Ashanti people
The lands within the Ashanti Region are also rich in both land-soil gold and river-gold, cocoa and kola nuts, and the Ashanti were soon trading with the Portuguese at coastal fort "Sao Jorge da Mina". The Ashanti people prepared the fields by burning before the onset of the rainy season and cultivated with an iron hoe. Fields are left fallow for a couple years, usually after two to four years of cultivation. Plants cultivated include plantains, yams, manioc, corn, wheat, sweet potatoes, millet, beans, onions, peanuts, tomatoes, and many fruits. Manioc and corn are New World transplants introduced during the Atlantic European trade. Many of these vegetable crops could be harvested twice a year and the cassava (manioc), after a two-year growth, provides a starchy root. The Ashanti transformed palm wine, maize and millet into beer, a favorite drink; and made use of the oil from palm for many culinary and domestic uses. Infrastructure such as road transport and communication throughout the Ashanti Kingdom was maintained via a network of well-kept roads from the Ashanti Kingdom to the Niger river and linking together other trade cities. The Ashanti people invented the Fontomfrom, an Asante talking drum, and the Ashanti also invented the Akan Drum. The Ashanti people drummed messages to the extents of over 200 miles (321.8 kilometers), as rapidly as a telegraph. Ashanti Language (Twi) the language of the Ashanti people is tonal and more meaning is generated by tone. The drums reproduced these tones, punctuations, and the accents of a phrase so that the cultivated ear hears the entirety of the phrase itself. The Ashanti people readily heard and understood the phrases produced by these "talking drums". Standard phrases called for meetings of the chiefs or to arms, warned of danger, and broadcast announcements of the death of important figures. Some drums were used for proverbs and ceremonial presentations.