Osei Bonsu

For the 20th century Ghanaian sculptor, see Osei Bonsu (artist).
Osei Bonsu
Asantehene of Asanteman; Kumasehene of Kumasi
King of the Ashanti Empire
Reign1800 \ 01[a] or 1804 [b] – 1824
PredecessorOpoku Fofie
SuccessorOsei Yaw Akoto
Born1779
Kumasi, Ashanti Empire
Died1824
Kumasi, Ashanti Empire
HouseHouse of the Oyoko Dynasty

Osei Bonsu (born 1779[11] – 21 January 1824)[12][13] also known as Osei Tutu Kwame[8] was the Asantehene (King of the Ashanti).[14] He reigned either from 1800 to 1824 or from 1804 to 1824. During his reign as the king, the Ashanti fought the Fante confederation and ended up dominating Gold Coast trade. In Akan, Bonsu means whale (the largest and most powerful "fish" in the sea), and is symbolic of his achievement of extending the Ashanti Empire to the coast. He died in Kumasi, and was succeeded by Osei Yaw Akoto.

Other sources refer to him as Osei Tutu Kwame.[15] He was a leader in war against the Fante of the southern Gold Coast in 1806–07 and against Gyaman in 1818–19.[8] He halted British expansionism in the Gold Coast region.

  1. ^ Ivor Wilks (1989), p. 255
  2. ^ Unesco. International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a General History of Africa (1998). UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. IV, Abridged Edition: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century. University of California Press. p. 265. ISBN 9780520067011.
  3. ^ Isichei, Elizabeth (1997). A History of African Societies to 1870. Cambridge University Press. p. 368. ISBN 9780521455992.
  4. ^ Khapoya, Vincent (2015). The African Experience. Routledge. p. 91. ISBN 9781317343585.
  5. ^ Davidson, Basil (2014-10-29). West Africa before the Colonial Era: A History to 1850. Routledge. p. 226. ISBN 978-1-317-88265-7.
  6. ^ Sir Francis Fuller (1968). A Vanished Dynasty - Ashanti. Psychology Press. p. 38. ISBN 9780714616636.
  7. ^ "Osei Bonsu". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
  8. ^ a b c McCaskie, Tom (August 2014). "Telling the Tale of Osei Bonsu: An Essay on the Making of Asante Oral History". Africa. 84 (3): 353–370. doi:10.1017/S0001972014000394. ISSN 0001-9720. S2CID 146791145.
  9. ^ Akyeampong, Emmanuel Kwaku; Gates, Henry Louis (2012). Dictionary of African Biography, Volumes 1-6. Oxford University Press. p. 460. ISBN 9780195382075.
  10. ^ McCann, James (1999). Green Land, Brown Land, Black Land: An Environmental History of Africa, 1800-1990. James Currey Publishers. p. 123. ISBN 9780852557747.
  11. ^ Keith A. P. Sandiford, A Black Studies Primer: Heroes and Heroines of the African Diaspora, Hansib Publications, 2008, p. 356.
  12. ^ "Osei Bonsu | king of Asante empire". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-08-08.
  13. ^ Aidoo, Agnes A. (1977). "Order and Conflict in the Asante Empire: A Study in Interest Group Relations". African Studies Review. 20 (1): 1–36. doi:10.2307/523860. ISSN 0002-0206. JSTOR 523860. S2CID 143436033.
  14. ^ "Asante Kingdom". African Studies Centre Leiden. 2002-06-15. Retrieved 2020-08-08.
  15. ^ Larry W. Yarak. Asante and the Dutch: 1744-1873. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990. p. 31.


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