Akan

17th Century Akan Terracotta – Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Total population
20 – 40 million Ethnic Akan worldwide (est.) [N 1][1][2]
Regions with significant populations
Ghana ~12 Million  Côte d'Ivoire ~8 Million  Brazil  Jamaica  Suriname Ndyuka Other Caribbean countries  United States  United Kingdom 25,000+  Netherlands 18,000+  Canada 8,000+  France
Languages
Akan language and languages
Religion
Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Historical Akan diaspora: Afro-Brazilian • Coromantins • Suriname Ndyuka • African American
Footnotes
Further diaspora due to Slavery is unknown ^ Sources vary widely about the population. The CIA World Factbook population total suggests 20 million, but due to the Jamaica's Coromantins, Brazil's Afro-Brazilian's, Suriname's Ndyuka, and USA's African American's history in the slave trade, and the Akan's major role in the Atlantic slave trade, the total population suggested by the CIA World Factbook of 20 million is likely to be a major underestimate.

The Akan people are an ethnic group found predominantly in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Akans are the majority in both of these countries and overall have a population of 40 million people.^[1][2] The Akan speak Kwa languages.^[3]

Origin and ethnogenesis[link]

The Akan are believed to have migrated to their current location from the Sahel^[4] between the 10th and 12th Century.^[5][6] The kingdom of Bonoman was established as early as the 11th century as a trading state between the Akan and their neighbors, especially those from Djenné, Timbuktu, Bornu among others.^[7] A gold boom in the Akan area between the 12th and 13th centuries brought wealth to numerous Akan peoples.^[8] During different phases of the Kingdom of Bonoman groups of Akans migrated out of the area to create numerous states based predominantly on gold mining and trading of cash crops.^[9][10] This brought wealth to numerous Akan states like Akwamu which stretched all the way to modern Benin^[11] and ultimately led to the rise of the most powerful Akan empire, the Empire of Ashanti.^[12]

Brief recent history[link]

Traditional Akan Stool, c.1960.

From the 15th century to the 19th century the Akan people dominated gold mining and trading in the region and, from the 17th century on, they were among the most powerful groups in west Africa.^[13][14] They fought against European colonists to maintain autonomy.^[13][14][15] By the early 1900s all Akan lands were colonies or protectorates of the French and British. On the 6th of March 1957 Akan lands in the Gold Coast rejected British rule and, led by Kwame Nkrumah, were joined to British Togoland to form the independent nation of Ghana. The Ivory Coast became independent on 7 August 1960.^[16]

Akan subgroups[link]

The Akan people includes the following subgroups: Ashanti, Akwamu, Akyem, Akuapem, Denkyira, Abron, Aowin, Ahanta, Anyi, Baoule, Chokosi, Fante, Kwahu, Sefwi, Ahafo, Assin, Evalue, Wassa, Adjukru, Akye, Alladian, Attie, M'Bato, Abidji, Avikam, Avatime, Ebrie, Ehotile, Nzema, Abbe, Aboure, Coromantins, Ndyuka people and other peoples of both modern day Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire or of origin in these countries.^[1][2][17]

Akan states and surrounding areas, c. 1625.

Culture[link]

Akan culture is one of the traditional matrilineal cultures of Africa.^[18] Akan art is wide-ranging and renowned, especially for the tradition of crafting bronze gold weights, using the lost-wax casting method. The Akan culture is the most dominant and apparent in present-day Ghana.^[19]

Some of their most important mythological stories are called anansesem, literally meaning 'the spider story', but in a figurative sense also meaning "traveler's tales". These "spider stories" are sometimes also referred to as nyankomsem; 'words of a sky god'. The stories generally, but not always, revolve around Kwaku Ananse, a trickster spirit, often depicted as a spider, human, or a combination thereof.^[20]

Elements of Akan culture also include, but are not limited to:^{[21][22][23][24][25]}

Concepts of Akan philosophy and inheritance[link]

• Abusua (Modja) – What an Akan inherits from his mother
• Ntoro – What an Akan gets from his father, but one does not belong to a Ntoro; instead one belong to one's Abusua
• Sunsum – What an Akan develops from interaction with the world
• Kra – What an Akan gets from Onyame (God)^[26]

Matrilineality[link]

Many but not all of the Akan still^[27] practice their traditional matrilineal customs, living in their traditional extended family households. The traditional Akan rural economic and political organization is based on matrilineal lineages, which are the basis of inheritance and succession. A lineage is defined as all those related by matrilineal descent from a particular ancestress. Several lineages are grouped into a political unit headed by a chief and a council of elders, each of whom is the elected head of a lineage – which itself may include multiple extended-family households.

Public offices are thus vested in the lineage, as are land tenure and other lineage property. In other words, lineage property is inherited only by matrilineal kin.^[27][28] Each lineage controls the lineage land farmed by its members, functions together in the veneration of its ancestors, supervises marriages of its members, and settles internal disputes among its members.^[29]

The political units above are likewise grouped into eight larger groups called abusua, similar to clans in other societies: Aduana, Agona, Asakyiri, Asenie, Asona, Bretuo, Ekuona and Oyoko. The members of each such abusua are united by their belief that they are all descended from the same ancient ancestress – so marriage between members of the same group (or abusua) is forbidden, a taboo on marriage. One inherits, or is a lifelong member of, the lineage, the political unit and the abusua of one's mother, regardless of one's gender or marriage. Members and their spouses thus belong to different abusuas, with mother and children living and working in one household, but their husband/father living and working in a different household.^[27][28]

According to one source^[30] of information about the Akan, "A man is strongly related to his mother's brother (wɔfa) but only weakly related to his father's brother. This must be viewed in the context of a polygamous society in which the mother/child bond is likely to be much stronger than the father/child bond. As a result, in inheritance, a man's nephew (his sister's son) (wɔfase) will have priority over his own son. Uncle-nephew relationships therefore assume a dominant position."^[30]

"The principles governing inheritance stress sex, generation and age – that is to say, men come before women and seniors before juniors." .... When a woman’s brothers are available, a consideration of generational seniority stipulates that the line of brothers be exhausted before the right to inherit lineage property passes down to the next senior genealogical generation of sisters' sons. Finally, "it is when all possible male heirs have been exhausted that the females" may inherit.^[30]

Certain other aspects of the Akan culture are determined patrilineally rather than matrilineally. There are 12 patrilineal Ntoro (spirit) groups, and everyone belongs to his or her father's Ntoro group, but not to his family lineage and abusua. Each Ntoro group has its own surnames,^[31] taboos, ritual purifications and forms of etiquette.^[28] A person thus inherits one's Ntoro from one's father, but does not belong to his family.

A recent (2001) book^[27] provides an update on the Akan, stating that some families are changing from the above abusua structure to the nuclear family.^[32] Housing, childcare, education, daily work, and elder care etc. are then handled by that individual family, rather than by the abusua or clan, especially in the city.^[33] The above taboo on marriage within one's abusua is sometimes ignored, but "clan membership" is still important,^[32] with many people still living in the abusua framework presented above.^[27]

Akan influence[link]

Elements of Akan culture can generally be seen in many geographic areas. Specific elements of Akan culture are especially seen in neighboring West African peoples and some Central African populations. Akan culture has also been historically important in the New World, where Akan names are or were common,^[34] for example among the Coromantins of Jamaica, and the descendants of the Akwamu in St. John.

[edit] Famous Akan people ¹

See also[link]

• Empire of Ashanti
• Gyaaman
• List of rulers of the Akan state of Adanse
• List of rulers of the Akan states of Akwamu and Twifo-Heman
• List of rulers of the Akan state of Bono-Tekyiman
• List of rulers of the Akan state of Denkyira
• List of rulers of the Akan state of Gyaaman
• Rulers of the Akan state of Asante
• Rulers of the Akan state of Akyem Abuakwa

Endnotes[link]

References[link]

• Antubam, Kofi; Ghana's heritage of Culture, Leipzig 1963
• Kyerematen, A.A.Y.; Panoply of Ghana, London 1964
• Meyerowitz, Eva L. R.; Akan Traditions of Origin, London (published around 1950)
• Meyerowitz, Eva L. R.; At the court of an African King, London 1962
• Obeng, Ernest E.; Ancient Ashanti Chieftaincy, Tema (Ghana) 1986
• Bartle, Philip F.W. (January 1978). "Forty Days; The AkanCalendar". Africa: Journal of the International African Institute.. (Edinburgh University Press) 48 (1): 80–84.
• For the Akan, the first-born twin is considered the younger, as the elder stays behind to help the younger out.
• Kente Cloth." African Journey. webmaster@projectexploration.org. 25 Sep 2007.

• Effah-Gyamfi, Kwaku (1979) Traditional history of the Bono State Legon: Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana.
• Effah-Gyamfi, Kwaku (1985) Bono Manso: an archaeological investigation into early Akan urbanism (African occasional papers, no. 2) Calgary: Dept. of Archaeology, University of Calgary Press. ISBN 0-919813-27-5
• Meyerowitz, E.L.R. (1949) 'Bono-Mansu, the earliest centre of civilisation in the Gold Coast', Proceedings of the III International West African Conference, 118–120.

External links[link]

• Kasahorow Akan Dictionary The Dictionary of Standard Written Akan
• Akan gold trade

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The Jamaican Maroons are descended from slaves who escaped from slavery and established free communities in the mountainous interior of Jamaica during the long era of slavery in the island. African slaves imported during the Spanish period may have provided the first runaways, apparently mixing with the Native American Taino or Arawak people that remained in the country. Some may have gained liberty when the English attacked Jamaica and took it in 1655, and subsequently. For about 52 years, until the 1737 peace treaty with the British rulers of the island the Maroons stubbornly resisted conquest.

History[link]

When the British captured Jamaica in 1655 the Spanish colonists fled leaving a large number of African slaves. Rather than be re-enslaved by the British, they escaped into the hilly, mountainous regions of the island, joining those who had previously escaped from the Spanish to live with the Taínos. The Maroons intermarried with Amerindian natives, establishing independence in the back country and survived by subsistence farming and by raiding plantations. Over time, the Maroons came to control large areas of the Jamaican interior.

Their plantation raids resulted in the First Maroon War. The two main Maroon groups in the 18th century were the Leeward and the Windward tribes, the former led by Cudjoe in Trelawny Town and the latter led by his sister Queen Nanny (and later by Quao).^[1] Queen Nanny, also known as Granny Nanny (died 1733) is the only female listed among Jamaica's National Heroes, and has been immortalised in songs and legends. She was known for her exceptional leadership skills, especially in guerrilla warfare, which were particularly important in the First Maroon War in the early 18th century. Her remains are reputedly buried at " Bump Grave" in Moore Town, the main town of the Windward Maroons who are concentrated in and around the Rio Grande valley in the northeastern parish of Portland.

In 1739-40 the British governor in Jamaica signed a treaty with the Maroons, promising them 2500 acres (10 km²) in two locations. They were to remain in their five main towns Accompong, Trelawny Town, Mountain Top, Scots Hall, Nanny Town, living under their own chief with a British supervisor. In exchange, they agreed not to harbour new runaway slaves, but rather to help catch them. They were paid a bounty of two dollars for each returned slave. This last clause in the treaty naturally caused tension between the Maroons and the enslaved black population, although from time to time runaways from the plantations still found their way into Maroon settlements. Originally, Jamaican Maroons fought against slavery and maintained their independence from the British. However, in the treaty of 1738, they were also paid to return captured slaves and fight for the British in the case of an attack from the French or Spanish.

However, when a new Governor took power in 1795 and began to mistreat the Maroons tensions between planters and Maroons grew and a Second Maroon War broke out. The Accompong Maroons remained neutral and the British left them alone. The British fought with 100 Cuban dogs and brought in 5,000 troops. By the end of the war, the other Maroon settlements in Jamaica had been destroyed, and Accompong alone remained. Despite the fact that the Maroons surrendered on the condition that they would not be exported, just a year later 568 were taken to Canada^[2].

Deportation to Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone[link]

In 1796 about 600 Jamaican Maroons from Trelawney Town were deported from Jamaica to Nova Scotia following their rebellion against the colonial government.^[3] The Jamaican government tired of the cost of maintaining order, had decided to rid themselves of "the problem". Immediate actions were put in place for the removal of one group of Maroons (Trelawney) to Lower Canada (Quebec); Upper Canada (Ontario) had also been suggested as a suitable place. However, it was eventually decided that this group be sent to Halifax, Nova Scotia, until any further instructions were received from England. Two gentlemen, Messrs Quarrell and Octerloney, were sent from Jamaica with the Maroons as Commissioners.

On 26 June 1796, the Dover, Mary, and Anne sailed from Port Royal Harbour, Jamaica to Halifax. One arrived in Halifax on 21 July, the other two followed two days later bringing in total 543 men, women and children. The Duke of Kent and Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in North America, impressed with the proud bearing and other characteristics of the Maroons, employed the group to work on the new fortifications at the Citadel Hill in Halifax. The Lieutenant-Governor Sir John Wentworth believed that the Maroons would be good settlers. He then received orders from the Duke of Portland to settle them in Nova Scotia. Following this the two commissioners responsible with credit of 25,000 Jamaican pounds from the government of Jamaica, expended £3,000 on 5,000 acres (20 km²) of land and built the community of Preston. Governor Wentworth also was granted an allowance of £240 annually from England to provide religious instruction and schooling for the community. After the first winter, the Maroons, raised in an independent culture and not impressed with the apparently servile virtues of cultivating the soil, became less tolerant of the conditions in which they were living.

The British government decided it would be better to send them to Freetown in Sierra Leone (West Africa) rather than try to persuade them to farm in a cold climate of Canada, and the survivors were deported there in 1800. Not surprisingly, exile to Africa was not an easy transition for the Trelawney Maroons. "By 1841, 90 per cent [sic] of the remaining Maroons in Freetown -- some 591 people --returned to Jamaica" to work for "Jamaican planters" who "desperately needed workers"^[4].

The Jamaican Maroons are still well remembered in Sierra Leone today. Those who remained gradually merged with the larger Creole community, the descendants of various groups of freed slaves landed in Freetown between 1792 and about 1855. But some modern Creoles (or "Krios") still proudly claim descent from the Maroons. The Creole congregation of Freetown's St. John's Maroon Church, which was built by the Maroons in 1820 on what is now the city's main street, are especially vocal in proclaiming their descent from the Jamaican exiles.

The Maroons today[link]

To this day, the Maroons in Jamaica are to a small extent autonomous and separate from Jamaican culture. The isolation used to their advantage by their ancestors has today led to their communities being amongst the most inaccessible on the island. In their largest town, Accompong, in the parish of St. Elizabeth, the Leeward Maroons still possess a vibrant community of about 600. Tours of the village are offered to foreigners and a large festival is put on every 6 January to commemorate the signing of the peace treaty with the British after the Maroon War.^[5][6]

Akan[link]

At least some of the Jamaican Maroons were originally of the Akan people of the present Ghana^[7] and they used Akan names in various forms, based on the day of the week on which a person was born^[8]:

Sunday: Quashie / Quasheba

Monday: Cudjoe / Kujo / Juba

Tuesday: Bene Cobena

Wednesday: Quaco Cooba

Thursday: Quaw Aba

Friday: Cuffe Fiba

Saturday: Quamin Mimba

The council of a Maroon settlement is called an Osofu^[9], very similar to the Akan:Twi word asafo (= assembly, church)^[10][11]

Films[link]

• 1984 - Caribbean Crucible. From Repercussions: A Celebration of African-American Music series, program 6. Directed by Dennis Marks and Geoffrey Haydon.

See also[link]

• Maroon (people)
• Maroon Town, Sierra Leone
• Dread & Alive comic series centered around a maroon.
• Sierra Leone Krio people
• Black Nova Scotians

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Campbell, Mavis C. The Maroons of Jamaica, 1655-1796: A History of Resistance, Collaboration & Betrayal. Granby, Mass: Bergin & Garvey. 1988. ISBN 0-89789-148-1
• Dallas, R. C. The History of the Maroons, from Their Origin to the Establishment of Their Chief Tribe at Sierra Leone. 2 vols. London: Longman. 1803.
• Fortin, Jeffrey A. "'Blackened Beyond Our Native Hue': Removal, Identity and the Trelawney Maroons on the Margins of the Atlantic World, 1796_1800." Citizenship Studies. Vol. 10. No. 1. 5-34. February 2006.
• Thompson, Alvin O. Flight to Freedom: African Runaways and Maroons in the Americas. Kingston: U of West Indies P. 2006. ISBN 976-640-180-2

External links[link]

• Common Medicinal Plants of Portland, Jamaica Maroon/Marocon culture
• [2] Queen Nanny Windward Maroons
• [3] The Maroons of Jamaica

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