The Ahantas are an Akan people who live to the north of the Nzema. Ahanta literally means the land of Twins. The Ahanta land has been historically known as one of the richest areas on the coast of what is now Ghana. The country of Ahanta, in what is now the Western Region of the Republic of Ghana, comprised a regional power in the form of a confederacy of chiefdoms which had come in early contact with the European nations settling on the Gold Coast for the purpose of trade.

The Ahantas like their fellow Akan people migrated from the antique Akan kingdom of Bono state.

In 1656 signed the Treaty of Butre and agreed to become a protectorate of the Dutch. This treaty lasted until 1872. This ended up being one of the longest treaties signed between an African state and a European state. The relationship between the Ahanta and the Dutch was at times volatile. This includes when an Ahanta chief seized one of the forts the Dutch were using for trading, including slave trading, and resisted the cannon fire of ships and fought off a regiment of 120 soldiers. This history if this is still celebrated today in Jamaica under the name Jonkanoo.