An image should appear at this position in the text. To use the entire page scan as a placeholder, edit this page and replace "{{missing image}}" with "{{raw image|Sons of Africa (Gollock).pdf/42}}". Otherwise, if you are able to provide the image then please do so. For guidance, see Wikisource:Image guidelines and Help:Adding images. |  |
III. OSAI TUTU KWAMINA:FROM KUMASI TO THE COAST
Osai Tutu Kwamina was the first king of
Ashanti who received white envoys at his court
and led his armies to the coast of the Gulf of
Guinea. To find him at home we must span
more than two centuries from the time of Mohammed Askia, and drop southward from Timbuktu seven hundred miles through the pagan
country to the city of Kumasi.
In age, in size, in trade, in learning, Kumasi is not comparable with the past glory of Timbuktu. Nevertheless, set on its rocky hillside surrounded by forests, it is one of the African cities which has made a mark in history. It became the capital of Ashanti early in the eighteenth century, when Osai Tutu, the renowned ancestor after whom Tutu Kwamina was named, built up the power of the kingdom. He gave the people their most precious possession, the Golden Stool,[1] the center of all their history.
- ↑ The story is told and its significance interpreted in The Golden Stool, by Edwin W. Smith.
