ABSTRACT
The enshrinements of the Asante Sika Dwa (The Golden Stool) in 1701 and the Akyem Abuakwa Ofori stool at Akuapem conveyed notions of freedom, identity and spirituality. The Denkira Wars of 1699–1701 and consecration of the Sika Dwa. Late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century new martial and commercial polities and expanded trans-Atlantic trading underwrote violent alterations that toppled older regimes such as the Nyanouse (Akwamu) defeat of Accra (Ga) or the Kumasi (Asante) defeat of Abankeseso (Denkira). The end of Denkira and rise of Asante exemplified a “revolutionary” shift in Gold Coast politics and economy. On Friday a great gathering was held at Kumasi, there Ɔkᴐmfo Anokye brought down from the sky with darkness and thunder in a thick cloud of white dust, a wooden stool adorned with gold, which floated to earth and alighted on Osei Tutu’s knees. This stool Anokye announced contained the spirit of the whole Asante nation.
