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Women That Left Their Mark Throughout History

Khalid Elhassan August 4, 2020 34 min

30. Born and Raised Amidst Conflict

British soldiers burning the Ashanti capital, Kumasi, in 1874. Mechanical Curator Collection

It was against that backdrop of conflict between the Ashanti and Britain that Yaa Asantewaa was born, raised, got married, and had a daughter. The elder of two children, Asantewaa became a major landowner and prosperous farmer in her region. Her younger brother eventually became chief of Edweso. When he died in 1894, his sister exhibited signs of the badass she would become, when she used her position as Queen Mother to nominate and secure the succession for her own grandson. The eruption of yet another conflict with the British disrupted her plans.

Britain demanded that the Ashanti sign a letter consenting to become a British protectorate. When the Ashanti refused, the Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War broke out. It was a brief and lopsided conflict that lasted from December, 1895 to February, 1896. It was decided by overwhelming British firepower, in which Maxim machine guns and the latest in field artillery were pitted against Ashanti spears and obsolescent muzzle loading firearms.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.