page_title: Ashanti Empire
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Ashanti Empire / Geography
caption_attribution_description: Even though the weather was rather grey this morning, Lake Bosumtwi looked pretty nice.
context_page_description: The Asante Empire was an Akan empire and kingdom from 1701 to 1957, in what is now modern-day Ghana. It expanded from Ashanti to include the Brong-Ahafo Region, Central Region, Eastern Region, Greater Accra Region and Western Region of present-day Ghana. Due to the empire's military prowess, wealth, architecture, sophisticated hierarchy and culture, the Ashanti Kingdom has been extensively studied and has more books written by European, primarily British authors than any other indigenous culture of Sub-Saharan Africa.
  Starting in the late 17th century, the Ashanti king Osei Tutu and his adviser Okomfo Anokye established the Ashanti Kingdom, with the Golden Stool of Asante as a sole unifying symbol. Osei Tutu oversaw a massive Ashanti territorial expansion, building up the army by introducing new organisation and turning a disciplined royal and paramilitary army into an effective fighting machine. In 1701, the Ashanti army conquered Denkyira, giving the Ashanti access to the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean coastal trade with Europeans, notably the Dutch.
  The Ashanti Empire fought several wars with neighboring kindgoms and lesser organized tribes such as the Fante.
context_section_description: The Ashanti Empire was one of a series of kingdoms along the coast including Dahomey, Benin, and Oyo. The Ashanti Kingdom had mountains and large agricultural surpluses. The southern part of the Ashanti Kingdom is covered with moist semi-deciduous forest whilst the Guinea savanna covers the northern part of the Ashanti Kingdom. The Guinea Savanna consists of short deciduous and fire resistant trees. Riparian forests also occur along the Afram River and streams of the savanna zone. Soils in the Ashanti Kingdom are mainly of two types, forest ochrosols in southern the Ashanti Kingdom whilst the savanna ochrosols are confined to northern the Ashanti Kingdom.
  The predominant fauna or food rich wildlife and animal species encountered in the Ashanti Kingdom were the hen, sheep, goat, duck, turkey, rabbit, guinea fowl, fish, and the porcupine which became the national emblem of the Ashanti Kingdom, as well as about thirty multipurpose flora species of trees and shrubs and over thirty-five ornamental plants beautifying the Ashanti Kingdom environs. These tree/shrub-crop-animal (hen/fish) components were intensively integrated spatially and/or sequentially on the same land unit of individual Asante houses.
caption: Asante Mountains and Lake Bosumtwi natural lake.
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