Prempeh I

Prempeh I
Asantehene of Asanteman; Kumasehene of Kumasi
King of the Kingdom of Ashanti
Reign 26 March 1888 – 12 May 1931
Coronation 26 March 1888
Predecessor Owusu Sekyere II
Successor Prempeh II
Born (1870-12-18)18 December 1870
Kumasi, Kingdom of Ashanti
Died 12 May 1931(1931-05-12) (aged 60)
Full name
Otumfuo Nana Prempeh I
House House of Beretuo Dynasty
Mother Queen Asantehemaa Yaa Akyaa

Prempeh I (Otumfuo Nana Prempeh I, 18 December 1870 – 12 May 1931) was the thirteenth King ruler of the Asante state of the Kingdom of Ashanti and the Asante Oyoko Abohyen Dynasty.[1] King Asantehene Prempeh I ruled from March 26, 1888 until his death in 1931, and fought an Ashanti war against Britain in 1893.[2]

Biography

Early life and family

King Asantehene Prempeh I original throne name was Prince Kwaku Dua III Asamu of the Kingdom of Ashanti and Prempeh I's mother Queen Asantehemaa Yaa Akyaa queen mother of the Kingdom of Ashanti from 1880 to 1917, had through strategic political marriages built the military power to secure the Golden Stool for her son Prince Prempeh.[3]

Throne and as King of the Kingdom of Ashanti

Accession to the throne

In 1888 Prince Prempeh ascended to throne, enthroned 16-year-old King Asantehene Prempeh I of the Kingdom of Ashanti, as king of the Kingdom of Ashanti King Asantehene Prempeh I assumed the throne name Kwaku Dua III as King Asantehene Prempeh I's kingship was beset by difficulties from the very onset of his reign. King Asantehene Prempeh I of the Kingdom of Ashanti began the defending of Asante from Britain and when Prempeh I was asked by Britain to accept a protectorate over his state Kingdom of Ashanti, King Asantehene Prempeh I rejected it and stated in his reply that Britain had miscalculated.[3]

King Asantehene Prempeh I began an active campaign of the Asante sovereignty. The British offered to take the Kingdom of Ashanti under their protection, but King Asantehene Prempeh I of the Kingdom of Ashanti refused each request.[3]

The Telegraph Battalion RE (predecessor of the Royal Corps of Signals) took part and played a prominent part in the Ashanti Campaign of 1895 - 1896. It was during this campaign that men of the Telegraph Battalion hacked a path for an overhead line from the Cape coast to Prahsu, covering 72 miles through the jungle. These troops then staggered out of the jungle, confronted King Prempeh and accepted the surrender of his army. King Prempeh's throne is now displayed in the Royal Signals Museum at Blandford.[4]

In 1900, a request that the Ashanti people turn over the "golden stool"–the very symbol of Ashanti absolute monarchy governance to the Ashanti people.[5] The Kingdom of Ashanti gave no resistance and became semi-autonomous members of the British Empire, the Ashanti did later rebel against the British to fight the War of the Golden Stool or Yaa Asantewaa war in 1900-01. In the end, the British were victorious; they exiled Asantewaa and other Asante leaders to the Seychelles to join Asante King Prempeh I. In January 1902, Britain finally designated Asanteman as a protectorate. Asanteman was restored to independence on 31 January 1935.[6]

Prempeh I would spend time in his villa on Mahe from repatriation, the largest of the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean, the villa was formerly a huge plantation, covered with coconut trees, mango, breadfruit and orange trees as well as a two-story villa. Prempeh I villa, and 16 new wooden houses with sandy floors and roofed with corrugated iron-sheets were built in Seychelles and allocated for the various Asante nobles. Prempeh made an effort to educate himself in English and to make certain that the children received education.[3]

The King Asantehene Prempeh I stance stated, "My Kingdom of Ashanti will never commit itself to any such policy of protection; Ashanti people and the Kingdom of Ashanti must remain a independent sovereign state as of old, and at the same time be friends with all white men".[3]

Upon Prempeh's death on 12 May 1931 he was succeeded by his heir apparent Prempeh II of the Kingdom of Ashanti. He is buried in Kumasi.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Nana Prempeh I (1870-1931)
  2. ↑ Robin Hallett, Africa Since 1875: A Modern History (University of Michigan Press: Ann Arbor, 1974) p. 281.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Robin Hallett, Africa Since 1875: A Modern History, p 28.
  4. ↑ http://royalsignalsmuseum.co.uk/WebSite/index.php/royal-signals-history/2011-10-26-23-11-03/corps-history
  5. ↑ Robin Hallett, Africa Since 1875: A Modern History, p. 281.
  6. ↑ Ashanti Empire#Ashanti uprising of 1900 and since 1935
Asantehene Genealogical Tree Timeline History
Genealogical tree of the Asantehenes the Emperors of the Ashanti people and Ashanti City-State and Ashantiland and Empire of Ashanti
Kwaamanhene of the Kwaaman State (1570–1640)
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  • Kobia Amamfi
  • Oti Akenten
Kumasehene of the Kumaseman State (1640–1701)
Asantehene of the Kingdom of Ashanti (1701–1902)
Asantehene of Ashanti Protectorate (1902–1935)
Asantehene of Ashanti Sovereign-State (1935–1957)
Asantehene of Ashanti City-State (1957–present)
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