Yaa Asantewaa, the warrior Queen
 |
Brief History
Nana Yaa Asantewaa was the Queen Mother of Ejusi in the Ashanti empire. In 1900 she led the Ashanti rebellion, which is commonly referred to as the War of The Golden Stool, against British Colonialism. This rebellion occurred after the British exiled the Asantehene (King of Ashanti) and various other members of the Ashanti government to the Seychilles. After exiling the Asantehene, the British governor-general of the Gold Coast demanded the Golden stool. The Golden stool was and still is a major symbol of the Ashanti nation. This request led to a meeting in which the remaining members of the Asante government discussed how to secure the return of their king. Present at this meeting was Yaa Asantewaa, stood and addressed those present at the meeting with these famous words:
"Now I see that some of you fear to go forward to fight for our king. If it was in the brave days of Osei Tutu, Okomfo Anokye, and Opoku Ware, chiefs would not sit down to see their king to be taken away without firing a shot.No European could have dared speak to chiefs of Asante in the way the governor spoke to you this morning. Is it true that the bravery of Asante is no more? I cannot believe it. It cannot be! I must say this: if you, the men of Asante, will not go forward, then we will. We, the women, will. I shall call upon my fellow women. We will fight! We will fight till the last of us falls in the battlefields."
With this, she led the Ashanti uprising in 1900.
I have decided to dedicate an entire blog post to Yaa Asantewaa because I personally feel that she is a very important figure in Asante history and she stands out from other important Asante historical figures because she was a female. I especially admire her courage to fight the British occupation in the Asante Kingdom despite the fact that the other male leaders were not initially motivated to fight. I think that she is one of Africa's greatest female leaders.
Yaa Asantewaa is a Queen who inspires me.
No comments:
Post a Comment