The Rise of the Akwamu Empire, c. 1650-1710

Abstract

Little is known of the origins of the Akwamu state. It is not until Akwamu emerges as a coastal and imperial power, in the latter half of the seventeenth century, that there commence numerous references to Akwamu in the series of reports on local affairs made by officers of the Danish, Dutch, and English trading companies operating along the Gold Coast. From that time onwards it becomes possible to reconstruct the history of Akwamu in considerable detail. Nevertheless a few isolated references to Akwamu from the pre-imperial period survive, and enable one to attempt at least a tentative outline of the consolidation of the Akwamu state during that period. A Dutch 'Map of the Lands of the Gold Coast of Guinea', dated 1629, describes Akwamu as diefachtich vole к , 4 a predatory nation'.1 At this time Akwamu is shown lying in the immediate hinterland of Agona, across the trade routes leading inland from the coast to Kwahu, Akim, and the farther north. Doubtless the uncharitable remark of the Dutch carto-

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