Tom McCaskie first worked in Asante in 1967-1969 when he was a Research Fellow in the Department of History, University of Ghana at Legon. His Ph.D. (Cambridge University, 1974) was on the reign of the Asantehene Kwaku Dua (1834-1867). Since then he successively occupied professorial chairs at the Centre of West African Studies, University of Birmingham and the School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London. In addition to his ongoing research and publication on Asante he has also written on Achaemenid Persia and on Roman archaeology.

• Preface


• Abbreviations with Notes for Readers


• Illustrations


• Part I. Context


• Part II. Text: 'History of Ashanti'


• Bibliography


• Index

A history of Asante from the late 17th century to the 1930s, authorized and produced by the 12th Asantehene Osei Agyeman Prempeh II. Perhaps the single longest historical work produced by a ruler of any sub-Saharan African society, this is an indigenous account of the three hundred year history of a still vigorous African polity.