The Akwamu were originally called Aduana Twifo but got the name “Akwamu” or “Akwamufo” when they were moving from their settlement at Twifo Hemang.
According to highly acclaimed Ghanaian Historian, Henry Kwadwo Amoako, the Akwamu (ah-kwah’-moo) got their origin name from the Akan term “kon bu” meaning neck (kon) break (bu).
When the Akwamu army and a section of the royal family were migrating away from their homeland in Twifo Heman to re-establish their nation in another location, they passed through Fante lands (another Akan group).
Because of their large numbers as they passed through the area, the Fantes are said to have exclaimed:
“Nnipa na wodooso se, wohwe won a na wo kon abu” meaning “These people are so numerous, even looking at them can break your neck.”
From this expression the Akwamu were from then called Akonbufo, Akommufo and finally corrupted into Akwamufo in the mid 1500s.
Akwamu oral tradition asserts that their ancestors were Aduana-Abrade-Atwea clan members who originally lived at Kumbu in Kong in Bonoland which is now part of the Northern Ivory Coast.
They migrated from the Kong mountains of Cote D’Ivoire in search of new homes after their annexation by Zaberima warlords in 1460.
These Zaberima warlords (mainly of Songhai Descent) were initially Dagomba mercenaries.
As a result of the conquest of Kumbu, many of its refugees fled to the southern part of Banda and formed a temporary government at a place now called Dwenemu.
Majority of the people left and under the leadership of Agyen Kokobo, located themselves in the region of Elmina where they founded the Twifo-Hemang state with its capital at Amenfi in the 1480s.
After the death of the 5th Hemang ruler, there was a succession dispute which compelled a section of the tribesmen led by Otumfo Asare to migrate to the Nsawam region where they carved a Kumbu state which they named after their former state.
Kumbu was later corrupted to Akwamu according to other accounts.
This appears as “Aquamboe” on eighteenth century maps.
Wilks (1959) relates that, by 1650, Akwamu had risen as a powerful coastal power.
Akwamu tradition named Asamankese (Asareman Kese) and Nyanoase near modern Nsawam as successive capitals (Wilks, 1959).
The Akwamu subjugated the Guan and the Kyerepon whom they called Nkoa Apem (a Thousand Slaves).
“Nkoa Apem” was later corrupted to Akwapim.
The Akwapims were saved from their slavery by Akyim Abuakwa warriors years later.
Akwamu expanded its sphere of influence and soon began to control the trade routes between the European forts in Winneba and Accra districts.
The Akyems exerted constant pressure on the Akwamu, hence they moved their capital from Asamankese to Nyanoase.
King Ansa Sasraku IV ruled at Nyanoase from 1684 to 1692
Akono Panyin (1692-1719) succeeded him
Thus, from Bonoland, the Aduana people took a southward trajectory, crossed Rivers Offin and Pra to settle at Twifo Hemang in the present-day Central Region.
Whilst here and attempting to consolidate their power, another Akan group, Twifo also migrated from the Bonoland to settle in the Pra area which was the land of the aboriginal Etsii people.
In Hemang and under their first King, Nana Agyen Kokobo, the Akwamu were called Twifo, just like the others in the area who traded in the coastal towns of Shama, Elmina, Komenda and Cape Coast.
Oral tradition confirms that the northern Twifo group gained upper hand over both the aboriginal Etsii and the southern Aduana Akwamu in Hemang.
The Denkyira Kingdom also made its rapid rise and started to exert its supremacy over others in the area.
Otumfuo ‘Blacksmith’ carved a prɛmpɛ ‘we do not want you’ drum and sounded it to King Owusu Bore, thus;
“Merensom obi a ɔte se wo da! da! da! ‘I will not serve someone like you ever, never! never!”
As Asare and his group were moving out of Hemang, some of their people took westwards trajectory to the Ivory Coast and became the Anyin or Agni people in that country, whilst the Asare-led group took southward trajectory to settle briefly at the Mfantse Abora town of Abakrampa.
From Abakrampa, the Akwamu moved on to Birem Valley in West Abuakwa and built a town which they named Asare- Mankese ‘Asare’s Large State’, now Asamankese, after their leader Otomfuo Asare.
At the lowlands of Asamankese, the elders saw the Nyanao/Nyanaw Hill and realised that people used its environs, like Adoagyiri and Nsawam, to trade in Accra.
Thus, as part of the Akwamuhene’s intention to control trade and built a powerful warrior nation, he moved his people to settle on the Nyanaw Hill to create two towns, Nyanawase ‘Beneath the Nyanaw Hill’ and Nyanawso/Nyanaoso ‘Top of the Nyanao Hill’.
From their base in these two settlements, the Akwamu gradually built their kingdom to emerge as one of the most powerful in 1600s and 1700s.
Asamankese maintained its role as an important town whose stool was next in rank to that of the King of Akwamu!
Royal Factions
In the 1600s after the death of Nana Ansah Sasraku, the then Akwamuhene, a serious succession dispute arose over the election of his successor.
Most of the Kingmakers had chosen the elderly twin prince to succeed him, but he did not win the support of the Queenmother and a section of the stool elders (the Kingmakers).
For sometime, it was not possible to install a new chief.
Consequently, a civil war nearly broke out. In a bid to avoid any possible strife, a section of the elders of the Adonten Division in consultation with the Queen mother – Nana Mpobi Yaa decided to leave Akwamu with the junior twin who was the Queenmther’s favorite.
A great number of the people including some of the royals followed the Queenmother.
The first place where these peace-loving people chose to stay was Awanwenso which later became Akwamu Awamwenso.
From Awamwenso, they moved on to settle at another spot which was named Nyanase.
Here it is said the Queenmother of Twifo-Heman met the immigrants and demanded to know how far they have travelled.
A spokesman of this group is said to have answered, “We are from Akwamu where we are faced with a dispute over the installation of our chief.
We are Do-Omanfo, and we have decided to find a new place of habitation”
Do-Omanfo, means people who love their people, or a peace loving people.
It was becsuse they were a peace loving people that they decided to relocate instead of engage in a civil war.
From Nyanaase the new home (of the “Do-Oman) the Dormaa people made a third move to a spot near Kumasi, and there Asantemanso was founded and was made the capital of the Dormaa State.
Other people were drawn to Asantemanso and soon it grew into a major trading center.
As a result the Dormaa State soon grew into a very large one with steady trade in the capital.
Kwaman (Asante) and “Do-Oman” (Dormaaa) Wars
Whiles Dormaaa was prospering, she attracted the attention of the Asantes.
As time went on, in the skirmishes and battles between the Dormaas and Asantes, the latter ruined all that Dormaa State could boast of:
Asantemanso was completely obliterated and the most terrible harm done to the State was the extent of the loss of life on the battlefield.
Among these victims were some of the royals.
They were buried there, but when those surviving were abandoning Asantemanso, a group of their number chose to stay behind to guard and look after the tombs of their royals.
It is believed that these people stayed behind the bank of Subin River and called the place Asuegya which later became Esumegya.
Heading towards Kwaaman area, the Dormaas founded another town called-Suntreso.
A fierce battle broke out again between the Dormaas and the Asantes (Kwaaman), and unlike the previous occasion the Dormaas this time gained the upper hand.
Kwaaman was defeated and the chief of Kwaaman Nana Obiri Yeboah was killed (decapitated) by the Dormaas.
Remember, this was pre-Asante confederacy days.
Before Osei Tutu and Anokye Komfo founded the Asante Kingdom in 1701.
Soon after this victory by the Dormaas, Osei Tutu (whose mother gave birth to him after consulting a deity at Tutu at Akwapim) succeeded his uncle Obiri Yeboah, avenged the death by waging another war against the Dormaas.
The Dormaas were taken unawares and suffered defeat.
A large number of the people immediately left Suntreso, for they hated to offer themselves as hostages to the Asantes.
Consequently, they founded Bomaa (’Boa boa wo man’) which literally means gather your people.
The Dormaas are believed to have founded Bornaa with the view to making it a sort of refuge to which other citizens, who have been deprived of their homes due to wars could return.
Here the chief built for himself and the royals “Abban” a storey building from which he could monitor and hide his himself.
Something like a fortress of Security.
The “Abban” soon became closely related to Aprede, a kind of traditional drum.
It is said that it was the chief’s pleasure, every evening, to listen to the drums for his enjoyment.
The throbbing of the Aprede was an attraction to summon the Bomaas and the people from the outlying villages to the Abban; and was the origin of the name ABBANPREDEASE.
As time went on Bomaa lost its real name; for people wishing to enjoy the drumming of the Aprede simply said I am going to Abbanpredease’.
In memory of the exodus of Dormaas from Akwamu, the Dormaa State Council, during the reign of Omanhene, Nana Agyeman Badu I, built a magnificent palace called ABBANPREDEASE PALACE.
It was officially declared open by President Nkrumah in December 1959”.
The Bomaas (now the citizens of Abbanpredease) later moved on to Kontraagyeso after crossing river Tano.
Some of them, however, chose to settle at Abisimu, a village abounding in cola-nuts.
Others from Kontraagyeso still migrated a little further to found a town called Kyiraa – “yen nkyere ha” (we shan’t stay here for long).
Kyiraa later became the central market for the people within that area drawing people from places like Wenkyi and Tekyiman.
From Kyiraa, they finally moved toward north-west where they once again encountered the Asantes in a war.
Conflicts with the Asantes led to unfavourable circumstances that forced them to seek refuge near the forest belt.
From the very onset, they settled at Amasu and eventually dispersed to cover the large area which they now occupy as Dormaa man, (DORMAA STATE).
Dormaa today is one of the largest States in the Brong Ahafo Region and Ghana as a whole.
It has over 150 towns and villages, notable amongst them are Dormaa Ahenkro, Wamfie, Kyiraa Abesim, Bomaa, Amaasu, Akumtanim, Wamanafo, Aboabo, Nkrankwanta, Kyeremasu, Dormaa-Akwamu, Amaasu-Pampaso, Asuotiano, Kofiasua, Asikasu and Gonokrom.
During the reign of Odeneho Kwafo Akoto ll and Osagyefo Oseadeayo Agyeman Badu l, it was firmly established that the people of Akwamu and Dormaa are one people.
And the stools of Akwamu and Dormaa are twin.
The elder twin sitting on the Akwamu stool and the junior twin sitting on the Dormaa stool.
The story of the Dormaas has, naturally been a bitter one.
The healthy sign of unanimity existing between these two sister states is evidenced by the joint declaration signed by Odeneho Kwafo Akoto ll the late Paramount Chief of Akwamu State and the late Nana Agyeman-Badu I, the then Paramount Chief of Dormaa State.
In that declaration, they agreed that inter marriages should be encouraged between the citizens of their two states.
The Fall of the Akwamu Power (Breakages from Within)
By the 1720s, Akwamu’s high-handedness against their vassal states was worsening with daily reports of cruelties executed by the Akwamu royals against others.
For instance, two Akwamu princes, Oteng Abransamadu and Oteng Agyare place pebbles in the middle of young maidens’ breast and use them as targets for their shooting lessons.
This led to the killing of many young women and aroused anger in their vassal states.
The people of Ho regrouped and staged a counter-attack to give resounding beatings to the Akwamu.
This defeat is said to have open the cracks in the so-called Akwamu’s military superiority and paved the way for the Kingdom’s decline.
In 1730, the three Akyem groups (Abuakwa, Kotoku and Bosome) and their Mfantse, Assin, Agona and Ga allies led by the King of Akyem Kotoku, Nana Frempong Manso gave a helping hand to the Hilly-Guans and Kyerepongs by fighting the Akwamu at the Battle of Nsakye.
The Akwamu were totally annihilated in this battle so they fled helter-skelter to save their lives.
Oral accounts record that the Akwamu called on their supreme deity, Ayesu who came to their aid to help them cross the River Volta to climb up to safety on the Volta Hill where their new traditional capital, Akwamufie is.
The Akyem Abuakwa royal, Safori or Ofori Kuma routed the remnants of the Akwamu on the Akuapem hills, and with the consent of the Hilly-Guans and Kyerepongs signed a treaty known as Abotakyi Accord in 1733 to found a new Akuapem State.
The Ga state won its sovereignty with a celebratory slogan, Ashiedu Okɛtɛkrɛ, ɔduduw ɔnni amanfo
“The Resilient Accomplisher, the multitudinous ones who have no deserted towns.”
This was to prove to the Akwamu that despite their powers and invincibility, they have been defeated and chased away to desert their towns.
It should be noted that when the Akwamu were defeated in 1730, some of their warriors who were captured as captives were sold into slavery and ended up in St. John at the Danish West Indies, now United States Virgin Islands.
Thus, whilst the total elimination of Akwamu on the Akuapem Hills created a new nation, Akuapem, in 1733, in that same year of November 23, the enslaved Akwamu warriors in collaboration with other enslaved Africans staged a bloody revolt against the slave owners and managers of the Island’s plantations.
Consequently, from 1733, the power of Akwamu in the Gold Coast dwindled in the area of conquest and military might.
They, however, continued to “sell the largest number of slave ‘war captives’ traded inland” to the Danes in 1744.
Their two able Kings, Darko, ca 1781 and Akonnor II, ca. 1792 waged wars to annex Peki, their eastern neighbour, which exercised overlordship over a large area.
Akwamu was brought to its knees when the Asante Kingdom emerged as a powerful state and conquered the southern states including Akwamu, Akuapem and the Akyem.
Today (2023) the Akwamus still maintain their rich culture and traditions which draws large numbers to their festivals.
Indeed! The Akwamu spiritual awakening is ongoing and has been so since the late 1800s.
