Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War

Anglo-Ashanti wars
Part of the Scramble for Africa
Date 1823–1900 Location Ashanti Empire Result British victory Ashanti Empire becomes part of the Gold Coast
Belligerents
British Empire British-allied African states	Ashanti Empire
Commanders and leaders
George IV William IV Victoria Alexander Gordon Laing Charles MacCarthy  † Garnet Wolseley	Osei Bonsu Osei Yaw Akoto Kwaku Dua I Panyin Kofi Karikari Mensa Bonsu Kwaku Dua II Prempeh I  (POW)
Strength
11,000 (1st) 2,500 (3rd) 2,200 (4th) 2,500 (5th)	20,000 (1st)  Ashanti Empire ~12,000 (5th)
Casualties and losses
unknown (1st) 18 killed and 185 wounded (3rd) 0 (4th) 1,007 (5th)	over 2,000 (1st) unknown (3rd) 0 (4th)  Ashanti Empire ~2,000 (5th)

 British Empire

The Anglo-Ashanti Wars were a series of five conflicts between the Ashanti Empire, in the Akan interior of the Gold Coast, (now Ghana), and the invading British Empire and British-allied African states that took place between 1824 and 1901. The wars were mainly due to Ashanti attempts to establish strong control over the coastal areas of what is now Ghana. Coastal peoples, such as the Fante and the inhabitants of Accra, who were chiefly Ga, came to rely on British protection against Ashanti incursions.

The British were drawn into three earlier wars in the Gold Coast:

In the Ashanti-Fante War of 1806–07, the British refused to hand over two rebels pursued by the Ashanti, but eventually handed one over (the other escaped).

In the Ga-Fante War of 1811, the Akwapim captured a British fort at Tantamkweri and a Dutch fort at Apam.

In the Ashanti-Akim-Akwapim War of 1814–16 the Ashanti defeated the Akim-Akwapim alliance. Local British, Dutch, and Danish authorities all had to come to terms with the Ashanti. By 1817, the Ashanti, who had an army of 20,000, had become the strongest power in West Africa, so the (British) African Company of Merchants signed a treaty of friendship that recognized Ashanti claims to sovereignty over much of the coast. The African Company of Merchants was dissolved in 1821 and the British assumed control of the Gold Coast.

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