Recommended Items
-
Thank You Lord!: He Inhabits our Praise
Thank you Lord! To declare this on a sun-dappled meadow is within the ability of the feeblest of persons. But what of when turbulent currents rush across this pleasant landscape, bringing darkness and fear? Is God still good?
Struck with a diagnosis of life-threatening organ disease, Adeline, found herself in whirlpools of pain, fear and perplexity. Clutching the wheel of her vessel, struggling to find direction and stay afloat in uncharted territory, the writer finds she has little control over events.
At the end of this memoir, the reader will share the writer’s joy of discovery, her gratitude and love of the redeemed for the Redeemer, her trust of the sailor, that her Captain will bring her safely through the torrents to the harbour of His love. The reader too, will surely declare in praise -Yes, Thank you Lord!
This memoir has a place on every shelf and is of great value for everyone who seeks to find meaning in the ups and downs of life.
Elizabeth-Irene Baitie Award Winning Author
₵150.00 -
The Unconventional Mother: How I Nurtured My Daughter with Disability into a Global Leader
If you think you have seen it all, this is the book that makes you stop. No, you haven’t. The extent that a super hero of a mother goes to keep her daughter alive and functional would fire you up and revise your notes about this thing called life.
Struck at birth by an unexpected combination of strange conditions, the life of a young girl was hanging in the balance from day one. The reader cannot help but be thrilled by how a mother – in the name of God – went to battle with and against science, eventually gifting to us a world-class professional.
Sometimes a medical journal, sometimes a family drama, sometimes a life-and-death page-turner, the episodes in this book involve diverse experts, hospitals across several countries, unusual insights on health as well as a redeeming grace of the highest order. This roller coaster lifesaving journey fortifies your resolve in your own particular struggle. When you finish The Unconventional Mother, the phrase ‘it is possible’ will taste different in your mouth.
₵110.00 -
They Call Me Archie: Amazing Journey of Destiny
ONE FOR THE GIRLS
There are some life stories you just cannot beat. Each time the names of such champions drop, one might as well perform a rite of acknowledgment…any. Their lives have graced hundreds of lives, and hundreds of lives continue to be redeemed through them. They have seen it all. Done it all. They love and they are loved. These individuals have given, and still have more in store. According to the Canon of the Classics, these persons, even the gods envy.
Rosina Aboagye Acheampong is one such mortal. From the precocity of her childhood, her dance with life has been one amazing ball of faith … and chance, nay, destiny. These captivating pages reel out the adventures of a pathfinder, a mould breaker and a pacesetter. Yes, her name might be synonymous with Wesley Girls, but be it at the national or community level, to list what she has achieved is to embark on the impossible.
Beautifully, however, Archie the Matriarch does not seem to see the power of her influence. She only wants to give thanks and praise.
Not only does this book make interesting reading, it also gives deep insights into the author and her experiences as one of Ghana’s influential and foremost educationists. It is, undoubtedly, a must-read book! – John Agyekum Kufuor, former President of Ghana
I am yet to hear of any group of students who passed through her hands…who do not remember her with utmost respect and affection. – Professor Ama Ata Aidoo
As the Headmistress, she re-defined the role. Indeed, the personality she brought to the position is irreplaceable and iconic. – Ambassador Evelyn Anita Stokes
₵150.00 -
The Fourth John: Reign, Rejection & Rebound
An influential northern caucus is secretly meeting and grooming him to contest the man who will select him as a vice presidential candidate. A meeting between the first lady and the Brong-Ahafo caucus results in, perhaps, the fastest ministerial reshuffle in the history of the country. At 2a.m., before the breaking of a major scandal, there is a meeting between the president’s friend and the investigative journalist about how to involve the main opposition leader, in the story to minimise its damage to the president in the upcoming election. The wife of the president reports the wife of the vice president to the vice president’s mother. The night before a crucial election, the president and his main contender are locked up in a meeting with Ghana’s most revered traditional ruler.
These and other revealing accounts on governance, policies and programmes of the fourth presidency of Ghana’s Fourth Republic are the intriguing contents of this book. Here, the journalist whose investigations are believed to have contributed to the downfall of the administration gets brutally intimate with the regime.
Rare interviews with key figures of the governing party and historical contexts to contemporary events provide readers and students of African politics the inside story of what is considered the model democracy on the continent. The fluidity of the writing style and humour make this book about politics and governance in Ghana’s Fourth Republic both informative, educative and entertaining.
₵300.00 -
The Misleading Leaders: The Ws and H of Deceptive Authorities
This book expounds the facets of knavishness, particularly, witting and unwitting deception, their causes, and consequences.
It provides a brief overview of who leaders and authorities are, and some instances of their categorisations.
Additionally, it lays bare primary misleaders, providing examples of their methods and the harmful intentions of misguiding their contemporaries, subordinates, acolytes, and followers.
Given the characteristic traits of slyboots, the book elucidates the virtues of honesty and integrity for anyone in a leadership position, as well as for contemporaries or followers.
Finally, it exposits practical solutions for counteracting dishonesty and avoiding the traps set by those who seek to manipulate others.
₵60.00 -
Revolution and Democracy in Ghana: The Politics of Jerry Rawlings
Flight-Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings, who passed away on 12 November 2020, aged 73 years, dramatically appeared on Ghana’s political scene 40 years earlier. In May 1979, Rawlings was briefly jailed following an unsuccessful coup attempt. Rawlings and his comrades were revolted by Ghana’s corruption and economic decline at the hands of its ruling generals. A few weeks later, on 4 June 1979, Rawlings was released from prison by a group of disgruntled soldiers and took power following a successful coup d’état. Following a brief, but turbulent, few months in power, Rawlings’ Armed Forces Revolutionary Council handed over to an elected government in September 1979. Twenty-seven months later, on 31 December 1981, he was back in power, again by coup d’état. This time it was not a brief stay in the hot seat: Rawlings, leader of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), comprising three civilians and three armed forces personnel, remained in power for more than a decade. Seeking to justify the coup, Rawlings claimed that the PNDC was a necessary response to Ghana’s political and economic crisis. In January 1993, democracy returned to Ghana. Jerry Rawlings was popularly elected president twice, eventually standing down in January 2001, as the 1992 constitution demanded. Beginning his political career as a military figure with revolutionary aspirations, Rawlings ended it as a twice democratically-elected civilian president.
These are the brief facts about the political career of Flight-Lieutenant, later President, Jerry Rawlings. More than three years after his passing, Rawlings remains a pivotal, absolutely central, figure in Ghana. His enduring influence in Ghana may be second only to that of Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah. On the other hand, there is no more controversial figure in Ghana’s political and economic history than Rawlings. More than two decades after he left political office, nothing divides Ghanaians more than their opinions regarding him. This book seeks to explain how and why Rawlings and the PNDC progressed from an undemocratic military-based regime to laying the foundations for Ghana’s three decades of multi-party democracy. Was Rawlings a patriot who believed passionately in Ghana and did all he could to make the country succeed? Or was he a wrecker who wanted to bring the post-colonial edifice tumbling down in a misguided attempt at revolution? The aim of this book is to enable the reader to draw their own conclusions on these questions.
₵200.00
Best Seller Items
-
Southern African Liberation Struggles 1960-1994 (Contemporaneous Documents, 9 Volumes)
These 9 volumes are the most comprehensive historical record of the liberation struggles in southern Africa. Comprising 2.4 million words in 5,394 pages, they record interviews with liberation fighters and supporters in the Frontline states and the extraordinary sacrifices they made so that Africa could at last be free. With the fall of the South African apartheid regime, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) identified the need to record the experiences of the liberation struggles in Southern Africa, from 1960 until that final liberation in 1994. To that end, SADC launched the Hashim Mbita Project – named after the last Executive Secretary of the OAU Liberation Committee.
The research covered liberation movements in the countries which engaged in liberation wars, the Frontline states and Extension countries; and the Research Project team comprised members from the SADC mainland states of Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Lesotho and Swaziland. The support received from other regions is documented: Anglophone West Africa, Francophone Africa, North Africa, East Asia, Canada and the United States, Cuba and the Caribbean, the German Democratic Republic (GDR), Nordic Countries, Western Europe, the Soviet Union, Non-Aligned Movement: India, Yugoslavia, Indonesia, Sri lanka; Organisation of African Unity and United Nations.
₵3,000.00 -
Remnants of a Haunted Past: Forts and Castles of Ghana (Photo Book, Hardcover)
Yaw Pare is a celebrated Ghanaian photographer. This ground-breaking book richly illustrates the history and legacies of Ghana’s forts and castles through photography. In the same way that the forts and castles themselves bear witness to the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade and slavery, so too do these photographs provide compelling material and visual testimonies, offering possibilities for understanding that words do not.
In this book, the photographer’s camera captures a reality that many choose to remember but just as many choose to forget. Ultimately, Remnants of a Haunted Past: Forts and Castles of Ghana constitutes an attempt to document the past so that it is never forgotten in the present.
₵1,250.00 – ₵1,450.00Remnants of a Haunted Past: Forts and Castles of Ghana (Photo Book, Hardcover)
₵1,250.00 – ₵1,450.00 -
The Political History of Ghana (1950-2013): The Experience of a Non-Conformist – Pre-Order
This book is an instructive historical record of the First Republic of Ghana and the triumphs and tribulations of successive governments since 1950. It reminds us of the struggle between Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and his political opponents in the period preceding the achievement of political independence for Ghana, the events leading to his overthrow, and its impact on the course of Ghana’s history. It is perhaps the most comprehensive history to date of the Rawlings era, the establishment of the Fourth Republic, and the formation of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). The NDC came to eclipse the Convention People’s Party (CPP) as the rival of the Danquah-Busia tradition manifested in the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), the country’s oldest national political movement originally formed to pioneer the independence struggle but later eclipsed by the breakaway CPP. The UGCC has undergone several transformations since and today is represented by the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The book well documents the challenges facing independent Ghana, including those related to the growth of democracy nationwide and within political parties. The African liberation struggle, the drama of the Congo crisis of the 1960s, and the Liberian crisis of the 1990s are graphically re-enacted to highlight Ghana’s significant role in the events. It is perhaps the best account of the sacrifices Ghana and other ECOWAS countries, particularly Nigeria, made in returning peace to Liberia after a bitter civil war through the successful peacekeeping and peace-enforcement efforts of ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG).
The book sheds light on Dr. Obed Yao Asamoah’s evolution into a politician of no mean achievement during the creation of the Fourth Republic and as the longest serving Foreign Minister and Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Ghana has ever known, offices he held simultaneously between 1993 and 1997.
₵1,365.00 -
Kwahu State Book: Asaase Aban (Hardcover)
Information captured in the Kwahu State Book entails the history of Kwahu paramountcy including the five divisions of the Kwahu Traditional Area namely Adonten, Nifa, Benkum, Kyidom and the Gyase division; with histories of royal families, towns and villages under the divisions mentioned are well captured. Towns captured include Abene, Abetifi, Obo, Aduamoa, Pepease, Atibie, Bokuruwa, Nkwatia, Obomeng, Bepong, Asakraka, Kwahu Tafo, Pitiko, Akwasiho, Mpraeso, Twenedurase, Kotoso, Jejeti, Oframase, Awenare, Nkorkoor (Nkawkaw), Nteso, Tease, Kwahu Praso, just to mention few. The book also presents histories of the Zongo Community of Kwahu, the Okwawu Football Club, churches, schools and profiles of the prominent personalities (the Kwahu Golden members) of Kwahu.
The Kwahu State Book has fourteen (14) sections with each segmenting several topics and sub-topics about the history and cultural practices of the Kwahu Traditional Area. Other information in the book include chronology of chiefs and genealogy (family tree) of all the royal families. All of these have been codified into a single voluminous book of over 2,800 pages. It is the first of its kind in Ghana and sub-Saharan Africa.
All of these have been codified into a single voluminous book of over 2,800 pages. It is the first of its kind in Ghana and sub-Saharan Africa.
₵1,300.00 -
Falls in Ghana: Unified Guide Books & A Coffee Table Photobook (Chasing Waterfalls with Steve Ababio & Gina Arthur)
Waterfalls in Ghana are interesting, delightful and well worth the effort to seek out and explore. While Ghana does not have any with the sheer vast height or width of say Niagara Falls on the US-Canada border, or Victoria Falls in East Africa, falls in Ghana offer a much closer personal interaction in that you can stand under or much closer to the cascades and bathe or swim in their plunge pools.
The Chasing Waterfalls with Steve Ababio & Gina Arthur Guide books help make your personal journey a lot easier and more rewarding as you get to pick and choose the sort of experience you prefer. The Coffee Table Book is the perfect gift for anyone you’d like to introduce to Ghana, for your own enjoyment.
₵1,300.00₵1,350.00 -
Falls in Ghana: A Visual Collection of Waterfalls and Cascades in Ghana – A Coffee Table Photobook (Chasing Waterfalls with Steve Ababio & Gina Arthur, Hardcover)
Waterfalls in Ghana are interesting, delightful and well worth the effort to seek out and explore. While Ghana does not have any with the sheer vast height or width of say Niagara Falls on the US-Canada border, or Victoria Falls in East Africa, falls in Ghana offer a much closer personal interaction in that you can stand under or much closer to the cascades and bathe or swim in their plunge pools.
The Chasing Waterfalls with Steve Ababio & Gina Arthur Guide books help make your personal journey a lot easier and more rewarding as you get to pick and choose the sort of experience you prefer. The Coffee Table Book is the perfect gift for anyone you’d like to introduce to Ghana, for your own enjoyment.
₵950.00
-
Musing about the Catholic Social Doctrine (Hardcover)
Musings about the Catholic Social Doctrine takes a standpoint that challenges Catholics in particular and Christians in particular and Christians in general to accept that temporal or mundane matters in all spheres of human endeavor have a moral dimension founded on Gods law. For the author, the Christian faithful ought to know this divine precept so that they can engage themselves in a proper way as they live through the social reality.
The church’s teaching in this area of our humanity is what has been termed “Catholic Social Teaching (Doctrine)”. The purpose of this teaching is to present to human beings, as Javier Hervana maintains, “God’s plan for social reality…(to) enlighten our minds with truth and guides us in building up the earthly city.”
He notes passionately that it is through the knowledge of the Catholic Social Teaching that Christian charity can be most effectively practised.
₵50.00 -
Sharing Knowledge and Experience: A Profile of Kwabena Nketia – Scholar and Music Educator
Kwabena Nketia was a renowned scholar, linguist, composer, poet, researcher, teacher and musicologist in Ghana. His writings have become standard reference works on African musicology, and his work spanned many countries and interests. Nketia maintained a strong interest in Afro-American concerns, African musical traditions and Africans and blacks in the diaspora; and he worked tirelessly on establishing a theoretical framework of African music; consciousness of African identity in music; and to produce publications representing his own musical culture.
This biography concentrates on the educational and research aspects of Nketia’s work, assessing the importance of his contribution to African musicology, thought on music education, and practical application of ethnomusicology and composition in teaching method, and exercises in African rhythm.
₵25.00 -
When Darkness Falls Across The Desert
Driven by the rigours of economic instabilities in a West African country during the early nineties, the author of this book sets out to pursue better living standards in an oil-rich country in North Africa. Armed with high hopes but little money, he travels to one of Africa’s poorest regions where he is persuaded to believe that the desert was the only route to his destination. He sets out on a tedious journey with other travellers including a discontented man with a very different mission, only to realize that the treacherous desert was not only dangerous but a haven for sex-starved armed bandits who were ready to rape, kill and steal the meagre belongings they have.
₵30.00 -
Coast of Slaves
This is the first volume in Hansen’s classic slave trade trilogy. When America was discovered and plantations established, slave labour became the principal export commodity from the Gold Coast. This book is about the history of Danish/Norwegian participation in the trans- Atlantic slave trade. It describes the organisation of the trade, the participants, the challenge, and the link with the West Indies to where the slaves were transported for work on the sugar plantations. It describes Danish purchase of islands in the West Indies, and traces how the decline in Dutch and British trade, and the abilities of the Danish administration led to a golden age in the Danish slave trade in the 1770s and 1780s. In that period, the Danish share in the total slave trade exceeded ten percent; and the decline in the trade with the growth of a new European consciousness, heralded abolition.
Coast of Slaves, the first volume of the trilogy, was originally published in Danish in 1967. This English translation is edited to provide explanations about inaccessible references as well as established factual misrepresentations.
₵85.00Coast of Slaves
₵85.00 -
Are You Not A Nigerian? Thoughts on a Nation at Crossroads
*Available from 15th September 2019.
Are You Not A Nigerian? chronicles a country’s fourth attempt at democratic governance after many years of military dictatorship. Through his personal experiences and observations, Báyọ̀ Olúpohùndà captures the reality of Nigeria’s socio-political environment at the turn of the millennium, the collapse of dignity in service, and the ubiquitous “Nigerian factor” that creates entitlement.
Are You Not A Nigerian? examines the lost opportunities, the disappointment of successive administrations, and the dilemma of a nation at a crossroads.
₵60.00 -
The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“In her book, Melinda tells the stories of the inspiring people she’s met through her work all over the world, digs into the data, and powerfully illustrates issues that need our attention―from child marriage to gender inequity in the workplace.” ― President Barack Obama“The Moment of Lift is an urgent call to courage. It changed how I think about myself, my family, my work, and what’s possible in the world. Melinda weaves together vulnerable, brave storytelling and compelling data to make this one of those rare books that you carry in your heart and mind long after the last page.”
― Brené Brown, Ph.D., author of the New York Times #1 bestseller Dare to Lead
“Melinda Gates has spent many years working with women around the world. This book is an urgent manifesto for an equal society where women are valued and recognized in all spheres of life. Most of all, it is a call for unity, inclusion and connection. We need this message more than ever.” ― Malala Yousafzai“Melinda Gates’s book is a lesson in listening. A powerful, poignant, and ultimately humble call to arms.” ― Tara Westover, author of the New York Times #1 bestseller Educated
A debut from Forbes’ third most powerful woman in the world, Melinda Gates; a timely and necessary call to action for women’s empowerment.“How can we summon a moment of lift for human beings – and especially for women? Because when you lift up women, you lift up humanity.”
For the last twenty years, Melinda Gates has been on a mission to find solutions for people with the most urgent needs, wherever they live. Throughout this journey, one thing has become increasingly clear to her: If you want to lift a society up, you need to stop keeping women down.
In this moving and compelling book, Melinda shares lessons she’s learned from the inspiring people she’s met during her work and travels around the world. As she writes in the introduction, “That is why I had to write this book―to share the stories of people who have given focus and urgency to my life. I want all of us to see ways we can lift women up where we live.”
Melinda’s unforgettable narrative is backed by startling data as she presents the issues that most need our attention―from child marriage to lack of access to contraceptives to gender inequity in the workplace. And, for the first time, she writes about her personal life and the road to equality in her own marriage. Throughout, she shows how there has never been more opportunity to change the world―and ourselves.
Writing with emotion, candor, and grace, she introduces us to remarkable women and shows the power of connecting with one another.
When we lift others up, they lift us up, too.
₵355.00 -
Christians And Churches Of Africa: Salvation In Christ And Building A New African Society
Ka Mana’s book revolves around the experience that Jesus as Christ and Savior comes into the heart of men and women to transform them from within and make them agents for the transformation of the continent.₵25.00 -
Africa in Contemporary Perspective
An important feature of Ghanaian tertiary education is the foundational African Studies Programme which was initiated in the early 1960s. Unfortunately hardly any readers exist which bring together a body of knowledge on the themes, issues and debates which inform and animate research and teaching in African Studies particularly on the African continent.
This becomes even more important when we consider the need for knowledge on Africa that is not Eurocentric or sensationalised, but driven from internal understandings of life and prospects in Africa. Dominant representations and perceptions of Africa usually depict a continent in crisis. Rather than buying into external representations of Africa, with its ‘lacks’ and aspirations for Western modernities, we insist that African scholars in particular should be in the forefront of promoting understanding of the pluri-lingual, overlapping, and dense reality of life and developments on the continent, to produce relevant and usable knowledge.
Continuing and renewed interest in Africa’s resources, including the land mass, economy, minerals, visual arts and performance cultures, as well as bio-medical knowledge and products, by old and new geopolitical players, obliges African scholars to transcend disciplinary boundaries and to work with each other to advance knowledge and uses of those resources in the interests of Africa’s people.
₵110.00 -
Diamonds, Gold and War: The Making of South Africa
Southern Africa was once regarded as a worthless jumble of British colonies, Boer republics, and African chiefdoms, a troublesome region of little interest to the outside world. But then prospectors chanced upon the world’s richest deposits of diamonds and gold, setting off a titanic struggle between the British and the Boers for control of the land. The result was the costliest, bloodiest, and most humiliating war that Britain had waged in nearly a century, and the devastation of the Boer republics.
The New Yorker calls this magisterial account of those years “[an] astute history…Meredith expertly shows how the exigencies of the diamond (and then gold) rush laid the foundation for apartheid.”
₵85.00 -
The Misleading Leaders: The Ws and H of Deceptive Authorities
This book expounds the facets of knavishness, particularly, witting and unwitting deception, their causes, and consequences.
It provides a brief overview of who leaders and authorities are, and some instances of their categorisations.
Additionally, it lays bare primary misleaders, providing examples of their methods and the harmful intentions of misguiding their contemporaries, subordinates, acolytes, and followers.
Given the characteristic traits of slyboots, the book elucidates the virtues of honesty and integrity for anyone in a leadership position, as well as for contemporaries or followers.
Finally, it exposits practical solutions for counteracting dishonesty and avoiding the traps set by those who seek to manipulate others.
₵60.00 -
Give Me Your Ashes
Weaves together intimate stories- through poetry, inviting readers to explore the strength found in vulnerability.
₵100.00Give Me Your Ashes
₵100.00 -
Daniel: Faith Like Nobody’s Business
It is a beautiful rehash of the book of Daniel. It evolves as an engaging walk through of Daniel’s guiding principles for winning the battle of faith.
The reader is taken along on a privileged, intimate walk through of Daniel’s exemplary and legendary walk of faith and his diary of events – his life’s story and experiences – as documented in the book of Daniel. As the reader grants Daniel audience, he narrates the most deadly, yet beautiful faith story ever told. Daniel begins his story from his early days as a servant in King Nebuchadnezzar Palace and the numerous unpleasant encounters which ironically landed him in favorable positions instead.
The popular Daniel in the Lions’ Den story is captivating as we hear it straight from the horse’s mouth. As the story unfolds, his strong faith in God is undeniably evident in his determination to stick with God, regardless of any danger or threat to his life – even to the point of death. Daniel continues to stand tall in the many trials, temptations and difficulties he endures as he works under the three leaders who ruled the Babylonian Kingdom in succession.
We are enthralled as we observe Daniel beautifully waging and winning the war of faith… “like nobody’s business!”
₵50.00 -
‘The History of Ashanti Kings and the Whole Country Itself’ and Other Writings
The History of Ashanti Kings and the Whole Country Itself is a key text for understanding the history of the great West African kingdom of Asante (now in Ghana). It is also an early–and perhaps the earliest–example of history writing in English by an African ruler and his amanuenses. It was begun in 1907 in the Seychelles on the instructions of the Asantehene Agyeman Prempeh I, who had been in British captivity with his family since 1896, during which time he had acquired proficiency in English.
The chief source of information was his mother the Asantehemaa Yaa Kyaa, who possessed an encyclopaedic knowledge of the oral history of her own lineage, which was also the royal dynasty of Asante. The result is an indispensably detailed document that charts the history of the Asante monarchy from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. Context is provided by the inclusion of other writings by or about Agyeman Prempeh, together with four introductory essays by the world’s leading scholars of Asante history.
This fascinating volume evokes the rich historical experience of a renowned kingdom, and is of compelling interest to all concerned with the production of indigenous historical knowledge in Africa.
₵300.00 -
The Fall of The Asante Empire: The Hundred -Year War for Africa’s Gold Coast
In 1817, the first British envoy to meet the king of the Asante of West Africa was dazzled by his reception. A group of 5,000 Asante soldiers, many wearing immense caps topped with three foot eagle feathers and gold ram’s horns, engulfed him with a “zeal bordering on phrensy,” shooting muskets into the air. The envoy was escorted, as no fewer than 100 bands played, to the Asante king’s palace and greeted by a tremendous throng of 30,000 noblemen and soldiers, bedecked with so much gold that his party had to avert their eyes to avoid the blinding glare. Some Asante elders wore gold ornaments so massive they had to be supported by attendants. But a criminal being lead to his execution – hands tied, ears severed, knives thrust through his cheeks and shoulder blades – was also paraded before them as a warning of what would befall malefactors. This first encounter set the stage for one of the longest and fiercest wars in all the European conquest of Africa. At its height, the Asante empire, on the Gold Coast of Africa in present-day Ghana, comprised three million people and had its own highly sophisticated social, political, and military institutions. Armed with European firearms, the tenacious and disciplined Asante army inflicted heavy casualties on advancing British troops, in some cases defeating them. They won the respect and admiration of British commanders, and displayed a unique willingness to adapt their traditional military tactics to counter superior British technology. Even well after a British fort had been established in Kumase, the Asante capital, the indigenous culture stubbornly resisted Europeanization, as long as the “golden stool,” the sacred repository of royal power, remained in Asante hands. It was only after an entire century of fighting that resistance ultimately ceased.
₵300.00