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Ashanti

The Ashanti were able to build up a powerful state in the first half of the eighteenth century by virtue of their efficiency. It was a kingdom sometimes extended over almost the whole of Ghana, as far as the Ivory Coast, and which earned great prosperity by means of a flourishing trade in gold and slaves. The kingship was inherited matrilineally. Great respect was enjoyed by the queen mother, who had the right to speak in the council and represented the son when he was away on military campaigns.

The religion of the Ashanti possessed a pantheon of gods with Nyame, the god of heaven, at its head. The order of the universe was explained by definite philosophical systems. But the Ashanti do not represent their gods in images. Their contact with the supernatural is made by means of the sacred golden stool: the most sacred symbol known to the Ashanti.

Instead of religious sculpture in wood we find an explicitly courtly and emphatically secular art, concentrating upon representation of the king and his court. The king possessed a monopoly of brass casting, gold and silk. The people were allowed only wood, clay and gourds.

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