The history of the Akan people, who make up about 60% of Ghana as it exists now, is incredibly complex and dates back at least to 1500 BCE. Although the names of secondary deities may vary from location to place, they share a similar language called Twi, a lineage system based on the matriclan, and shared theological beliefs rooted on adoration of the ultimate god, Onyame.
It is unclear how and when the Akan people came to exist as the sizable, recognisable ethnolinguistic community that is now categorized as a member of the larger Kwa subfamily of West African languages.
The most recent archaeological and linguistic research indicates that the Akan originated locally, close to the modern borders of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, contrary to earlier theories that stated their roots were in more remote regions of Africa (perhaps as far east as the Nile Valley).
Currently, the Akan, or Twispeaking peoples, live in the southern half of Ghana as well as in Togoland and the southeast of Côte d’Ivoire. The Ga-Andangme ethnic group of southeast Ghana is their nearest neighbor. Both the Ewe and Guan-speaking peoples border them to the east and north, respectively.
The Akan are divided into a number of main linguistic and political groups, including Akyem, Akuapem, Asante, Assin-Twifo, Wassa, Fanti-Agona, Ahanta, Wassa, Nzema, and Sefwi/Aowin. It appears that the later Akan people had lived in tiny chiefdoms in the woodlands and coastal regions of what is now Ghana since at least the Middle Ages.
Most local legends refer to the old Akan homeland as “Accany,” which roughly corresponds to the contemporary Akan republics of Adanse (in southern Asante), Assin, and Twifo. It is unclear if the “Great Akani” on early Dutch maps from the seventeenth century represented a real state, a confederation of chieftains, or merely a wide geographic or cultural representation.
The formation of communities and pre-states in the northern periphery of the Akan cultural region also took place throughout the era from 1000 to 1500. The well-known royal regalia of all future republics, including the golden stool, golden sword, and golden mace, are believed to have originated in BonoManso (in the Brong area), which later served as the early centre of a northern commercial network.
Despite the fact that this is their primary reputation today, it would be incorrect to refer to the early Akan as merely or even mostly farmers. It is evident that the Akan demonstrated entrepreneurial talents in a wide variety of economic pursuits as early as times when history was first written down.
Farmers, hunters, fishermen, gold miners, and long-distance traders might be a better way to describe this diversity. It is crucial to note that, before the 20th century, the bulk of the Akan states were sparsely inhabited, which reduced the need for extensive food crop cultivation on the land.
The majority of the area was covered in forests, and there were few communities with sizable fields of cleared ground. The majority of agricultural family plots encircling distinctive nkuro, or hamlets, were compact, scattered, and hard for outsiders to distinguish. Asante’s family forest farms were typically approximately 2.5 acres in size, according to contemporary experts (or one hectare).
According to early accounts, there weren’t many interior marketplaces during the pre-colonial era, most people only had basic needs that could be met through subsistence farming, and as a result, the agricultural needs for the most often consumed staples—bananas, plantains, and native yams—were not very high. Protein was added to diets as a result of extensive time spent foraging, fishing, and shooting in the forest (including deer and “bush pups”) (for example, forest snails were a significant food item).
A significant turning point in the Akan people’s history was the beginning of the Atlantic foreign commerce. Contacts with European oceanic traders—first the Portuguese, then the Dutch and English—through trading led to social transformation as well as economic improvement for some.
The potential for financial gain from commerce attracted people from the interior of the nation to the coast, spurring population expansion. As a result, formerly undeveloped settlements that were close to European commercial forts and offshore roadsteads for passing ships gradually evolved into trading cities.
Documents mention the frequent arrival and departure of producers and dealers at coastal settlements including Saltpond, Cape Coast, El Mina, and Axim. The majority of transactions still took place in gold dust or through barter, but the arrival of European coins led to a gradual commercialization of the local economy.
Despite the widespread use of slave labor in both the European trading factories and the independent African businesses, possibilities for artisanship led to experience and regional traditions in skilled crafts like carpentry, stonemasonry, and blacksmithing. The expansion of state formation among significant Akan subgroups was the other important trend, which became more significant in the late 1600s.
Affiliations and confederations of chieftains frequently resulted in the gradual growth of states and kingdoms from previous family, lineage, and village organizations. It’s crucial to keep in mind that the Akan kingdoms lacked fixed borders and that a paramount ruler’s authority over subordinate kings and chiefs depended heavily on the person holding the position.
Like the nodes in a spider’s web, a state’s authority frequently spread along important trade routes, but it was most felt in the cities and villages along those routes. But it is undeniable that the tremendous development of the Atlantic trade, in which imported weapons and other manufactured goods were traded, initially for gold and later, mostly for slaves, paralleled and, in fact, was a major cause of the growth of the great Akan forest kingdoms, such as Akwamu, Denkyera, Gyaman, and, above all, Asante.
Each of these republics saw the emergence of sophisticated, centralized administrative systems. Modern Akan nationalism steadily emerged as a response to British colonial control and Western-style education. The Fante Confederation (1868–1873), under the leadership of both traditional monarchs and chiefs as well as the westernized elite of the central coastal regions, represented a determined effort by the coastal Akan to establish their own self-governing institutions and serve as a counterbalance to the strong Asante inland.
One of the major possibilities lost during colonial rule was the incapacity of British authorities at the time to see the value of this institution as a foundational piece for democratic nationhood.
The Gold Coast Aborigines Rights Protection Society, which was founded in 1897, was another Akan-based proto-nationalist organisation that was successful in thwarting colonial attempts to seize control of all territories with mineral and forest resources. The Akan people have demonstrated exceptional entrepreneurship skills throughout their history.
A recurring significant motif up to the present day has been gold mining, both small-scale (artisanal) and capitalistic (mechanized). However, by the second half of the nineteenth century, these characteristics were also demonstrated in the development of the export trade in wild rubber, the exploitation of local mahogany forests, initially in the southwest region and later in Asante and the Brong-Ahafo region, and, most significantly, in the infamous cocoa-growing revolution.
Polly Hill and Gareth Austin’s research has highlighted the tremendous ability of Akan cocoa farmers from Akwapim, Akyem, and Asante to adapt traditional socioeconomic structures and perfect growing, drying, and distribution systems to suit the needs of the international market throughout the twentieth-century growth of Ghana’s principal export sector.
