Osei Kwadwo
Asantehene
Reignc. 1764 – 1777
PredecessorKusi Obodom
SuccessorOsei Kwame Panyin

Osei Kwadwo was the 4th Asantehene of the Ashanti Empire who reigned from 1764 to 1777. He was succeeded by Osei Kwame Panyin.

Ascension

Osei Kwadwo (born c. 1735[1]) was the son of Akua Afriyie, a sister of Kusi Obdodom, and Owusu Afriyie who was a son of Osei Kofi Tutu I.[2] Kwadwo came into power around 1764 as replacement of Kusi Obodum whose removal was influenced by Ashanti's defeat against Oyo and Dahomey that year, as well as the loss of the Dwaben-hene in the conflict. In October 1764, Director-General J.P.T. Huydecooper recorded from Elmina stating;

"the drunkard Kusie", who had long ruled Ashanti, and as a result of whose cowardly attitude the trading paths had been closed for so long, "has now been kicked out of government and has been succeeded by a courageous youngman, Zai (Osei), who would most certainly follow the footsteps of the late king Poku"...

— Huydecooper[3]

Reign

Domestic affairs

The Kwadwoan Revolution occurred under Osei Kwadwo which was a period of bureaucratic reforms by the Asantehene. Osei Kwadwo replaced hereditary positions with appointive ones and the Ashanti administrative structure was professionalized as a result.[4][5] Authority was no longer obtained based on predetermined status as Thomas Edward Bowdich wrote in 1821 that "the aristocracy in Ashantee until Sai Cudjo's [Osei Kwadwo] time, always acquired this dignity by inheritance only."[6] The Asantehene's reforms enabled individuals to obtain power based on their merit.[7] The Ankobia was founded as an internal security force.[6][8]

The Asokwafo evolved under the Asantehene to administer over the company of state traders.[9][10] By the early 19th century, the leader of the Asokwafo was appointed Batahene to manage the state trading organization.[6] During his reign, Osei Kwadwo formed the office of the Akwanmofohene, which translates as "chief inspector of the nuisances and path cleaners." It was formed as the head of the Akwanmofo, which was the agency responsible for the maintaining the roads of the Ashanti Empire. The first to be appointed into the Akwanmofohene office was Adabo, son of Kusi Obodom.[11] Osei Kwadwo also commenced the Inner Council as an alternative to the Asantemanhyiamu, whose meetings were inconsistent and unwieldy.[12] Describing the authority of Ashanti's resident commissioners on the coast in 1817, Bowdich attributes the development of the institution to Asantehene Osei Kwadwo, stating; "it was a law of Sai Cudjo...which granted to particular captains the honourable patent of receiving the pay of small forts, distinctly, each being responsible for his separate duties to his settlement."[6][13]

Foreign affairs

Osei Kwadwo engaged in war against Banda after the killing of Ashanti traders in the state.[14][15] Banda was supported by Gyaman, Denkyira, Wassa and the Kong Empire. The campaign took place as an open pitched battle of which Banda was able to resist Ashanti's attacks twice until they were subjugated into the empire during Ashanti's third attack.[14] During the reign of Kusi Obodom, an alliance was formed among the coastal states including Akyem, Wassa, Denkyira, Twifo and Fante. This alliance was formed to oppose Ashanti expansionism towards the Coast. By the late 1750s, the alliance disintegrated following the withdrawal of the Fante as well as the decline in relations with fellow member Denkyira.[16][17] In June 1765 Osei Kwadwo waged war on the alliance.[17] The armies of Wassa and Twifo escaped to Fante territory but the Akyem were defeated.[18][17] As a result, Akyem Abuakwa was conquered into the Ashanti Empire.[18] This conquest enabled the Ashanti to open the 5th Great Road by 1766.[18][19]

In 1765, Osei Kwadwo established a military camp in the Fante territory of Abora following an agreement between the Ashanti and Fante. The base was formed to foster attacks against Wassa.[17][20] In the process of this occupation, the Fante shared mistrust for Ashanti as this resulted in a decline of relations between both states. The Fante refused to share the spoils of the war against Akyem and they sold some Ashanti, who came into their villages for food, as slaves.[17] Emissaries were sent on behalf of Ashanti to investigate Fante's hostility, but they were captured. Ashanti declared war as the last alternative and a direct confrontation was reported to have occurred between 17 and 28 June 1765, but this did not evolve into full-scale war. Osei Kwadwo withdrew back inland around July due to factors such as poor logistics.[17] The Fante built a new alliance with former enemies, Wassa and Twifo in 1765, to check against a potential invasion by the Ashanti. Two invasion scares by Ashanti occurred in 1767 when the Fante almost consented aid for an Akyem rebellion, and when they executed a messenger belonging to a relative of Osei Kwadwo. Peaceful relations fostered between both states until 1772, when the Ashanti were believed to have supported the Assin who plundered Fante territory. Between July 1773 until news reached of his death at Cape Coast Castle in 1778, Osei Kwadwo maintained calm relations with the Fante.[17]

Under his predecessor, Kusi Obodom, Ashanti–Dahomey relations had soured.[21] After Dahomean King Kpengla came into power in the late 18th century, he sent an embassy with gifts to Kumasi to improve the relations between the two states. Osei Kwadwo requited this gesture by sending an embassy to Abomey, the capital of Dahomey. Historian Wilks hypothesizes that it was through these exchange of missions between the two leaders that the Togo hills was affirmed as a neutral zone between Ashanti and Dahomey.[22]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Ivor Wilks (1989), p. 330
  2. ↑ Kyerematen, A. (1969). "The Royal Stools of Ashanti". Africa. 39 (1): 1–10. doi:10.2307/1157946. JSTOR 1157946. S2CID 144362829.
  3. ↑ Fynn, John K. (1965). "The Reign and Times of Kusi Obodum, 1750-64". Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana. 8: 24–32. JSTOR 41403567. S2CID 155465956.
  4. ↑ Eisenstadt, Abitbol & Chazan (1988), pp. 80–81
  5. ↑ Fage, J.D. and Roland Oliver (1975). The Cambridge History of Africa: From c. 1600 to c. 1790, edited by Richard Gray. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 317. ISBN 0521204135.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Wilks, Ivor (1966). "Aspects of Bureaucratization in Ashanti in the Nineteenth Century". The Journal of African History. 7 (2): 215–232. doi:10.1017/S0021853700006289. JSTOR 179951. S2CID 159872590.
  7. ↑ Davidson, Basil (29 October 2014). West Africa before the Colonial Era: A History to 1850. Routledge. p. 226. ISBN 978-1-317-88265-7.
  8. ↑ Eisenstadt, Abitbol & Chazan (1988), pp. 80
  9. ↑ Ivor Wilks (1989), pp. 455–456
  10. ↑ Kaminski, Joseph S. (2012). Asante Ivory Trumpet Music in Ghana: Culture Tradition and Sound Barrage. Ashgate Publishing. p. 100. ISBN 9781409426844.
  11. ↑ Ivor Wilks (1989), p. 35
  12. ↑ Eisenstadt, Abitbol & Chazan (1988), pp. 83
  13. ↑ Ivor Wilks (1989), p. 130
  14. 1 2 Ward, W.E.F. (2023). A History of Ghana, Volume 1 of Routledge Library Editions: Colonialism and Imperialism. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781000854855.
  15. ↑ Bravmann, Rene A.; Mathewson, R. Duncan (1970). "A Note on the History and Archaeology of "Old Bima"". African Historical Studies. 3 (1): 133–149. doi:10.2307/216484. JSTOR 216484. S2CID 163324050.
  16. ↑ Fynn, John K. (1965). "The Reign and Times of Kusi Obodum, 1750-64". Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana. 8: 24–32. JSTOR 41403567. S2CID 155465956.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Priestley, Margaret (1961). "The Ashanti Question and the British: Eighteenth-Century Origins". The Journal of African History. 2 (1): 35–59. doi:10.1017/S0021853700002139. JSTOR 179582. S2CID 153355150.
  18. 1 2 3 Ivor Wilks (1989), p. 27-8
  19. ↑ Kurt, Beck.; Klaeger, Gabriel; Stasik, Michael (2017). The Making of the African Road. Brill. p. 91. ISBN 9789004339040.
  20. ↑ Sparks, Randy J. (2014). Where the Negroes Are Masters. Harvard University Press. p. 128. ISBN 9780674726475.
  21. ↑ Ivor Wilks (1989), p. 320
  22. ↑ Ivor Wilks (1989), p. 321

Bibliography


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