Fante Confederacy

The Fante Confederacy can refer either to the loose alliance of the Fante states in existence at least since the sixteenth century, or it can refer to the short-lived Confederation formed in 1868 and dissolved in 1874. The Confederation is seen as one of the first self-rule movements in Africa.

The Fante had long been in the region both inland and on the coast of what is today Ghana. In the sixteenth century they began to expand along the coastal areas in order to defend from foreign invaders. The establishment of the confederacy was a proclamation of the several small independent kingdoms that made-up the Fante tribes.

The standard explanation has long been that the Fante states were forced to form a confederation by the rapid growth of the Ashanti Confederacy in the early eighteenth century that began to threaten the security of the surrounding region. Sanders argues that the same forces that were driving the expansion and centralisation of the Ashanti, the lucrative trade with the Europeans and the introduction of firearms and other weapons, also fueled the increasing unity of the Fante.

The Fante united and produced a confederacy to be recognised not only by the people of the Gold Coast, but also by the European powers. The confederacy was headed by the Chief of Mankessim, who was given the title of Breyni. It was the obligation of highest Chief to respect the wishes of a council of the leaders of the other major towns. Despite a similar political structure the Fante never managed to become as united as the Ashanti, though their differences were overcome when their kingdoms were under dire threat. During the early eighteenth century the Fante expanded at the expense of smaller neighbouring states eventually annexing the lands of the Asebu, Cabesterra, and Agona. The Fante were allies of the British who supported their efforts against the rival Dutch, who were aligned with the Ashanti. The Fante Confederacy was smaller than the Ashanti, but through their control of the coastal trade and close links with the British the Fante became the administrators of the entire Gold Coast. The Fante leaders were the best educated and wealthiest of the people's in the region.

For the first half of the eighteenth century the Ashanti were pre-occupied with expanding their confederacy to the north rather than against the stronger coastal groups. The next few decades saw internal disputes within Ashanti. The Fante subsequently intervened, lending material support to rebel groups in Ashanti and offering safe harbour to refugees and dissidents fleeing the Ashanti Confederacy. The Fante introduced laws forbidding the selling of firearms to the Ashanti and curtailing the amount of trade that could pass between over Fante lands, cutting off supplies to the confederacy.

...
Wikipedia