Saharan trade

The town of Begho, also known as Bew or Nsoko, was one of the most prominent early urban centers in what is now west-central Ghana. Situated near the modern town of Hani in the Bono Region, Begho emerged as a major settlement by the 12th century and reached its height between the 15th and 17th centuries. Begho was strategically located at the forest-savanna ecological boundary and served as a key commercial link between northern Mande-speaking regions and the southern Akan forest belt. Its position allowed it to facilitate long-distance trade in gold, kola nuts, ivory, and textiles with centers such as Jenne, Kong, and Bobo-Dioulasso.

Archaeological research at Begho, a major precolonial settlement near modern-day Hani in Ghana, has revealed ceramics, iron-smelting furnaces, spindle whorls, dye pits, glass beads, and brass weights. These materials attest to the town’s complexity, economic specialization, and connections to regional and trans-Saharan trade. Begho was organized into quarters occupied by Bono (Brong), Mande-speaking Muslims (Kramo), artisans (Dwinfuor), and groups linked to Bondoukou. Although Muslim traders were active in commerce, political control remained with the indigenous Brong elite.

The town’s prosperity was also tied to local resources such as nearby iron deposits, especially at Dapaa, approximately four kilometers away, which supplied smelted metal for domestic and trade use. Begho began to decline by the late 17th century due to shifting trade routes favoring coastal networks and the rise of new forest polities such as Denkyira and Asante. It was eventually eclipsed by Bono Manso as the region’s dominant center.

Southward Migrations and Formation of Akan States

Main articles: Fante Confederacy, Wassa, Ahanta, and Nzema people

Beginning in the late first millennium and accelerating through the early second millennium CE, Akan-speaking communities began a southward movement from their ancestral zones in Bono and Adansi into the forest and coastal belts of southern Ghana. This expansion was driven by the search for fertile land, access to gold resources, and shifting political dynamics inland.

One major stream of this migration moved west and southwest, resulting in the establishment of forest-based gold-producing states such as Wassa, Aowin, and Tarkwa. These polities retained foundational Akan institutions—such as matrilineal succession and stool governance—but adapted them to smaller, dispersed settlements typical of the forest zone.

A separate southeastward migration gave rise to the Fante, whose oral traditions trace their origins to the Bono-Techiman and Adansi settlements . After settling near Mankessim, they established a confederation rooted in clan unity, commemorated in the Nananom Pow origin legend. By the 15th century, the Fante and other coastal Akan groups had consolidated distinct political identities while maintaining cultural and genealogical links to their interior ancestors.

These southern Akan states became key intermediaries in Atlantic trade, interacting with Portuguese merchants from the late 15th century onward. Their emergence signaled a transformation in Akan geopolitics—connecting the legacies of interior state formation to evolving coastal dynamics shaped by European commerce.

Adansi and the Evolution of Akan Statecraft

Main article: Adansi

Archaeological evidence from sites such as Asantemanso and Adansemanso indicates that Akan-speaking communities have occupied the forest zone of present-day southern Ghana since at least the first millennium BCE. These early populations engaged in agriculture, shrine construction, and iron-smelting practices closely linked to ancestral worship and spiritual life. Over time, particularly between the late first and early second millennium CE, waves of these communities expanded southward from the Bono region and forest-savanna margins, establishing politically organized settlements along the Pra–Ofin river system. Among the earliest and most prominent of these polities was Adansi, which laid important foundations for later Akan statecraft.

Situated between the Ofin, Pra, and Oda rivers, Adansi occupied a gold-rich region strategically positioned along inland and coastal trade corridors. The name Adansi, meaning “builders” in Twi, reflects its enduring legacy in shrine construction and formal political organization. Oral traditions credit the people of Adansi with establishing sacred stools and foundational chieftaincy customs that shaped governance across later Akan states.

By the 15th century, Adansi had developed into a confederation of towns—such as Akrokerri, Bodwesango, Dompoase, and Fomena—governed through rotating paramountcies and consensus among chiefs. This structure supported internal cohesion and enabled effective military coordination. Adansi’s role in gold production and long-distance trade soon attracted European interest. Though archaeological remains are limited, both oral traditions and early European reports affirm its centrality in Akan state development.

European Trade and the Akan in Early European Sources

Main article: Portuguese Gold Coast

Early European accounts provide valuable insight into the political and commercial prominence of inland forest polities during the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Among the most important of these is the Portuguese navigator Duarte Pacheco Pereira, who, writing in the early 1500s, identified key merchant groups involved in the gold trade between the forest interior and the Atlantic coast. These included the Haccanys, Cacres, Andese, and Souzo—names widely interpreted by historians as early references to Akan-speaking communities, particularly those located in the Pra-Offin region.

These groups were described as transporting large quantities of gold from the inland forest zones to the coast, reinforcing the notion that the interior Akan polities were central players in early Atlantic-era commerce. European texts frequently referred to this inland region collectively as Accany (or Acane, Acanni, Acanes), portraying it as an area governed by powerful rulers, supported by standing armies, and deeply engaged in long-distance trade networks.

The abundance of gold in Akan territories attracted European interest from the late 15th century onward. The Portuguese were the first to establish coastal forts, followed by the Dutch, British, and others, all competing for access to inland goldfields. In return, European merchants introduced firearms and foreign goods, profoundly altering military dynamics in the region. By the mid-17th century, flintlock muskets were widely circulated and had become essential to state formation and warfare among the Akan.

Gold, Firearms, and the Enslavement Economy

Main articles: Brandenburger Gold Coast, Danish Gold Coast, Swedish Gold Coast, and Gold Coast (British colony)

Beginning in the late 15th century, European traders—initially Portuguese, followed by the Dutch, British, Danes, and Brandenburgers—established coastal forts to access the region’s gold. In exchange, they introduced firearms, gunpowder, and luxury goods, sparking new military rivalries among Akan states.

By the early 17th century, muskets had become vital to state-building, and competition for European trade intensified. Armed with these weapons, Akan polities expanded through warfare, capturing rivals and trading captives to Europeans. At the same time, gold was used to acquire enslaved persons from northern trans-Saharan markets for labor within Akan territories.

This escalating arms race and slave-raiding economy contributed to political instability inland, setting the stage for the fragmentation of older alliances and the rise of powerful militarized states like Denkyira and Akwamu.

Fragmentation of the Akani Confederacy and Rise of Successor States

Main articles: Assin, Denkyira, Akwamu, and Akyem

By the 16th century, the inland Akan polity of Adansi, once a dominant regional power, began to lose its influence amid growing military and commercial pressures. The increasing availability of European firearms—acquired through the coastal gold trade—reshaped the balance of power, allowing ambitious polities such as Akwamu, Denkyira, Akyem, and Assin to assert military and political autonomy. Many of these states traced their origins to Adansi but began challenging its supremacy through expansionist campaigns and control of strategic trade routes.

This era of upheaval led to the fragmentation of what early European sources referred to as the “Great Akani” or “Accany” polity—a loosely coordinated alliance of Akan-speaking communities in the forest interior. At its peak around 1650, the Akani confederacy exercised considerable influence over inland goldfields and commercial routes linking the hinterland to the coast.

The expansion of Denkyira in particular, bolstered by superior access to firearms and control over tribute-paying states, rapidly undermined the cohesion of the Akani bloc. Increasing inter-state warfare, competition for European trade, and the absence of centralized leadership accelerated the dissolution of the confederacy.

By the close of the 17th century, references to the Great Akani or Accany polity had largely vanished from European accounts. In its place, emerging forest kingdoms such as Denkyira, Akwamu, and Akyem had consolidated power, dominated inland goldfields, exacted tribute from neighboring states, and controlled key routes linking the interior to coastal European forts.

The Rise of the Asante Empire and Colonial Confrontation

Main article: Asante Empire

By the late 17th century, the rise of Asante under Osei Tutu and Komfo Anokye transformed the political landscape of the forest region. Through military consolidation and spiritual unification, they rallied allied clans to defeat Denkyira at the Battle of Feyiase, establishing Asante as a dominant imperial power.

Asante expanded rapidly, centralizing authority while preserving core Akan institutions such as stool succession and military councils. Its growing power, however, brought it into frequent conflict with European powers, particularly the British. Throughout the 19th century, Asante forces resisted colonial encroachment in a series of major confrontations, including the Anglo-Ashanti wars and the War of the Golden Stool.

Despite its military resilience, the Asante Confederacy was eventually subdued and incorporated into the British Gold Coast colony by the early 20th century.

Map of the Gold Coast c.1729.

Akan Peoples in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

Main article: Coromantee

Many people across the Americas trace their ancestry to Akan-speaking populations due to the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Between the 17th and 19th centuries, a significant proportion of enslaved Africans shipped from the Gold Coast—estimated at around 10% of all embarkations from West Africa—were of Akan origin. Although gold remained central to the Akan economy, the intensification of internal conflicts—especially among the Fante and Ashanti during the 18th century—led to the capture and external sale of war captives, many of whom were exported through coastal ports such as Anomabo and Cape Coast.

Akan captives, often labeled as “Coromantee” in British colonies, gained a reputation for resistance and military discipline. Many were former soldiers from warring states like Akwamu or Ashanti, and their skills were transferred to plantation and maroon communities. They played central roles in uprisings across the Americas, including the 1733 Akwamu-led revolt on St. John, the 1760 Tacky’s Rebellion in Jamaica, and the 1763 Berbice uprising in Guyana led by Coffy, a Coromantee war captain. Some Coromantee, such as Chief Takyi in Jamaica, were former warlords turned rebels who attempted to recreate Akan-style governance during these revolts.

The legacy of Akan resistance survives in the cultural identity of groups such as the Maroons of Jamaica and Suriname, whose languages, rituals, and military structures retain echoes of Akan influence. In several colonies, colonial authorities even feared large concentrations of Coromantee slaves, associating them with rebellion and political organization.

Independence and Legacy of Akan Political Heritage

Further information: Ivory Coast and Ghana

On 6 March 1957, under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah and the Convention People's Party, the Gold Coast became the first sub-Saharan African colony to achieve independence from European colonial rule. The new nation was renamed Ghana, symbolically connecting modern statehood to the region’s historic legacy of powerful African empires.

The territory united the Gold Coast colony with British Togoland, as well as the Northern and Upper regions, forming a multiethnic state that nonetheless drew heavily on the political and symbolic legacy of Akan institutions—including chieftaincy systems, council governance, and traditions of resistance. Across the border, neighboring Ivory Coast gained independence from France in 1960. Like Ghana, Ivory Coast is also home to a significant Akan population—estimated at nearly 40% of the national total—including groups such as the Baule, Agni (Anyi), and Nzima.

Akan politics

The Akans consider themselves one nation. Akan means first, foremost, indicating the enlightened and civilized. While traditionally matrilineal, they are also united philosophically through 12 patrilineal spirit groups called the Ntoro. Within the Akan nation are branches based on many dialects, widest and possibly the oldest one being used is Twi as well as Fante. Each branch subsequently holds a collection of states and stemming from city-states. The state or Ɔman are typically ruled by several kings known as Amanhene(Ɔmanhene, singular) or Ahemfo(Ɔhene, singular. The state is the basic unit of Akan polity. Several states and city-states can band together to form a confederacy or an empire regardless of clan or abusua they belong to, while those outsides of the Akan people or the abusua were usually conquered or annexed via war or mutual agreement. For example, the Guan state of Larteh and the Akyem state of Akropong joined to form the Akwapim Kingdom to avoid the Akwamu, who the Guan deemed as oppressive. Under the State there are Divisions and under these Divisions are towns and villages. The Fantes also upon migrating from the interior Takyiman conquered other Guan tribes including Efutu and Ewutu and merged them into Mfantseman

Akan kings are ranked according to their jurisdiction. The head of an inter-clan Confederacy is usually considered a King, as in the Kings of Ashanti, Fante, Akyem and the Akwapim. Under these are the heads of the constituent states who equates an Emperor that only heads an Empire (e.g., Asante Empire and the Denkyira). In Asante's case, as an Empire, the Asantehene reigned over the non-Oyoko clan city-states and ruled over the kings of those states as an Imperial head or Emperor (a hardly used but an equivalent term for Emperor or the king of kings). Next there are divisional Chiefs, they are primarily arranged according to the five divisions of an Akan army. The Fante army or Asafo formation resembles a cross or an airplane. The Fante battle formations eventually had some European influences and many Asafo Frankaa (battle flags) incorporated the British Union Jack after 1844 when they allied with them. The battle formation has the Frontline, the West Flank, an East Flank, the main body and the Vanguard. There are, therefore, five divisional chiefs in each Paramountcy. These are followed in rank by the Kings of the city and then the Kings of the town and then king of the suburbs.

The Akan peoples mostly have seven Abusua (Matrilineal clans/tribes) in each state. They do not have the same names in each state but each has an equivalent clan (e.g. in Fante areas along the coast, the Asante clan of Oyoko is referred to as Dehyena or Yokofo). The clans are assigned States which they rule by their status as founders of that jurisdiction. The Ashanti Kingdom is ruled by the Oyoko Clan. However, the Bretuo or Twidanfo (in Fante), as well as other clans, rule States, Divisions, Towns, and Villages within the Kingdom. The Fante-speaking peoples usually have the Asona Clan ruling most of their States (like Mankessim). Certain sub-clans or lineages have exclusive rights to some stools within Akanland such as the lineage of Afia Kobi in the Oyoko Clan who alone sits on the Golden Stool of Asante.

The Akans are traditionally a Matrilineal people of the African continent. Matrilineal inheritance makes it easier to trace the line of succession. Within each lineage or House are the branches. The chief of a family is called an Abusuapanyin (or family-elder). Ranking above a family chief (a family's Abusuapanyin) is the clan's chief (or clan's Abusuapanyin). These branches are called Jaase/Gyaase or Kitchens. Each Kitchen takes its turn to present a candidate for the stool to the kingmakers of the lineage. Once accepted their candidate rules till death. This means until all the Jaase have presented their candidates they have to wait their turn.

Akan Kings of whatever rank have other nobleman who serve them as sub-chiefs. These sub-chiefs do not have hereditary titles and therefore do not have black stools. Besides, each King has a female co-ruler known as the Queen-mother. The Queen-mother is more like a figurehead representing the King's or Emperor's eldest sister and hence the mother of the next King or Emperor, she could rule as a King if she wishes (e.g. queen-mothers mainly from the House of Asona clan: Nana Abena Boaa who ruled Offinso 1610–1640, Nana Afia Dokuaa who ruled Akyem Abuakwa 1817–1835, and Nana Yaa Asantewaa who ruled Edweso 1896–1900) as well as Komfo Muna who ruled Mankessim 1830–1872. They present the candidate for consideration as King. An assistant king does not have a Queen-mother as his title is not hereditary.

A Prince or Daakyehen(Fante)(lit Future-king) is any of the members of the lineage eligible to sit on a stool. However, not all royals are Princes as some may be ineligible. A prince is not necessarily the son of a King but rather the former King's nephew on the mother's side. As such, royals strive to achieve the position of a prince in their families or for their children. All Akan clans are considered royal in the context of their matrilineal society. Each clan, known as abusua, plays a significant role in inheritance, succession, and the selection of chiefs. The eight main Akan clans—Oyoko, Bretuo, Agona, Asona, Asenie, Aduana, Ekuona, and Asakyiri—are integral to the governance of their respective communities. Members of these clans are viewed as royals, as chiefs are traditionally chosen from them, reinforcing their royal status within Akan culture.

A sub-chief does not, however, need to be a nobleman. He only has to be suitable for the position he is to occupy. Some sub-chieftaincy positions can be abolished at will. They include the heads of the ruling house or Mankrado, the Linquist, the Chief Kingmaker or Jaasehen/Gyaasehen, the Supi (Fante) or General of the Army, the Captains of the Army or Asafohen(Fante) among others. The way Akans ruled their nation fascinated the tribes and peoples of other West African nations and as the Akans conquered or formed alliances with these nations, parts of it were transmitted to them. The British particularly felt the Akan system was highly efficient and tried to establish it throughout their dominions in West Africa using the Indirect Rule System. The Ewes and the Ga-Adangmes with their close affinity to the Akans have modified certain aspects of it to fit their societies.

In Ghana and other modern states where the Akan people are located, the Kings, Assistant Kings, Princes, and Noblemen of the Akans serve mostly a symbolic role. Modern politics has side-lined them in national politics although it is common to find that an elected or appointed official to be of Akan royalty. And, especially in the villages and poor areas, traditional Kings are still very important for organizing development, social services and keeping the peace. Some Kings have decided to push ahead with the leadership of their Kingdoms and States in a non-political fashion. The Asantehen and okyehen have emphasized Education and Environmental Sustainability respectively. Others push the national government and its agents to fulfill promises to their people.

In modern Ghana, a quasi-legislative/judicial body known as the House of "Chiefs"(a colonial term to belittle African Kings because of the racist belief to not equate an African King with a European King in rank) has been established to oversee "chieftaincy" and the Government of Ghana as the British Government once did certifies the Chiefs and gazettes them. Several Akan Kings sit at the various levels of the National House of "Chiefs". Each Paramountcy has a Traditional Council, then there is the Regional House of "Chiefs" and lastly the National House of "Chiefs". Akan Kings who once warred with each other and Kings of other nations within Ghana now sit with them to build peace and advocate development for their nations. The identity of an Akan nation or meta-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". (A)man has been translated as "Akanland".

Akan language

Further information: Akan language and Akan Orthography Committee

Akan refers to the language of the Akan ethnolinguistic group and the Akan language which was and is the most widely spoken and used indigenous language in the Akan peoples in Ghana. Each ethnic group having its own dialect Akan is officially recognized for literacy in the Akan-majority regions, at the primary and elementary educational stage (Primary 1–3) K–12 (education) level, and studied at university as a bachelor's degree or master's degree program. The Akan language is spoken as the predominant language in the Western, Central, Ashanti, Eastern, Brong Ahafo regions of the akan clan. A language with some Akan influence called Ndyuka is also spoken in South America (Suriname and French Guiana), with the Akan language coming to these South American and Caribbean places through the trans-Atlantic slave trade and Akan names and folktales are still used in these South American and Caribbean countries (another example can be seen in the Maroons of Jamaica and their influence with Akan culture and loanwords specifically from the Fante dialect of the Central Region of Ghana) in the language of Jamaican Maroon Creole or Kromanti. With the present state of technology, one can listen to live radio broadcasts in Akan from numerous radio stations and receive mass media and public broadcasts in Akan from numerous multimedia and media broadcasting. Akan is studied in major universities in North America and the United States, including Ohio University, Ohio State University, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Harvard University, Boston University, Indiana University, University of Michigan, and the University of Florida. The Akan language has been a regular language of study in the annual Summer Cooperative African Languages Institute (SCALI) program and the Akan language is regulated and administered by the Akan Orthography Committee (AOC). Some of Akan's language characteristic features include tone, vowel harmony, and nasalization.

Culture

17th Century Akan Terracotta (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

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

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.

Elements of Akan culture also include, but are not limited to:

• Akan art
• Kente cloth
• Adinkra symbols
• Outdooring naming ceremony
• Akan names
• Akan calendar
• Akan chieftaincy
• Akan gold weights
• Akan religion
• Momome

Beliefs

Concepts of Akan philosophy and inheritance

Main article: Akan philosophy

These are the basic concepts of Akan philosophy and inheritance:

• 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 belongs to one's Abusua
• Sunsum – What an Akan develops from interaction with the world
• Kra – What an Akan gets from Nyame (God)

Matrilineality

Many but not all of the Akan still practice their traditional matrilineal customs, living in their traditional extended family households. The traditional Akan 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 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. 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.

The political units above are likewise grouped (into traditionally seven) but as of today, eight larger groups called abusua: 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, and their husband/father living and working in a different household.

According to one source 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 is perhaps 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."

"The principles governing inheritance, 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.

Certain other aspects of the Akan culture are determined patrilineally rather than matrilineally. There are ancestrally 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, taboos, ritual purifications, and forms of etiquette. A person thus inherits one's Ntoro from one's father but does not belong to his family.

A recent (2001) book provides an update on the Akan, stating that some families are changing from the above abusua structure to the nuclear family. 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. The above taboo on marriage within one's abusua is sometimes ignored, but "clan membership" is still important, with many people still living in the abusua framework presented above.

Notable individuals of Akan origin

Main article: List of Akan people

• Blessing Afrifah (born 2003) - Israeli Olympic sprinter
• Kofi Annan (1938–2018) – the first black man to head the United Nations. He was awarded the Nobel Prize
• Kwame Nkrumah (1909–1972) – started the pan-African movement, which liberated many states from European colonialism.
• Arthur Wharton (1865–1930) – the first black professional footballer in the world.
• George Manneh Oppong Weah

Gallery

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  Akan Woman.
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  Akan metalwork from the Brooklyn Museum, New York City, United States.
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  Mask (Bo Nun Amuin), from the early 20th century.
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  Wooden mask of an elephant.
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  Wooden mask of a forest god.
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  Empire of Ashanti warrior military golden war combat helmet and personal armour of the Empire of Ashanti – Museum of Natural History.
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  Empire of Ashanti scout, c. 1824, Visual Art – Joseph Dupuis.
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  Empire of Ashanti and the Gold Coast map.
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  Diachronic map showing "Akan-held territory Ashantiland" Sovereign nation state and territorial entity with pre-colonial states and cultures of Africa (spanning roughly 500 BCE to 1500 CE). This map is "an artistic interpretation" using multiple and disparate sources.
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  The Mali Empire in 1337, including the location of the Bambuk, Bure, Lobi and Akan Goldfields

See also

• List of rulers of the Akan state of Adanse
• List of rulers of the Akan states of Akwamu and Twifo-Heman
• List of rulers of the Akan state of Bono-Tekyiman
• List of rulers of the Akan state of Denkyira
• List of rulers of the Akan state of Gyaaman
• List of rulers of the Akan state of Akyem Abuakwa
• List of rulers of Asante
• Birimian
• Geology of Ghana
• Gyaaman
• Tacky's War

Further reading

• 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.
• Shumway, Rebecca. 2011. "The Fante and the Transatlantic Slave Trade." Rochester: University of Rochester Press. ISBN 9781580463911

External links

• Media related to Akan people at Wikimedia Commons
• Quotations related to Akan people at Wikiquote
• Kasahorow Akan Dictionary The Dictionary of Standard Written Akan
• Akan gold trade
• Akan Philosophy of the Person, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2006) ISSN 1095-5054