cover image The Fall of the Asante Empire: The Hundred-Year War for Africa's Gold Coast

The Fall of the Asante Empire: The Hundred-Year War for Africa's Gold Coast

Robert B. Edgerton. Free Press, $23 (293pp) ISBN 978-0-02-908926-2

If the Zulu-British battle in 1879 is the best-known conflict between African colonizer and colonist, the longest war was between the British and the Asante of what is today Ghana, from 1807 to 1900. As UCLA anthropologist Edgerton (Like Lions They Fought) shows in this detailed excavation of sources, the war makes a resonant story. The Asante had created a national identity and deep patriotism, despite dependence on recent conquests and slaves, thus making them a formidable foe. Edgerton writes with respect but does not idealize a people capable, like their foes, of brutality. He recounts a succession of conflicts and delineates the workings of the Asante state, the ambitions and tactics of the invaders and numerous anecdotes from the field of battle. His conclusion: though the Asante mostly wanted peace, the British--even after years of contact with them--could not comprehend Asante values or history, and never had any intention of sharing power on the Gold Coast. (Feb.)