This was also, as I have
said, the case with the Fantis and Ashantis; the latter occupied their
present habitat about 1640, and at once became the foes of all their
neighbours. King Osai Tutu, 'the Great,' first of Ashanti despot-kings
(1719), made Gyaman tributary. The conquest was completed by his
brother-successor, Osai Apoko (1731), who fined Abo, the neighbour-king,
in large sums of gold and fixed an annual subsidy. Gyaman, however,
rebelled against Osai Kwajo (Cudjoe), the fourth of the dynasty (1752),
and twice defeated him with prodigious slaughter. The Ashanti invader
brought to his aid Moslem cavalry, and succeeded in again subjugating the
insurgents. The conquered took no action against the fifth king, but they
struck for independence under Osai Apoko II (1797). Aided by Moslem and
other allies, they crossed the Tando and fought so sturdily that the enemy
'liberally bestowed upon them the titles of warlike and courageous.' The
Ashantis at length compelled the Moslems of their country to join them,
and ended by inflicting a crushing defeat upon the invaders.
Osai Tutu Kwamina, on coming to the throne (1800), engaged in the campaign
against Gyaman called, for distinction, the 'first Bontuko war.
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