Adanwomase is a town in the

Ashanti Region The Ashanti Region is located in southern part of Ghana and it is the third largest of 16 administrative regions, occupying a total land surface of or 10.2 percent of the total land area of Ghana. In terms of population, however, it is the mo ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

located in

Kwabre East District Kwabre East Municipal District is one of the forty-three districts in Ashanti Region, Ghana. Originally created as an ordinary district assembly in 1988 when it was known as Kwabre District Kwabre District is a former district that was located i ...

. Adanwomase is about 27 kilometers northeast of

Kumasi Kumasi (historically spelled Comassie or Coomassie, usually spelled Kumase in Twi) is a city in the Ashanti Region, and is among the largest metropolitan areas in Ghana. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region near Lake Bosomtwe, and is t ...

. It is noted for

Kente Kente ( ak, kente or ''nwetoma''; ee, kete; Dagbani: Chinchini) refers to a Ghanaian textile, made of handwoven cloth, strips of silk and cotton. Historically the fabric was worn in a toga-like fashion by royalty among ethnic groups such as the ...

weaving with towns like

Bonwire Bonwire is a town in Ghana, where the most popular cloth in Africa, popularly known as "Kente", originated. The Kente is worn by the king of the Ashanti Kingdom in Ghana. Bonwire is part of Ejisu-Juaben Municipal district within Ghana's Ashanti ...

which is about 2 kilometers away. The town is also known for the Adanwomase Secondary School. The town also has a mini Kente weaving museum.

History

In 1697, the Ashanti King, desiring hand-woven cloth, commissioned one of his sub-chiefs, the Akyimpimhene, to send people from the towns of Adanwomase, Asotwe, Bonwire, and Wonoo to study strip-weaving in Bontuku, a small village in present-day Ivory Coast. When they returned, the apprentices were given swatches of fabric with specific patterns on them that they were told to study and be able to recreate on demand. These patterns were called Sesea and are considered to be the first examples of true Ashanti Kente Cloth. The original centuries-old Sesea swatches are to this day kept in the Kente Chief's house in Adanwomase. Since the first apprentices returned from Bontuku, Adanwomase has been the royal weaving village for the Ashanti King. The apprentices spread the art of Kente-weaving to their friends and families and in the process added their own designs and colors, creating the cloth that today is recognized worldwide as Ashanti Kente.

Present day and kente weaving

To this day, Adanwomase carries on the centuries-old Kente-weaving tradition. Under the guidance of the Kente Chief, Adanwomase weavers continue to weave cloths for the Ashanti King, royals, and anyone in the world who appreciates the history and cultural significance woven into Ashanti Kente. The town takes its name from the Adanwo tree. The name Adanwomase means under the Adanwo tree in Asante Twi dialect. Adanwomase is also well known for the traditional

Kente cloth Kente ( ak, kente or ''nwetoma''; ee, kete; Dagbani: Chinchini) refers to a Ghanaian textile, made of handwoven cloth, strips of silk and cotton. Historically the fabric was worn in a toga-like fashion by royalty among ethnic groups such as the ...

weaving. Although there are a variety of oral histories concerning the origins of Kente Cloth, historians and scholars agree that Kente Cloth production is an extension of centuries of strip-weaving in West Africa. Strip-weaving has existed in West Africa since the 11th century. Most scholars believe that the art form was developed in present-day

Bonoman Bono State (or Bonoman) was a trading state created by the Bono people, located in what is now southern Ghana. Bonoman was a medieval Akan kingdom in what is now Bono, Bono East and Ahafo region respectively named after the (Bono and Ahafo) a ...

or Brong-Ahafo Region and spread throughout West Africa through trade and migration.

References

External links

Ghanaexpeditions.com
* http://www.adanwomase.com Populated places in the Ashanti Region Articles containing video clips {{AshantiRegion-geo-stub