Yaa Asantewaa, Queen Mother Of The Ashanti

Yaa Asantewaa (1840 -1921) was Queen mother of the Ashanti Empire – now part of modern-day Ghana. Yaa Asantewaa famously led the Ashanti rebellion known as the war of the ‘Golden Stool’ against British Colonialism in 1900. 

The War of the Golden Stool

The war began in 1896 when the British governor-general of the Gold Coast, demanded the Golden Stool, the symbol of the Ashanti nation, as a way to assert power their power over the empire. The Golden Stool was sacred to the Ashanti people and so naturally they refused to hand it over. The refusal did not go down well with British who responded with military action, arresting and exiling the then King Prempeh I. The British continued to apply pressure on the nation which eventually led to a secret meeting of the remaining members of the Asante government, to discuss how to secure the return of their king and the possibility of surrendering the Golden Stool. Yaa Asantewaa, who was present at this meeting, stood and addressed the members of the council with these now-famous words:

Now I have seen that some of you fear to go forward to fight for our King. If it were the brave days of Osei Tutu, Okomfo Anokye and Opuku Ware I, chiefs would not sit down to see their king taken without firing a shot. No white man could have dared to speak to the Chief of Asante in the way the governor spoke to you chiefs this morning. Is it true that the bravery of Asante is no more? I cannot believe it. It cannot be! I must say this: if you, the men of Asante, will not go forward, then we will. I shall call upon my fellow women. We will fight the white men. We will fight till the last of us falls on the battlefield.

In March 1900, Yaa Asantewaa led a rebellion against the British. They fought for several months before their defeat in September. Yaa Asantewaa and other rebel leaders were captured and exiled in Seychelles.

Yaa Asantewaa, who became a symbol of resistance and courage, remains a much-loved heroine in Ghanaian history for her defiance to colonialism of the British. Yaa Asantewaa's dream for an Asante free of British rule was realized on 6 March 1957, when the Asante protectorate gained independence as part of Ghana, the first African nation in Sub-Saharan Africa to achieve this feat.