Opoku Ware I.

Opoku Ware I. (* 1700 ; † 1750 ) was the second Asantehene (ruler) of the Ashanti Empire in present-day Ghana from 1720 to 1750 .

Opoku Ware I. was the great-nephew of the previous (first) Asantehene, Osei Tutu , and, at the instigation of the powerful priest Okomfo Anokye, prevailed against a rival nephew Osei Tutus as ruler of the Ashanti . At the beginning of his term of office he had to put down in two wars the uprisings of the Denkyra , Akwapim and Sefwi , who had allied themselves with the Akim against the rule of the Ashanti. In 1730, while Opoku Ware and his army were in Akyem, a head of the Sefwi conquered the capital Kumasi and sacked the city and the palace along with its rich gold treasures. Opoku Ware then founded the so-called Ankobea Division, a military unit that from now on was basically responsible for guarding the capital and the state treasury.

In the following years, Opoku Ware conquered the neighboring states of Techiman , Bono , Gyaman and Gonja . In 1744/45 he finally forced the kingdom of the Dagomba under his rule and compelled the Dagomba to pay an annual tribute to slaves. The figures for these "tribute deliveries" vary between a few hundred and 2000 slaves per year. In this way the Dagomba (and soon other peoples) were forced to hunt slaves for the Ashanti. In addition, the Ashanti Empire now controlled the trade routes between the great empires on Niger and the Gold Coast . At the end of his tenure, he ruled most of what is now Ghana, with the exception of the direct coastal region. A victory over the Kingdom of the Ga also brought the Ashanti kingdom control of the European forts in Accra .

literature

• Basil Davidson : A History of West Africa. 1000 - 1800. New revised edition, 2nd impression. Longman London 1977, ISBN 0-582-60340-4 ( The Growth of African Civilization ).

Web links

• worldstatesmen.org