History of Kumasi

Although various oral sources differ on the origin of Kumasi, majority agree it emerged as the capital of Ashanti under Osei Kofi Tutu I in the late 17th century.

In the early 18th century, Kumasi was invaded and sacked by the Aowin but the invasion was curbed by Asantehene Opoku Ware I.

After Ghana gained independence as a sovereign state, Kumasi has served as the capital of the Ashanti Region.

[5] Other oral sources state it was Nana Oti Akenten who negotiated with the chief of Tafo for a plot of land under a Kum tree.

[6] Other traditions indicate that Oti built Kwaman and it was his son Nana Obiri Yeboa who created Kumasi instead.

The majority of oral sources attribute the choice of site to Okomfo Anokye who was said to have planted two Kum seeds; one in Kwaman and another in Kumawu as he decreed that the one which grew would be designated as the capital of Osei Tutu’s empire.

[10] Asantehene Opoku Ware I and his army were away from the capital in battlefield when news reached of the destruction of Kumasi.

[12] In 1816, Huydecooper described Kumasi as having clean and straight streets with "houses excellently built, the latter being fairly tall but for the most part only one story.

"[9] A year later, Thomas Edward Bowdich documented that the central city, with the exclusion of suburbs such as Bantama and Asafo - was oblong shaped and had a perimeter of approximately 4 miles.

He concludes that this condition was because Asantehene Osei Bonsu and his major administrators had recently returned from the war against Gyaman.

[15] It was during the reign of Osei Bonsu that Muslims from Islamic states in modern Ghana formed a permanent settlement in Kumasi.

In 1839, Thomas Birch Freeman wrote: The streets are large and more clean than I have seen in any native town since my arrival in Africa.

A row of splendid Banyan-trees, planted at a considerable distance from each other, occupies some of the large streets, affording a delightful shade from the burning rays of the sun...Governor William Winniett's description of Kumasi in 1848 closely matched that of Freeman.

[22][14] European sources in the late 19th century mentioned the city's neatness such as the account of F. Boyle in 1874 who stated Kumasi's smell "are never those of sewage" as well as Brackenbury, who wrote around 1873 that "the streets are generally very broad and clean, and ornamented with many beautiful banyan-trees affording grateful shade from the powerful rays of the sun.

"[16] In contrast, William Butler described the city amid the British invasion, as 'a filthier, and far more blood-stained collection of mud and wattle hovels than any other village in the forest.

[26] Native carriers were generally blamed for torching the city, and British engineers made strenuous efforts to quell the fires.

[25] In 1888, R. Austin Freeman was disappointed with the ruins of Kumasi following the British destruction in 1874 and the Ashanti civil war before 1888.

Yet there remained some few vestiges to show what Kumasi had been in its palmy days... A few broad, well-kept streets still existed, lined by houses, [of] ... admirable construction, careful and artistic finish and excellent repair... Freeman notes that besides the British invasion of 1874, a civil war lasting 5 years took place in Asante and concluded by 1888.

[14] A war broke out in 1900 following Governor Frederick Mitchell Hodgson's speech in Kumasi about his demand of the Golden Stool.

In 1905, the wetlands close to central part of the town were drained for the construction of railways and its station to connect Accra and Cape Coast.

Under the colonial government, the Kumasi economy became cash-based with the establishment of industries to tap into rubber and cocoa.

In the 1940s, the District commissioner revived Akan courtyard architecture with British influence but this received poor reception from the locals for its unsanitary and uncomfortable conditions.

In 1944, the District Commissioner promoted the construction of nuclear settlements in Kumasi Zongo which received mixed reception.

[27] Schmidt argues that the British colonial government segregated Kumasi’s residential districts on racial lines.