Osei Kwadwo

Osei Kwadwo was the 4th Asantehene of the Ashanti Empire who reigned from 1764 to 1777. He was succeeded by Osei Kwame Panyin.

Osei Kwadwo
Asantehene
Reignc. 1764 – 1777
PredecessorKusi Obodom
SuccessorOsei Kwame Panyin

Reign

Domestic affairs

During his reign, Osei Kwadwo formed the office of the Akwanmofohene, which translates as "chief inspector of the nuisances and path cleaners." It was formed as the head of the Akwanmofo, which was the agency responsible for the maintaining the roads of the Ashanti Empire. The first to be appointed into the Akwanmofohene office was Adabo, son of Kusi Obodom.[1]

Foreign affairs

During the reign of Kusi Obodom, an alliance was formed among the coastal states including Akyem, Wassa, Denkyira Twifo and Fante. This alliance was formed to oppose Ashanti expansionism towards the Coast. By the late 1750s, the alliance disintegrated following the withdrawal of the Fante as well as the decline in relations with fellow member Denkyira.[2][3] In June 1765 Osei Kwadwo waged war on the alliance.[3] The armies of Wassa and Twifo escaped to Fante territory but the Akyem were defeated.[4][3] As a result, Akyem Abuakwa was conquered into the Ashanti Empire.[4] This conquest enabled the Ashanti to open the 5th Great Road by 1766.[4][5]

Under his predecessor, Kusi Obodom, Ashanti–Dahomey relations had soured.[6] After Dahomean King Kpengla came into power in the late 18th century, he sent an embassy with gifts to Kumasi to improve the relations between the two states. Osei Kwadwo requited this gesture by sending an embassy to Abomey, the capital of Dahomey. Historian Wilks hypothesizes that it was through these exchange of missions between the two leaders that the Togo hills was affirmed as a neutral zone between Ashanti and Dahomey.[7]

See also

References
  1. Ivor Wilks (1989), p. 35
  2. Fynn, John K. (1965). "The Reign and Times of Kusi Obodum, 1750-64". Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana. 8: 24–32. JSTOR 41403567. S2CID 155465956.
  3. Priestley, Margaret (1961). "The Ashanti Question and the British: Eighteenth-Century Origins". The Journal of African History. 2 (1): 35–59. doi:10.1017/S0021853700002139. JSTOR 179582. S2CID 153355150.
  4. Ivor Wilks (1989), p. 27-8
  5. Kurt, Beck.; Klaeger, Gabriel; Stasik, Michael (2017). The Making of the African Road. Brill. p. 91. ISBN 9789004339040.
  6. Ivor Wilks (1989), p. 320
  7. Ivor Wilks (1989), p. 321

Bibliography


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