Okomfo Anokye (active late 17th century) was an Ashanti priest, statesman, and lawgiver. He occupies a Merlin-like position in Ashanti history. A cofounder of the Empire of Ashanti in West Africa, he helped establish its constitution, laws, and customs.
Contents |
Early Life
The original name of Okomfo Anokye was Kwame Frimpon Anokye (Okomfo means "priest"). Some traditions say that he came from Akwapim in the Akwamu Kingdom southeast of the Empire of Ashanti, but his descendants claim he was born of an Ashanti mother and Adansi father and was related to the military leader Osei Tutu (the other co-founder of the Empire of Ashanti) through a maternal uncle.
Golden Stool
According to legend, he summoned the [[Golden Stothe first Asantehene,(King of all Ashanti). This spot is marked to this day by the Okomfo Anokye Sword - buried in the ground to the hilt, it is located in the grounds of Kumasi's Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. Legend has it that the Ashanti kingdom will be destroyed if the sword is ever removed.The sword is still in the ground till this day.
The Founding of Ashanti
When Osei Tutu succeeded about 1690 to the leadership of the small group of Akan forest states around the city of Kumasi which were already grouped in loose military alliance, Anokye was his adviser and chief priest. Tutu and Anokye, who must be considered together, carried out the expansionist policy of their predecessors, defeating two powerful enemies, the Akan Doma to the northwest and the Denkyera empire to the south.
The Unification of the Ashanti Peoples
To throw off the Denkyera yoke required a powerful unity that transcended the particularism of the Ashanti segments, and Anokye employed not only the political influence of his priesthood but also added the spiritual ties that transformed the loose Ashanti alliance into a "national" union in 1695. Anokye and Tutu established rituals and customs of the Ashanti state to diminish the influence of local traditions. They designated Kumasi the Ashanti capital. They established a state council of the chiefs of the preexisting states admitted to the union and suppressed all competing traditions of origin. Finally, they reorganized the Ashanti army.
The War with the Denkyera
The war with Denkyera from 1699 to 1701 went badly at first, but when the Denkyera army reached the gates of Kumasi, Anokye's "incantations" supposedly produced defections among their generals. The Ashanti broke the Denkyera hegemony and captured the Dutch deed of rent for Elmina Castle. This gave the Ashanti access to the African coast and involved them henceforth in the commerce and politics of the coastal slave trade. After Tutu's death in 1717, Anokye is said to have returned to Akwapim and died there.
The Legacy
The greatness of Anokye the lawgiver, and of Tutu the warrior, is measured by the permanency of the nation they created, its symbolism and ritual alive today in the greater state of Ghana. A historical judgment on Anokye is that he enabled the Ashanti "to succeed where Hellas had failed," that is, to retain their national unity even after their war of liberation
- http://www.bookrags.com/biography/okomfo-anokye/
- http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/artikel.php?ID=93275
- http://www.info-ghana.com/ashanti_empire.htm
- http://acona-usacanada.org/asantehistory1.html
- http://www.doth.com/kwanzaa/africa/ghana/ghana.htm
- http://www.cosw.sc.edu/photogallery/ghana2001/pages/Okomfo%20Anokye%2023.htm
- http://www.blackhistorypages.net/pages/oseitutu.php
