According to Royal Oral Tradition, the founders of Denkyira who are currently domiciled in the Central Region of modern Ghana originally migrated from the Volta, South of the Niger Bend.
Due to the arid nature of the land which led to famine and struggle over arable lands, their ancestors moved south westwards and in the 15th century (1400s) settled among the Nkyiraa people in ancient Bono where a complex civilization thrived.
They crossed the Volta river to Tekyiman in Ancient Bono State.
At that time, the Denkyira were known as the “Adawu-foɔ“, hence the honorific adage ‘Adawu, Adawu Denkyira, pɛntɛmprɛm ɔmene sono’ meaning ‘Adawu, Adawu Denkyira, the forest that swallows elephants’.
The Adawu-foɔ dwelled at Nkyiraa for over a hundred years (1450 – 1580), learning the ways and institutions of the natives so deliberately that they were referred to as the ‘dan Kyiraa’ people (meaning those who ‘depend/rely on Kyiraa’).
This is how the present name ‘Denkyira’ was derived.
In the 16th century (from 1580) they moved southward into the central forest region under the leadership of their powerful matriarch Nana Ayekra Adeboe , who sat on a royal magical beaded stool “Bankamdwa”, made of golden beads.
She was an Agona queen, first king and a high priestess, who settled her subjects at Tumtumbe near Bonatifi , 3.5 kilometers from Adansi Akorokyere.
Ancestress Bomaasi (as she was called) had three daughters : Agobani, whose descendants founded their capital at Abankesieso (Agona piesie) , Anadineho, whose offspring created Akyem Oda (Agona Manu), and Siema, whose bloodline established Bodweseanwo(Agona Mansah)
This is why by tradition every ruler of Abankesieso , Akyem Oda and Bodwenseanwo belong to the same ethnic group of Agona clan bound together by a common ancestry from Bomaasi.
The rulers of Denkyira, Akyem Oda and Bodweseanwo belong to the same ethnic group of Agona clan bound together by a common ancestry, Bomaasi.
After a glorious long reign, Nana Ayekraa Adeboa died.
Her eldest son, Annin Panyin, became the first male ruler; he also enjoyed a long, but uneventful reign.
He was succeeded by two brothers, Ahi and Aha, who probably ruled together because of the common name Ahahiaha dynasty. (We depend on ourselves)
They spent the greater part of their reign in exploration, and by then a highly developed and efficient political unit had already been formed.
The next ruler was Mumunumfi.
He felt envious of the Adansehene Otibireku Asare who had amassed wealth and was powerful.
He declared war on Adanse, inflicting a crushing defeat on them.
He appointed Awurade Basa to steer the affairs of the vanquished Adanse.
Mumunumfi was succeeded by Wirempe Ampem (1624-37).
He operated a military machinery consisting of divisional units, and after routing the Aowin, he founded the famous capital, ABANKESIESO BANSO which consisted of 77 localities about 24 kilometres from Jacobu, westward from Adanse Akorokyere territory which became a large sprawling kingdom.
The king had a strong organized state army, and he became an absolute ruler.
That was the beginning of the reign of terror, hence the saying:
“Wirempe Ampem a wo din yem mo”, meaning, ‘Wirempe Ampem, whose name is not to be uttered’.
Unfortunately he died in one of his military campaigns in the west and was succeeded by a young boy at the tender age of eight.
The young royal was rushed to the battlefield to boost their morale amid great jubilation.
Then, the blood royals were minors.
The new king was Boa Amponsem Dakabere.
Throughout his reign, Boa Amponsem’s authority was felt over much of Asante and its hinterland.
To this effective rule was the allusion:
‘’Kotoko som Amponsem’’, i.e. ‘the porcupine (Asante) is servant to Amponsem (Denkyira)’.
The Denkyira kingdom grew very rich and became known to the Europeans on the Atlantic shores as a people with great quantities of alluvial gold.
During the reign of Boa Amponsem I,
he could afford to have new gold ornaments cast for every ceremonial occasion.
Gold used once for anything was never used again!
This earned him the epithet “Boa Amponsem a, odi sika tomprada” (Boa Amposem who eats fresh gold).
Even when Osei Tutu was young; his uncle Opoku Ware sent him to the court of Denkyira to serve as a valet.
At the same time, Okomfo Anokye became the chief sorcerer and visionary of King Boa Amponsem I.
The kingdom at the same time grew so rich that Denkyira was the principal State for the Dutch merchants for their abundant and reasonably pure gold.
He ruled wisely and was unrivaled.
Upon his demise (1692), the people were bereft of their leader.
His nephew Ntim Gyakari, succeeded and ruled with pride and arrogance.
This is confirmed by documentary evidence by historian Bossman, an impartial and contemporary observer who wrote:
‘’Denkyira, elevated by its great riches and power became arrogant that it looked on all other Negroes with contemptible eye, esteeming them no more than slaves.’’ (See: W. Bossman – ‘A New and Accurate description of the Coast of Guinea’ reprinted 1907).
Everyone hated Denkyira and waited for the time when their power would fall.
IN 1699 the Denkyira Kingdom was at its fullest extent, while wealth and conquest brought with it pride and arrogance during the reign of Ntim Gyakari.
Meanwhile, King Osei Tutu I assisted by Okomfo Anokye, (also known as Tsala) his great friend, priest and constitutional adviser, were busy trying to put strategies in place (both physical and spiritual) to launch a full scale military operation against the Denkyira King.
Ntim Gyakari did something that made war inevitable.
The king sent a messenger to Kwaman (which later became Kumasi when Osei became King), bearing a brass pan, and told Osei Tutu and the chiefs of Asante (this was after Osei has escaped from Denkyira after offending the king) to fill the pan with gold and send it back to him.
Each Asante chief was to send to Abankesieso, his favourite wife to act as wet-nurse (mmagyegyefo) to the king of Denkyira” (See: W.E. Ward, ‘Short History of Ghana’ pp. 32 – 33).
Indeed, they considered the demand, an insult to their dignity.
War drums were sounded across the length and breadth of the state.
This was equivalent to a declaration of war.
The various independent units were commanded by the Mamponhene Boahinantuo.
Ntim Gykari was sure that he would beat the Asante army so he was not seen at the battlefield, instead he stayed in his tent playing the “Oware” game with his wife.
The main Asante army eventually met the opposing force at Feyiase between Kuntenase and Kumase.
The Battle of Feyiase: Rituals Performed by Okomfo Anokye in The Heat of The Battle
The Juaben unit hurriedly closed in and surrounded Ntim Gyakari who was sitting with golden fetters upon his ankles and made him a prisoner.
They took him to Kumase where he was tried and executed.
After his gruesome death, Ntim Gyakeri’s body was divided as follows:
His head was given to the Asantehene, his left-leg bone to Asumegya, right-leg bone to Mampon, the vertebrae to Aduaben. (Juabeng)
These three Stools were permitted by Kumase to copy the regalia of Ntim Gyakari (vide: R.S. Rattery, “Ashanti Law and Constitution”. 1956, p.132).
The Asante carried their victory into Denkyira proper and pillaged its capital Abankesieso, mid-1701.
They carried into slavery, many of the best craftsmen of Denyira and employed them in making weights in Kumase.
In fact, it was a war which left indelible impressions on the history of Denkyira.
There is the saying: “Ntim Gyakari asoa ne man akobo Feyiase”, meaning:
‘Ntim Gyakari carried his nation and wrecked her at Feyiase.
‘Which catastrophe occurred on a Friday,
hence the origin of the Denkyira Oath, “Fiada ne Denkyira’ following this national disgrace.
The Agona clan brothers–Akyem Oda, and Bodweseanwo (these people defeated a hairy giant who fell down killing the forest trees around… Till date the place he fell is a bare land.. No tree has ever sprouted there again) – went to the assistance of their senior brother, Denkyira, in this war; therefore the Asantehene initiated the policy divide and rule among the three clan brothers.
By this security arrangement, Akyem Odahene was placed under the Anantahene of Kumase, Boadweseanwohene under Dadeasohene, while Denkyirahene came under the Bantamahene.
As a result of this onslaught, the supremacy of Denkyira was toppled and obliterated forever!
Never to become a Kingdom again.
After the ambushed death of King Osei Tutu Mpimso on the Pra river whiles pursuing the stubborn Akyems (in 1717 according to Prof. Adu Boahen in his Article ‘When did Osei Tutu die?‘ THSG, 1975, Legon, pp. 87–92).
Denkyinahene Buadu Akafu Brempon resolved to take revenge on Asante, but the Asante army quickly moved in to nip the insurrection in the bud.
Yet, there was another revolt during the time of Denkyirahene Owusu Bore I which ended in another fiasco.
Again, the Denkyira took advantage of the death of the Asantehene Osei Kwadwo (1781) and made another effort to re-establish their independence, but the revolt was suppressed for the third time.
The Denkyira stay in west Adanse had been stormy, so they vowed to quit the region.
Consequently, during the reign of the 15th Dekyirahene Nana Kwadwo Tibu I, they moved southwards after the Asante – Gyaman War, 1818, and founded their new state JUKWA. (Meaning “Eha Ju Kwa” – Translated as: “This place is naturally peaceful”)
The immediate cause of the flight was that the Asante army took the field against Gyamanhene Adinkra.
The Denkyirahene and his troops entered Gyaman under the pretext to smoke a peace pipe with Adinkra who claimed Agona clan relationship with Nana Tibu.
However, Adinkra realized that the rapidity of Denkyira advance was rather for war than negotiation for peace.
Adinkra fired and he was hit on the mouth by the explosion of his own gun and died instantly.
The skull was brought to Kumase as a war trophy accompanied by Apau, the son of Adinkra.
The Denkyira contingent received a cold welcome in Kumase with the following remarks by the Asantehene himself who pronounced:
“Kwadwo, woko ma ni woko afa e?“ That is: “in your fight for another, this is your zeal; then what are you if fighting on your own behalf’?”
This statement was unaccepted by, and upset, the Denkyira.
It was an expression that the Asantehene had hatred for the Denkyira.
The call for emigration southwards went across the length and breadth of Denkyira, and they followed Nana Tibu to the south across the Offin River at Nkyenkyenso near Aboaboso, passing through Wassaw, Fiase Mpoho, and finally halted at Cape Coast.
The Governor advised them to stay at Kakomdo (or Essakyiri).
But this place could not contain their large number, so after a sojourn, they moved through the forest and finally settled at a place about 22 kilometres north-west of Cape Coast.
The indigenous settlers were of the Abrade family at Banaso under Tueni Kodee.
Since they were few and had no Paramount Chief, the Denkyira decided to absorb them and there was a recrudescence of inter-clan skirmishes.
The Governor, therefore, intervened and ruled that the Pra River should become the natural boundary between them definitely to safe-guard the frontier of their new state.
Upon their arrival, the Denkyiras observed that the whole area was very peaceful, hence the new name DWOKWA.
Thus ‘EHA DWO KWA’ became corrupted into DWUKWA (Anglicised JUKWA).
In 1868 Denkyira entered the Fante Confederacy to fight for Great Britain against the Ashanti and the Dutch.
When the confederacy proved unable to defeat the Ashanti, it became a part of the British colony Gold Coast in 1874.
In 1957 Gold Coast became independent as Ghana.
JUKWA became the principal town and the seat of the Kyidom Wing, while Dunkwa founded on the banks of the great off in river became the administrative capital since 1943.
In present day Ghana (622 years after the Denkyira moved to NKyira), a Ghanaian can be identified as a Denkyira if they come from any of these towns or places in Asante.
ASOKWA & ASUOYEBOAH – decendants of brothers Akwadan and Nuamoa, the chief hornblowers of the Denkyirahene.
They came to Kumasi with their golden horns and their large followers.
They were resettled at Asuoyeboa (in Kumasi), and later brought into Kumasi when Osei Tutu created the Asokwa (in Kumasi) stool for them so that they might act as his traders as well as his hornblowers.
All towns and Villages in ATWIMA MPONUA; ATWIMA NWABIAGYA AND ATWIMA KWANWOMA.
The first town which changed allegiance from Ntim Gyakari to Osei Tutu was the Abooso people.
Abooso was a town which lay in the vicinity of Adansi Akrokeri and Abankeseso.
The inhabitants of this town were called Bontwumafo – the red clay people. The Denkyirahene made ten classes of men and women.
These men and women were there to offer their bodies as a sacrifice to the King whenever a member of the royal family passed on and these people were called Bontwumafo [Boamponsem’s ntwomafo- red clay people].
Thus when any royal person died, 100 men of these Bontwumafo were sacrificed during the funeral and their blood was used as red clay in painting some parts of the body of the deceased and their bodies were placed in the grave on which the coffin was laid.
Ntim Gyakari, a man famously interested in women, took an Abooso wife.
Then his mother fell mortally ill.
Learning of this, the wife went to Abooso to alert her ”Bontwumafo” kin.
When news came that the King’s mother was dead, the Bontwumafo and the inhabitants of the surrounding towns immediately fled to escape being immolated in great numbers and sought refuge with Osei Tutu at Kumasi.
After the Feyiase War in 1701, Osei Tutu resettled these Bontwumafo in Atwima (now Atwima Mponua, kwanwoma and Atwima Nwabiagya Districts) and their leader was made the Atwimahene.
Denkyira will never be forgotten because they were the first ORGANISED KINGDOM to rise in Pre-Colonial Ghana.
Their norms and practices served as blueprint for others to follow including the great Asante Kingdom (1701 – 1901)
