Prince Kwaku Dua III Asamu of the Kingdom of Ashanti took the ancient stool name Prempeh I upon ascension on the throne at the young age of 16.
His reign was a troubled one which fell during the time of British invasion/colonization of the Gold Coast.
In essence, he was the last king of the Kingdom of Ashanti before the Gold Coast fell under British protectorate.
What Happened?
In 1894 the British suddenly “remembered” the Wolseley indemnity had never been paid.
Prempeh I tried to appeal directly to a fellow sovereign, Queen Victoria, and sent an embassy to London to plead his cause.
But the British government refused to give his delegates an audience for almost a year and mounted another elaborate British army expedition to Kumasi.
Prempeh I refused to allow the Ashanti to fight, partly because of the memory of the Wolseley expedition and partly because of the British support for him during the succession dispute.
Instead, he diplomatically greeted the troops as his guests when they marched into Kumasi, in January of 1896.
The British governor arrived and coldly received Prempeh I and his chiefs.
Prempeh I desperately tried to placate the invaders and to the horror of his people, he demeaned himself by prostrating himself before the governor in a sign of submission.
The governor’s only response was to demand the gold promised to Wolseley.
Prempeh could not provide such a huge indemnity at once but offered to pay in instalments starting with 680 ounces as a down payment.
This was refused and then, to the astonishment of the Ashantis, Prempeh and some of his main chiefs were suddenly arrested.
Prempeh I’s place was quickly looted.
His throne is still displayed in the Royal Signals Museum at Blandford in England.
The abducted Asantehene, Prempeh I, some of his relatives and advisors were first taken to Elmina for about a year, then to Freetown in Sierra Leone until 1900 when, upon the outbreak of Yaa Asantewaa, the British feared proximity and sent the royal party to the Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean.
Once there, Prempeh I spent time in his villa on Mahe, the largest of the Seychelles’ island in the Indian Ocean.
Prempeh I’s villa, and 16 new wooden houses with sandy floors and roofed with corrugated iron-sheets were built in Seychelles and allocated to the various Asante’s nobles.
The place was called the Ashanti Camp.
Prempeh made an effort to educate himself in English and made sure that the children received education.
Prempeh I was exiled from Asanteman by the British in 1896 at age 28.
He ruled for just 8 years before forced into exile.
He returned to Kumase on November 12, 1924. (after 28 years)
Nana Prempeh I (Nana Kwaku Dua III Asamu) landed at the shores of Takoradi on Tuesday, 11th of November, 1924 at age 52.
He returned with an entourage, all bearing Christian names as they had all been baptized into the Anglican Church while in exile.
He was baptized along with his mother on May 29, 1904.
The British allowed him to return to Kumase as a private citizen in 1924.
In 1926 he was officially recognised as the chief of Kumase (Kumasehene).
He died on May 12, 1931, as Otumfoɔ Asantehene at age 60.
He was succeeded by Prempeh II.
