Queen Pokou was born princess of Kumasi, Ghana, daughter of Nyakou Kosiamoa, sister of Dakon, the ill-fated successor of Opoku Ware I, and niece of Osei Kofi Tutu I, a formidable king who was the co-founder of the Ashanti Empire.
[2] Queen Pokou became the leader of a breakaway group from the main Ashanti Empire, which she refused to join.
Pokou asked her priest for council, and he told her the sacrifice of a noble child was required to cross the river.
Legend has it that, after the sacrifice, hippopotami appeared and formed a bridge, which Pokou and her people used to cross to the opposite bank of the Komoé.
[8] The story of Queen Pokou and the Baoule was also retold by Maximilien Quenum in his Légendes africaines.