04/08/2022
HAPPY FOUNDER'S DAY TO OTUMFUO OSEI TUTU I.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu I, (Opemsuo) was the founder of the Empire of Asante, with the greatest help of Okomfo Anokye, the Chief Priest. The Asantes were a powerful, warlike, and highly disciplined people of West Africa.
Osei Tutu I led an alliance of Akan states against the regional hegemony, the Denkyira, completely defeating them. Then, through diplomacy and force of arms, he induced the rulers of the other Akan states to form part of the growing Asante Kingdom. Throughout his career, he was politically advised by Okomfo Anokye, a cleric whose spiritual authority over the people aided in his founding of the empire.
••The Founding Of The Asante Nation••
The Empire of Asante was officially formed in 1701 and Osei Tutu was crowned Asantehene (King of all Asantes). He held that position until his death in 1717 in a battle against the Akyem Kotokus. Osei Tutu was the fourth ruler of the Oyoko royal family, succeeding his uncle Obiri Yeboah. The Asante comprise the largest contingent of the Akan-speaking peoples. Akan societies are matrilineal, with a person belonging to the abusua of his mother. Inheritance, succession, and status are linearly determined. Osei Tutu belonged to the Oyoko Abusua.
By the middle of the 16th century, previous migrations of Abusua groups resulted in the development of a number of Akan states within a 30-mile radius of modern-day Kumasi, Ghana. The dense concentration of states in this limited area was primarily due to the region being a known source of gold and kola; two important trade routes—one from Jenne and Timbuktu in western Sudan and the other from Hausaland—entered the area. These states were all dominated by the Denkyira Kingdom. In the middle of the 17th century the last of the Abusua groups, the Oyoko Abusua, arrived.
Exploiting the various clans' mutual hatred for their oppressor, the Denkyiras, Osei Tutu, and his priest-counselor Okomfo Anokye succeeded in merging these states into t
