The Asante Kingdom

In general, the history of the world as it is taught to U. S. schoolchildren describes the great empires of Egypt that built the pyramids over four thousand years ago and then there is little more about Africa. When it is mentioned, the topic is the slave trade but there is nothing about the powerful empires and great civilizations that existed south of the Sahara desert. One such kingdom was the Asante kingdom that ruled what is now the African nation of Ghana. It rose to prominence in the late seventeenth century and was a flourishing nation that traded in gold and raided the neighboring tribes to capture the people and sell them into slavery. After Great Britain abolished the slave trade, the British decided to take control of the Asante Empire. After years of fierce resistance, the Asante territory was incorporated into the British Colony of the Gold Coast. However, British control was always somewhat tenuous and Ghana was the first European colony in Africa to be granted independence. Written at the level of the middle school student, this is a book that helps satisfy a great need. There were many times throughout history when great nations flourished in Africa south of the Sahara desert. However, as history is taught, before the Europeans arrived it was a savage "dark continent" lacking most of the characteristics that we associate with higher civilizations. That is a false premise and this book describes one of the greatest of the African powers.