Osei Bonsu

Osei Bonsu (also called Osei Tutu Kwamina ; * approx. 1779/1801 ; † January 21, 1824 ) was the Asantehene (ruler) of the Kingdom of Ashanti , which from the beginning of the 18th to the middle of the 19th century was first the central, later the entire Ruled the area of ​​present-day Ghana .

The information about the beginning of his reign is contradicting, it lasted from 1801 or 1804 until his death in 1824.

Reforms of his reign

He continued the constitutional reforms initiated by his predecessors Osei Kwadwo and Osei Kwame Panyin . These reforms - the transition from hereditary offices to positions for which the Asantehene appointed men on the basis of their merits - led to a further effectiveness of the administration and to the further centralization of power in the Asantehene. He created several new " chairs " ("offices" in the Ashanti system) and hired muslims who knew how to write, who facilitated the administration and exchange between individual departments via written reports (in Arabic characters). For the British and Dutch coastal cities of Elmina and Cape Coast , which are central to foreign trade , he appointed "District Commissioners" as emissaries of his empire.

Consolidation and expansion of the power of the Ashanti Empire under Osei Bonsu

At the time of his inauguration, Gyaman in the north-west of the empire and shortly thereafter also the territory of the Gonja in the north were in rebellion against the rule of the Ashanti. In 1806 Assin rebelled in the south, in 1811 Akim and Akwapim in the southwest, again Gyaman in 1817 and Wassa , Dankyira and Assin in 1823 . He militarily put down all these rebellions. The rebellions in the south were more or less openly supported by the Fanti people on the coast, allied with the British . In 1808 he defeated the Fanti, allied with the Assin. The suppression of the Denkyra and Wassa rebellion of 1823 brought him again into conflict with the Fanti and this time with the British allies with them. In the decisive battle of Bonsaso on February 21, 1824, his troops destroyed the Fanti and British army that had opposed them. British governor of coastal fortresses, Charles MacCarthy, was among the dead .

The Ashanti had thus defeated and subjugated the Fanti Confederation . Osei Bonsu now ruled the entire coast of what is now Ghana and the Ashanti Empire was at the height of its power. The addition "Bonsu" in his name means "whale" in Akan and is intended to remind of the extension of the power of the Ashanti to the ocean. Osei Bonsu died in February 1824 shortly after the news of this overwhelming victory reached the capital Kumasi .

See also

• Government of Ashanti
• History of Ghana

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