Description:

Yaa Asantewaa, the grandmother who led an army to resist colonization, is a story woven into the fabric of African myths and legends. As a Queen she had foresight and conviction to fight the concept of colonization.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, after more than four centuries of contact, the European powers finally laid claim to virtually all of Africa. In November 1884, the imperial chancellor and architect of the German Empire, Otto von Bismarck, convened a conference in Berlin to settle the political partitioning of Africa. France, Germany, Britain, and Portugal were the major players in the conference, controlling most of colonial Africa at the time.

Ashanti, the land flowing with Gold and Silver, was free virtually from the colonizers. After the Berlin Conference the British Government began pressuring the Ashanti King to become part of the British protecterate. When The king refused, the British army invades Ashanti. These events culminate with the Yaa Asantewaa’s War for Independence, which began on March 28, 1900. She mobilized the Ashanti troops and for three months laid siege to the British mission at the fort of Kumasi. Q&A