AKWAMU

Akan state (c. 16001730) of the Gold and Slave coasts of western Africa. At its apogee in the early 18th century, it stretched more than 250 miles (400 km) along the coast from Whydah (now Ouidah, Benin) in the east to beyond Winneba (now in Ghana) in the west. Its founders, an Akan people who are traditionally said to have come from Twifu Heman, northwest of Cape Coast, moved during the late 16th or early 17th century to the region of modern Akim Abuakwa, where they founded the state of Akwamu. As the state grew rich on the sale of gold from the Birim River district, its inhabitants sought to extend their authority. Because they were hemmed in on the north and northwest by the state of Akim and other states in loose alliance with or subject to the powerful Denkyera, they expanded south and southeast toward the Ga and Fante (Fanti) towns of the coast. These they subdued between 1677 and 1681 under their king (Akwamuhene), Ansa Sasraku. They also extended their influence over the state of Ladoku in the east (1679) and, under Ansa's successor, over the Fante state of Agona in the west (1689). In 1702 they crossed the Volta River to occupy Whydah, a coastal state of Dahomey (now in southern Benin), and in 1710 subdued the Ewe people of the Ho region. By this time, however, their former satellite, Asante, had grown rich and powerful and was becoming increasingly hostile to Akim. Pressured by the Asante, the Akyem peoples retreated upon Akwamu's borders and, after a long war, succeeded in infiltrating them. The Akwamuhene was forced to flee, and by 1731 the state had ceased to exist.