The Okomfo Anokye Sword
Located in the middle of Kumasi's sprawling hospital grounds, a sword buried into the ground marks the birthplace of the Ashanti Kingdom. In this exact spot, many centuries ago, the various Akan tribes from the area banded together for the common cause of war. The historic occasion was marked with this sword, which has been wedged immovably in the earth, ever since.
At some point toward the end of the 1600s, well after the arrival of the Europeans to Ghana's coasts, but before Britain's establishment of the Gold Coast Colony, an Akan priest by the name of Okomfo Anokye gathered the chiefs of various tribes from around the area to this spot in Kumasi. He sat them in a circle, and then proclaimed that a golden stool would descend from the sky, and land in the lap of the man most fit to lead the federation.
The line between fact and myth might be blurry, but let's be generous and accept that the stool did in fact appear from the heavens, and settled onto the lap of Osei Kofi Tutu I. The new king managed to lead his troops to victory against the powerful Denkyira, who were subsequently absorbed into the ascendant Ashanti Empire. The Ashantis would maintain their dominance over the region for centuries, gobbling up neighboring lands until possessing territory larger than even present-day Ghana.
Visiting the sword was a fantastic experience, thanks mostly to the friendly enthusiasm of our guide, who shared the story of the Golden Stool and the formation of the empire. He told us how the stools of the other leaders were all buried in this exact spot, and how the sword was put into the ground to mark the location. The sword is apparently impossible to remove, though we weren't about to hop into the pit and try.
This was a perfect initial activity in Kumasi, providing an origin story for the Ashantis: a fascinating culture we'd be learning plenty more about in the coming weeks.
Learn more about our travel project on Steemit by clicking on the banner above and join our community on Discord
That's a nice story about getting chosen as a leader.
And that's an interesting name for an empire. Ashanti in my native language (and most of the Indian languages) means lack of Peace.
I wonder if there is a connection! Also Ashanti here means "warlike" And there are many Indians here which also means many delicious indian restaurants as well.
That makes sense about the meaning then, the word has a similar usage in India too.
A fascinating culture indeed @for91days I really enjoyed reading this post and seeing your interesting photos. It is highly unlikely that I would come across an article like this without steemit. Thanks so much for sharing your travels with us. 🌹 🌻 🌹
It's our pleasure and thank you for reading. We're having some more posts coming up about the Ashanti and their traditions. We loved the way they give names to their children. Stay tuned for that.
Hi @for91days!
Your post was upvoted by @steem-ua, new Steem dApp, using UserAuthority for algorithmic post curation!
Your UA account score is currently 4.924 which ranks you at #1233 across all Steem accounts.
Your rank has not changed in the last three days.
In our last Algorithmic Curation Round, consisting of 188 contributions, your post is ranked at #109.
Evaluation of your UA score:
Feel free to join our @steem-ua Discord server
Hi, @for91days!
You just got a 9.42% upvote from SteemPlus!
To get higher upvotes, earn more SteemPlus Points (SPP). On your Steemit wallet, check your SPP balance and click on "How to earn SPP?" to find out all the ways to earn.
If you're not using SteemPlus yet, please check our last posts in here to see the many ways in which SteemPlus can improve your Steem experience on Steemit and Busy.
Congratulations, Your Post Has Been Added To The Steemit Worldmap!
Author link: http://steemitworldmap.com?author=for91days
Post link: http://steemitworldmap.com?post=theokomfoanokyesword-pn4xpecw4j
Want to have your post on the map too?
Hiya, @lizanomadsoul here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made the Honorable mentions list in today's Travel Digest #478.
Your post has been manually curated by the @steemitworldmap team, and if you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider upvoting and supporting us.