The Battle of Feyiase was the decisive battle in the struggle that led to the

Ashanti Empire The Asante Empire (Asante Twi: ), today commonly called the Ashanti Empire, was an Akan state that lasted between 1701 to 1901, in what is now modern-day Ghana. It expanded from the Ashanti Region to include most of Ghana as well as parts of Iv ...

replacing

Denkyira Denkyira was a powerful nation of Akan people that existed before the 1620s, in what is now modern-day Ghana. Like all Akans, they originated from Bono state. Before 1620, Denkyira was called Agona. The ruler of the Denkyira was called Denkyira ...

as the dominant power among the

Twi Twi () is a dialect of the Akan language spoken in southern and central Ghana by several million people, mainly of the Akan people, the largest of the seventeen major ethnic groups in Ghana. Twi has about 17-18 million speakers in total, includ ...

-speaking

Akan Akan may refer to: People and languages *Akan people, an ethnic group in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire *Akan language, a language spoken by the Akan people *Kwa languages, a language group which includes Akan *Central Tano languages, a language group w ...

peoples. During the battle, the Denkyira army deployed 2 or 3 Dutch

cannons A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder dur ...

while the Ashanti had limited access to firearms. Prior to this battle the

Denkyirahene Denkyirahene is the title given to the King of the Denkyira people of the Central Region of Ghana. They are part of the Akan Akan may refer to: People and languages *Akan people, an ethnic group in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire *Akan language, a la ...

Ntim Gyakari Ntim Gyakari (died in1701) was the last fully independent ruler of Denkyira, a state in the boundaries of the modern nation of Ghana. He was the brother of Owusu Akoto who later took the family to the Ebrosa Kingdom as exile, which would eventually ...

believed he was doing well in the war, having driven the Ashanti forces from Adunku, Abuontem and Aputuogya. However, this was all part of

Osei Tutu Osei Kofi Tutu I ( – ) was one of the founders of the Ashanti Empire, assisted by Okomfo Anokye. The Asante are an Akan ethnic group of West Africa. Osei Tutu led an alliance of Asante states against the regional hegemon, the Denkyira, compl ...

's plan to ambush the Denkyira troops at Feyiase. At Feyiase, the full force of the Asante war machine fell upon the Denkyiran army, and they were routed. Ntim Gyakari was killed by the people of Adunku from Asante Feyiase and Denkyira's cannons were captured by the Ashanti. Denkyira's

hegemony Hegemony (, , ) is the political, economic, and military predominance of one State (polity), state over other states. In Ancient Greece (8th BC – AD 6th ), hegemony denoted the politico-military dominance of the ''hegemon'' city-state over oth ...

was broken at Feyiase Akoyem. Feyiase Akoyem is now a part of

Bosomtwe District Bosomtwe District is one of the 43 districts in Ashanti Region, Ghana. Originally, it was part of the then-larger Bosomtwe-Atwima-Kwanwoma District on 10 March 1989, which was created from the former Ejisu-Juaben-Bosomtwe District Council, until ...

which lies between Aputuogya and Esereso where the war ended.

References

*McCaskie, T. C. "Denkyira in the Making of Asante" in ''The Journal of African History''. vol. 48 (2007), no. 1, p. 3. Feyiase Feyiase Ashanti Empire History of Ghana Feyiase 1701 in Africa {{Africa-mil-stub